Casabe Bread

Ingredients:
1 pound yucca, peeled and washed
¼ cup neutral oil

Instructions:
1. Peel and grate yucca
2. Squeeze out liquid
Using a clean cotton cloth, squeeze the cassava until you extract as much liquid as possible.
3. Spread on a baking tray and leave in the fridge for 4 hours (the refrigerator acts as a dehumidifier), stirring and breaking clumps at least every hour.
4. Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and oil. Spread cassava on it in a thin, even layer.
5. Cook for 1 minute, turn and cook for another minute, or until both sides are light golden brown, and is no longer flexible.

Europeans did not arrive in what they called the "New World" to find empty shores and abandoned islands. Each part of the massive double continent plus a hundreds-strong island chain had already been explored and settled by disparate people groups whose existence and cultural traditions in the hemisphere could be traced back thousands of years to the ancestral land bridge from Asia. One of these groups, the Taino, had left their parental societal, the northern Caribes of South America, to colonize and habitat the Greater Antilles. Their diet included both hunted and cultivated foods. Their hunters sought small animals like snakes and birds to supplement their crops. They grew manioc (yucca), sweet potatoes (batata), peanuts, squash, beans, pumpkins, hot peppers, and corn on small mounds called conucos. They also harvested wild roots that grew in conjunction with their crops, like cassava, which they made into bread, careful to remove its toxic juices first.

• Recipe adapted from www.dominicancooking.com
• To read more about the Taino people see:
  A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America.

Callaloo

Ingredients:
2 lbs spinach
1 lb crab meat
1 cup Coconut milk
1 Large onion
5 cups Water
1 tbsp Celery chopped
1 tbsp Thyme chopped
4 blades Chive
1 Hot pepper
3 tbsp Oil
2 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Black pepper
1½ tbsp Turmeric
10 small Dumplings
(link dumpling recipe: www.thespruceeats.com/dumplings-for-stew-3051608)

Instructions:
1. If using spinach wash and chop leaves
2. Chop onion, chive and garlic
3. Add oil to a large pot on medium heat
4. Stir in onion, celery and garlic to heated oil, saute for 3 minutes
5. Pour in coconut milk, spinach leaves and rest of water in the pot
6. Use a handheld (immersion blender) and pulse leaves mixture in the pot for about 1 minute
7. Add thyme and hot pepper, dumplings
8. Season with the remainder of the salt and black pepper
9. Cover pot and let simmer for about 45 minutes, adding crab 10 minutes before completion.
Once cooked it can be served by itself, with white rice or bread

Wasna
(Corn Bread)

Ingredients:
1¼ cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour
¼ cup sugar
¾ cup stone ground yellow or blue cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup milk
1 tbsp honey
¼ vegetable oil
1 large egg or 2 large egg whites

Directions:
Coat a large griddle with cooking spray and preheat to medium-high.
In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a fork and make a well in the center.
In small bowl, whisk together milk, honey, oil, and egg. Pour mixture into center of dry ingredients and mix until just blended.
Pour ¼ cup batter onto griddle for each corn cake. Cook 2 minutes per side, until puffed up, golden brown and cooked through.

The Cherokee are an Indigenous people originally from the Southeastern United States, particularly in present-day Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. They were known for their advanced political systems, agricultural practices, and complex alliances, but in the 1830s, were forcibly removed from their lands during the Trail of Tears to present-day Oklahoma.

Like many other indigenous groups, Cherokee foodways traditionally centered around the "Three Sisters" crops—corn, beans, and squash—supplemented by hunting, fishing, and foraging for wild plants like nuts and berries. Fish was often made into soup and served with corn mush by the Cherokee people.

Another traditional Native American food that's still popular today is baked beans. One type of bean, a small black bean called the Trail of Tears pole bean, was grown by the Cherokee for generations in the Smoky Mountains. The bean got its name from the upheaval of the Cherokee in 1838-1839 when the U.S. government forced them to leave their homes in the Carolinas and march to Oklahoma. This journey, known as the Trail of Tears, caused thousands of Native Americans to die from harsh conditions. The Cherokee carried these beans in their pockets during the journey as a reminder of home and as a symbol of hope.

For more information see: food.ebci-nsn.gov/recipes

Boiled dinner

Ingredients • 4 pounds corned beef • 15 peppercorns • 8 whole cloves • 1 bay leaf • 8 small beets • 2 turnips, cut into pieces • 16 small new potatoes, peeled • 16 baby carrots • 8 small white onions • 1 head cabbage, cut into 8 wedge-shaped pieces

Instructions 1. Cover beef with water and simmer 10 minutes, covered, in a large kettle. 2. Skim off and discard the residue that forms on top of water. Add peppercorns, cloves, and bay leaf. 3. Cover and simmer 3 hours or until meat is tender. 4. Put beets in separate pan with a little water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. 5. Add turnips, potatoes, carrots, and onions to kettle with meat. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes longer. 6. Add cabbage and cook, covered, 15 minutes more. 7. Remove meat, cut into serving pieces, and place on platter surrounded with well-drained vegetables. Serve with Irish Soda Bread.

In colonial New England, food wasn't just about survival, it was about community. Neighbors often shared ingredients, and borrowing food or other supplies from one another was common in the challenging environment. Surprisingly, one way historians learn about the daily diet of the time is through a strange and very morbid source: wills. For example, a 1772 will from Maine lists provisions like meal, pork, beef, flour, butter, cheese, tallow, chocolate, tea, and spices that a gentleman left to his widow, revealing what was considered essential or at least common.

In New England homes, the day revolved around the fireplace. It provided warmth, cooked meals, and even heated water for laundry or bathing. Every day started with lighting the fire, and breakfasts were much heartier than what we are used to today. Physical labor and long, cold winters required high caloric intake. One middle-class in 1740's Massachusetts family described a typical breakfast of tea or coffee, broiled fish or steak, bread, and pudding with cream for the children. While this abundance was not typical for everyone, it highlights how more affluent families ate. By midday, families enjoyed a heavy meal called "dinner," which often featured two courses: meats followed by pies or puddings. The day ended with a light "supper" of bread, milk, or cheese. For poorer rural families, the menu was simpler and often repeated. They might have brown bread and milk for both breakfast and supper, with a more substantial meal of meat and cheese at midday.

Recipe adapted from firstunitarianprov.org/wp-content/uploads/securepdfs/2019/12/Colonial-New-England-Recipes.pdf For more information please see: A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America. Chapter 2

The Pennsylvania Dutch, primarily of German descent but also coming from Switzerland and Alsace, were a significant cultural group in the region, settling there in the 18th century. They brought a rich culinary tradition, specializing in various meat preservation techniques and hearty, flavorful dishes. The blending of their culinary practices with local ingredients and influences contributed to the development of unique regional foods like scrapple, which reflects the adaptation and creativity of these early settlers in their new environment.

As noted by James McWilliams in A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America, scrapple is a prime, albeit pungent, example of this fusion of Old World cooking techniques with New World ingredients. Today, scrapple is made from pork scraps—including the heart, lungs, tripe, and other leftovers from the butchering process—combined with cornmeal, formed into patties, and fried.

This dish traces its roots to a Swiss/German recipe called Balkenbrij. This recipe traditionally used blood along with buckwheat or rye flour. In Pennsylvania, these were substituted with more common and inexpensive oats. Additionally, the original Balkenbrij featured a spicier flavor profile, often enhanced with cinnamon or cloves.

Although colonists adjusted their diets and lifestyles as necessary in this new environment, it was not without significant struggle. From the time of John Smith's expedition, it was clear that many colonists preferred to have provisions shipped from England rather than relying on the abundant resources of their new land. One aspect of English cookery they eagerly maintained was a taste for beef and the cattle needed to supply it, as North America had no native cattle.

In Feeding the Eighteenth-Century Town Folk, or, Whence the Beef In?, historian Lorena S. Walsh challenges myths about mid-Atlantic colonial food habits through detailed archaeological analysis. Her findings show that, contrary to popular belief, Marylanders and Virginians consumed more beef than pork. By analyzing bones from trash middens in Annapolis, Maryland, and Williamsburg, Virginia, Walsh found that between the 17th and 19th centuries, beef made up 40 to 60% of all meat consumed in both urban and rural settings, while pork accounted for less than 10%.