How to Use Foodways at Colonial London Town

Foodways at Colonial London Town is a companion to the digital storybook, Children’s Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three Families. A foodway is defined as the eating habits and cooking practices of a people in a geographical region and historical period. Learning about foodways is useful when comparing cultures across time and space. Foodways also engage our curiosity—after all, everyone must eat, but we eat so differently!

By exploring the varieties of foods eaten, the methods of food preparation, and customs of food consumption, site visitors can delve more deeply into colonial society and culture, with a particular emphasis on the themes of class and social structure that are part of Children’s Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three Families.

How is the content presented?

Foodways at Colonial London Town presents information about colonial foodways through two sets of resources—one secondary and one primary. The “Guide to Colonial Foodways” is an overview of the historical context of colonial food preparation and consumption. The guide covers the types of food eaten, the all-important practices of food conservation and preservation, and the dining habits and customs of people living in the colonial Chesapeake region. Careful distinctions are drawn among the experiences and practices of the “gentry,” the “middling sorts,” and the “lower sorts.” Attention is also given to the ways in which enslaved Africans and African Americans suffered oppression through their masters’ control of their diets while influencing the broader colonial diet through their positions as food growers and preparers.

These secondary source materials frame the primary resources: a sampling of authentic colonial recipes. The recipes are grouped by the social class that most likely would have used them, allowing readers to discover the differences in diet among the peoples of London Town. A close reading of the recipes shows evidence of food preservation and conservation, as well an acceptance of foods that are today considered distasteful. By comparing the colonial recipes to their modern equivalents, students can begin to trace changes in the American diet over time. These recipes also illustrate the peculiarities of colonial spelling and grammar.

How can teachers use Foodways at Colonial London Town with students?

Foodways at Colonial London Town was developed for elementary school classrooms to use during their studies of colonial American and Maryland history. Although useful as a digital textbook for students to read for content, the website is most effective as a springboard for student inquiry. Three lessons will help teachers conduct these inquiries. Each lesson, which includes relevant secondary source articles and selected recipes, requires students to draw conclusions based on the historical evidence. Assessments and suggestions for differentiation are also provided. Teachers may want to develop their own historical investigations using the website’s primary and secondary sources.

The lessons are in “printer-friendly” PDF format.

To Market We Go: Food in Colonial London Town

How did the geographic location of London Town affect the food sources that were available to the people living there? In this lesson, students will describe how the environment and location of London Town influenced the cultures and lifestyle of the people living there. Students will also determine the benefits of purchasing food items locally, instead of relying on food supplies that were imported or purchased from the market.

Waste Not, Want Not: Preservation and Conservation Practices in the 18th Century Kitchen

How did the people living in colonial London Town preserve and conserve available food sources to sustain their diets? Using the resources provided in the lesson, students will determine what food preservation processes were used in London Town and explain why food conservation was important in the eighteenth century.

Umble Pie Anyone? Why We Eat What We Do—Culturally Acceptable Foods

How does culture affect the foods we eat? Students in this lesson will determine how our culture influences the foods we choose to eat. They will consider how socially acceptable foods have changed from the colonial period.

For more information and teaching resources on colonial London Town, see Educator Resources and Instructional Activities and Resources for Families and Community Groups sections of Children’s Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three Families.

Historic London Town and Gardens in Edgewater, Maryland offers a variety of field trip experiences and educational resources on foodways and other topics about colonial London Town.

Project Credits:

Foodways at Colonial London Town was designed as a companion to Children's Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three Families, a digital storybook about real people who once resided in London Town, Maryland. The project was a collaborative effort between Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland, the Center for History Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and Historic London Town and Gardens. The project was funded by the Teaching American History Grant Program through the U.S. Department of Education.