more McWilliams
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/publicity/mcwilliamsqa.pdf
Q: What was the American eating experience like?
A: Rough. Very rough. Even wealthy elites, as much as they tried to
outgrow the wild
and wooly associations of the frontier, found themselves eating food
that had been hunted
and foraged and stewed in a single pot. Most settlers wanted to
replicate the established
culinary habits of England. As many cookbooks as they imported,
however, they failed
to do so, having to settle for compromise after compromise—and these
compromises son
became standardized. Tree stumps took the place of chairs, an array
of serving dishes
were replaced by a single “mess” of a stew, hands were used in place
of forks, napkins
were replaced by shirtsleeves. These conditions improved with time,
of course, but the
willingness to make changes due to the conditions in the colonies
became a habit in and
of itself. I think food probably tasted quite good—it was almost
always produced locally
and almost always fresh. But the manner in which Americans ate took
the ceremony—
the pomp and circumstance– out of eating to such an extent that
Americans came to take
pride in their simple, frugal ways, especially after the American
Revolution, when
America wanted to define itself as distinct from England not just
politically but culturally
as well.