Food and Our Founding Fathers

Our Founding Fathers left an incredible legacy that we are celebrating this year. Reading and listening to books about their lives has been enriching. I have to admit, small mentions of their diet often make me smile. I am also aware of the hunger many suffered during the years of war. I thought I would share a few small snippets from long ago with you.

First, let’s visit Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. He lived on a large plantation called Monticello. You can visit the museum’s website and learn that he had a 1,000-foot-long garden terrace. His scientific mind fueled experiments with more than 330 vegetable varieties. He also had a large fruit orchard with more than 170 varieties of fruit. He wrote, “I have lived temperately, eating a little animal food, & that, not as an aliment so much as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principal diet.” Others who knew him recorded similar accounts: meat was more of a seasoning and vegetables were his main dish. He called fruits a “precious refreshment.” Fruit on a summer day truly is exactly that.

Next, the famous writer, scientist, and statesman Benjamin Franklin. Did you know that as a teen, he read about vegetarianism and was impressed mainly by the ethical argument that “taking every fish was a kind of unprovoked murder”?  So he adopted the practice. In his autobiography, he recalls that at first it was useful, as his simple diet allowed him extra funds for books and time for reading. However, later he happened to be on a voyage where the crew was catching cod, and he found himself torn. He wrote the following:

I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and when this came hot out of the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanced some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs. Then thought I, ‘If you eat one another, I don’t see why we mayn’t eat you.’ So, I dined upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.

My favorite line is Mr. Franklin’s reference to being a “reasonable creature.” Many of us can resonate with him. We strive to eat fresh, whole foods, but when caught between principle and convenience, we find it quite helpful to be “reasonable creatures” and choose fast food.

Third, we turn to George Washington, a man who loved his plantation and residence, Mount Vernon. Washington ate vegetables from his garden and enjoyed “hoecakes” (cornmeal cakes) for breakfast. His farm provided beef, mutton, and ham. The river waters, in season, added herring and cod to the table. “Agriculture is the most healthy, the most useful, and the most noble employment of man,” he wrote. After his presidency, it was rare for him to be alone, and he often entertained guests with multicourse dinners.

Lastly, we can’t reminisce about the men who helped us gain the freedoms we enjoy without remembering those who were fighting in the arena. During this time, 250 years ago, the soldiers had very little to eat. George Washington often recalled the sad scene of his hungry men. In a letter to Congress dated December 29, 1777, General Washington could not bring himself to describe the full extent of their suffering, stating that “2,898 men were unfit for duty, by reason of their being barefoot and otherwise naked.” Many others were in hospitals and farmers’ houses. It was a winter marked
by death.

In the book 1776, by David McCullough, we learn that the years leading up to this difficult winter were much the same. The hardships endured and the immense challenges faced by the Continental Army required remarkable courage. But the “Hand of Providence” shone upon them, and in the end, they prevailed.

The gardens, farms, ranches, and orchards that sprang up from their triumph have fed millions since. The land we enjoy, the comforts we experience, and the plentiful food we eat are the result of the sacrifices of these good men and others like them. May we enjoy our meals—our wholesome food—with hearts full of gratitude and remember what it took to secure the blessings we enjoy today.