by Marianne
Ruane
(originally posted in April 2013; recreated in August 2015)
Teeth whitening
is all the rage now; braces are popular for children and adults, and in
general, Americans are known the world over for their bright white, straight
teeth. Back in the late 1700s though, Americans were lucky to have teeth. “[T]he women, generally very
pretty, are often deprived of these precious ornaments (teeth) at eighteen or
twenty years of age…"1 A
visiting Frenchman, one Monsieur Robin, attributed this toothless affliction of
American colonial women to eating hot bread, particularly corn meal biscuits,
which the French who visited the new country complained wouldn’t even be eaten
by their army. An exaggeration, perhaps, but what did colonial Americans eat?
Philadelphia’s City
Tavern, part of Independence National Historic Park, strives to recreate the
experience of dining in 18th century colonial America. The
supposedly haunted tavern, described by Chef/Proprietor Walter Staib as a
“living culinary museum,” is one of the stops on Grim Philly’s “Vampires, Sex,
Ghosts!” tour. City Tavern staff members wear colonial clothing, accurately
designed and sewed by Chef Staib’s wife; the décor is kept as close as possible
to what it would have been in the 1700s, down to the color of the candles and
tablecloths; and the menu options are true to what was really available on an
18th century table.
Chef Staib, a
native of Germany, found many parallels between the traditional cooking of his
native country and that of colonial America. Some of the earliest settlers to
the Philadelphia area were German farmers, and their customs had the most
influence on colonial cooking. Twice a week the market stalls along High Street
(now Market Street) would be lined with Germans selling live chickens, ducks,
and pigs. When I visited City Tavern I ate the most incredible pork chop
prepared the way it would have been in the 1700s – cut thick, salt cured and
smoked, served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Germans were such a
significant part of the population that the Declaration of Independence in
German translation was actually printed in a public newspaper before the
English version came out in the Philadelphia
Evening Post. Even before the actual text was printed, a German newspaper
was the first to announce that the Declaration had been adopted.
The second
largest culinary influence on colonial dishes was that of the French, but
Philadelphia was such a melting pot, such a cosmopolitan city in the 1700s,
that the food was the most diverse of any city in North America. The bustling
port guaranteed plentitude of spices and other ingredients not readily
available elsewhere in the colonies. Entrees on City Tavern’s menu include
venison, duck, rabbit, lamb, and even fried tofu which was first introduced to
the colonies by Ben Franklin.
Another popular
dish at the restaurant is lobster pie. While lobster most likely would not have
been served on the original City Tavern’s menu, it was in plentiful supply
during colonial times. Unlike today, however, the crustacean was not considered
a luxury item, quite the opposite in fact, and there are legends claiming that
sentence and contract stipulations for prisoners and indentured servants
limited meals of lobster to twice a week – more was seen as too cruel! Among
the upper classes, it was more commonly used as food for livestock or
fertilizer. In the mid-19th century, American observer John Rowan
wrote, “Lobster shells about a house are looked upon as signs of poverty and
degradation.”2 Would that I were so poor
today!
Soups and stews
were also popular in City Tavern’s heyday, mostly due to the sad condition of
American teeth. “Tenderness was an important quality in food because many
colonials had very poor dental hygiene, especially the upper class, whose
richer diets and love of sweets contributed greatly to the deterioration, and
often complete lack, of their teeth.”3 George
Washington eventually lost every tooth in his mouth, beginning in his early 20s.
(Contrary to popular legend, his false teeth were not wooden, but were made of
hippopotamus and elephant ivory which developed a wooden appearance over time
as they became stained.) He was so embarrassed by the poor condition of his
mouth that when dining at City Tavern, he would sit across the hall from his
compatriots, unseen, but able to hear and be heard during the conversations.
In the 1700s,
the tavern had a very important role in colonial society, not only offering
meals and lodging, but also conversation, news, and a place to hold business transactions…
for men. Women and children were not allowed to dine in public; it was seen as
scandalous. Women did attend balls held in City Tavern’s “Long Room,” but if
they ate at the event, they had to stay upstairs. Women were busy cooking and
baking at home, however, and two important cookbooks of the time were written
by enterprising women: Hannah Glasse’ The
Art of Cooking Made Plain and Easy
(1745) and Martha Washington’s Book of
Cookery (circa 1753). I highly recommend City Tavern’s chocolate mousse
cake based on Martha’s recipe!
The tavern was
the town’s central meeting place, and given the pivotal role of colonial
Philadelphia at the dawn of the Revolution, City Tavern played a unique role in
the nation’s history since its opening in 1773. When Paul Revere rode to
Philadelphia with the news of the Boston Tea Party, the first place he stopped
was City Tavern. Its close proximity to Carpenter’s Hall made it the perfect
choice for breakfast and dinner gatherings during the first Continental
Congress. John Adams, who called City Tavern “the most genteel tavern in
America,” first met George Washington there. The very first 4th of
July celebration, July 4, 1777, was held at City Tavern, and after the
Constitution of the United States was approved in 1787, the delegates dined
there together.
In 1789 the
front rooms of City Tavern became the headquarters of the Merchants’ Coffee
House and Place of Exchange, adding a more official business transaction feel
to the establishment that still offered dining, lodging, and special events. It
declined in popularity in the late 1700s and early 1800s, caught fire in 1834,
and was completely torn down in 1854. City Tavern of today is an exact
reproduction that opened for the Philadelphia bicentennial celebration in 1976.
So is City
Tavern haunted? I had a chance to ask Chef Staib at a recent talk he gave to
promote his cookbooks, PBS television series A Taste of History, and a new play to be presented at the Kimmel
Center April 13 as part of PIFA. He said that while he does not believe in
ghosts, he has heard strange noises there when no one else was in the
restaurant. Once when coming down the stairs, he felt a blast of hot air rush
by him. He discounted all of that as oddities of an old building until one
morning when he came in to find all of the table settings rearranged that had
been prepared the night before for a party. He was last to leave the restaurant
and the first to come in the next morning, and while he still maintains that he
is not a believer, he does admit that he can’t explain it.
Who is haunting
City Tavern? Come on a Grim Philly’s “Sex, Vampires, Ghosts!” tour to find out!
-- Read more by Marianne Ruane
Sources:
Staib, Walter
with Paul Bauer. The City Tavern
Cookbook: Recipes from the Birthplace of American Cuisine. Philadelphia:
Running Press, 2009.
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