Since it’s the season to dig into a steaming bowl of New England clam chowder, maybe you’d be interested to know that the colonists of the 17th and 18th centuries didn’t enjoy the same hearty fare. Their main sustenance was eels and succotash; clams were not a favorite–they were fed to the hogs.
Wife and husband Kathleen Fitzgerald, of the Newport (RI) Library and Keith Stavely, director of the Fall River (MA) Library have been researching their findings on New England cooking for nearly a decade, using heirloom recipes, centuries-old texts and even descriptions of meals from classic novels.
Although corn eventually became a primary food for early New Englanders, they were loathe to adapt it as it was considered below their station (“wheat being more appropriate to the upper classes”), only suitable for Native Americans. Read more about “America’s Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking.”
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