Pork and beans, fried bacon, and ribs — hearty food for hungry
Americans. Imagine a time without pigs in America: Spanish explorers
brought pigs with them and some escaped. These mean, wild "razor
backs" even became the nick-name of some American athletic teams.
From pork barrel politics to Super Bowl pigskin, pork-related slang
and terminology has a long colorful history. Today, nearly 60 million
pigs are raised in America and the average American eats 46 pounds
of pork annually.
PORK: THE AMERICAN
STAFF OF LIFE
In 17th and 18th century Europe, bread was the staple food of poor
people. Americans, however, fed their grain to animals, then ate the
animals—instead of the grain. Geographically, America had enough land
to make this approach possible, and pigs were among the easiest animals
to keep. Pigs foraged for their food, and their meat could easily
be preserved as bacon, ham, or salt pork. There evolved an American
saying ... "to scrape the bottom of the barrel." It means even today
to be out of resources, and in actuality the saying refers to a "pork
barrel."
As for bread, I count that for nothin'. We always have
bread and potatoes enough; but I hold a family to be in a desperate
way when the mother can see the bottom of the pork barrel. Give me
children that's raised on good sound pork afore all the game in the
country. Game's good as a relish and so's bread; but pork is the staff
of life . . . My children I calkerlate to bring up on pork with just
as much bread and butter as they want.
James Fenimore Cooper
The Chainbearer, 1845 [5: 1]
Did
You Know?
BARRELS OF MEMORIES:
I wish you could have seen our smoke house ... hams and
sides of bacon, home-cured over hickory and corn-cob fires... And
there were always barrels and barrels of salt pork in the cellar and
a barrel of flour in the pantry.
Anne Meehan [5: 6]
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'TIS THE SEASON: A COLD, COOL, CONFEDERATE CHRISTMAS
Excerpts from the diary of John S. Jackman, Confederate Soldier:
December 17th, 1864: Pleasant day for winter. We are living well.
Have good fresh beef, fresh pork, flour, sorghum, rice and so on, issued
in abundance. We make the molasses into candy — have "candy-pullings"
among ourselves.
December 25th, 1864: For breakfast had fresh pork, biscuit, baked sweet
-potatoes, etc. Cool disagreeable morning. Bad prospect for a Christmas
dinner — can't cook in the rain. [5: 2]
SHERMAN'S SENTINELS
On the return home the solitude was terrifying . . . I had entered
a war-stricken section of the country where stood chimneys only, standing
amid ruins. No wonder they were called Sherman's sentinels, as they
seemed to be keeping guard over those scenes of desolation. [5: 3]
PRISON FOOD AT ANDERSONVILLE
The stated ration was: beef, one pound, or bacon, one-third of a pound;
corn-meal, one and one-fourth pounds, with an occasional issue of rice,
beans, molasses, and vinegar. Soon, however, the ration dwindled. The
lack of vegetables, the crowding, and the filth brought on much sickness.
[5: 4]
RIVERS OF APPLE JACK
I came to Nebraska in 1865. The trees were so heavy with apples that
the limbs broke. Spilled apples were crushed and the juice turned to
cider with a highly alcoholic content. It wasn't long until everything
was drunk. Even the angle worms got drunk flopping all over. [5: 5]
C. H. West
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