Food is part of history. Reading about what the Christopher Columbus's sailors ate, historians can learn about the place from which they came, the technology available to them, and the conditions under which they lived.
Below you will read a short piece describing the food carried on the first of Columbus’ voyages to the Americas. Read carefully, and compare their food with foods you eat when traveling today.
“Columbus’ first voyage had the best victuals (and enough to last a year), not the case in his other voyages. The menu for Spanish seamen consisted of water, vinegar, wine, olive oil, molasses, cheese, honey, raisins, rice, garlic, almonds, sea biscuits (hardtack), dry legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, beans, salted and barreled sardines, anchovies, dry salt cod and pickled or salted meats (beef and pork), salted flour. The olive oil and perhaps olives were stored in earthenware jugs. Meats were often prepared in some sort of stew with peas or other legumes or rice and served with sea biscuits which were soaked in the soup or in water for edibility. Sea biscuits were purchased to last at least a year, providing they were kept in dry areas. For drink the crew had wine and water. Both were stored in wooden barrels . . . . During the days of calm at sea, the sailors would fish and then cook their catch.”
Hardtack was a biscuit that could last for a year and still be eaten. This biscuit dates back to the Civil War. Yummy, right?
