Provisions & Institutional Food
Most people leave few clues as to their daily diets and food habits. Among the holdings of the Law Library, however, is evidence from legal documents and institutional records which can provide at least a theoretical picture of the diet of people living in controlled situations, such as prisons, asylum, slavery and the military.
The Library has a number of sources of information on prison life; these include official and unofficial accounts of prison diet, or sometimes just passing mention of the food eaten by prisoners. Some notion of the diet of the slaves in French and British colonies can be gleaned from France's Code Noir and occasional contemporary observations. The words of some of these official sources must be taken with a grain of salt. We cannot be sure that all slave-holders adhered to the Code Noir, or that the patients at the Ohio Lunatic Asylum always ate as well as the annual report would seem to indicate. But these and other traces in the historic record do give us an idea of what the minimal standards--or the optimistic ideal--may have been for people who had no say in their diets.
Batty Langley. An accurate description of Newgate. London : T. Warner, 1724.
Informal and full of lively details, this booklet describes the life of debtors and criminals in Newgate and other prisons near London. Langley's description, of eating and entertainment in the "master debtor's side" of Newgate, displayed here almost reads like a description of a convivial gentlemen's club. Although they were imprisoned for debt, inmates sent out for and were expected to pay for their meals, which--if this description is indeed accurate--were hardly spartan. Drinking of alcohol was universal in prisons at that time, and, in fact, was often encouraged by prison officials, who usually stood to profit by charging the prisoners slightly higher than market prices for their beer and brandy.
John Howard. The state of prisons in England and Wales, with preliminary observations, and an account of some foreign prisons and hospitals. Warrington : William Eyres, 1780.
John Howard (1726-1790) became interested in local prison conditions and prisoners' rights when he was appointed high sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773. Soon afterwards he was traveling to prisons throughout the British Isles and Europe, writing extensively of his observations. As a result of these trips he grew to be one of the leading prison reformers of his time, and his published observations led to some efforts at reform in English prisons.
Shown here in a lengthy footnote is Howard's detailed description of the weekly diet of prisoners at Rotterdam's Rasp-house. Men, boys and women were fed rations based on their workload. Women and boys apparently did only half the work of grown men, and so were fed accordingly. At Sunday supper, for instance, men received milk with barley flour, cheese and bread, while women and boys received only milk. Prisoners in solitary confinement were fed on bread and water, usually for a period of under two weeks. Howard generally admired the Dutch prisons, and found the diet noteworthy.
B. Erdmann. Collection of photographs of Orlov Prison. ca. 1905.
Although clearly posed, this photograph of the prisoners at a meal in the model prison in Orlov, Russia gives a few clues to their diet: note for example the bread and communal bowls. Prisoners ate in their dormitory, beds folded up against the wall.
Rules and regulations for the government of the Massachusetts state prison. Boston : Phelps and Farnum, 1823.
Article 15 describes the spare, but adequate diet prescribed for Massachusetts prisoners, which consisted primarily of corn meal, pork, beans, salted fish, potatoes and molasses. Some prisoners were allowed to purchase additional food with money earned from extra work, but these purchases were limited to tea, chocolate, pork, cheese and onions.
While "the ordinary drink of the prisonners shall be water," beer was supplied to men at hard labor during the summer months to quench thirst and for its apparent medicinal qualities. This had been recommended by Abraham R. Thompson, the physician of the Massachusetts State Prison, who wrote to the warden in the summer of 1822 claiming that beer was preferable to water
to support, invigorate and preserve the spirits and strength. it is necessary to allow them beer for their drink, and [I] do accordingly direct that beer, composed of hops, ginger and molasses, be prepared and furnished to them immediately.
Le code noir, ou recueil des reglemens, concernment le gouvernment, l'administration de la justice, la police, la discipline & le commerce des negres dans les colonies françois. Paris : Prault, 1747.
Edit du roi, touchant la police des Isles de l'Amerique françois. Du mois de mars 1685.
Louis XV's Code noir of 1685 ordered the expulsion of Jews from French colonies, banned the practice of religions other than Catholicism, and provided a framework for the government of slaves in these colonies. While several chapters address the issue of the feeding of slaves in general, articles 22 and 23 spell out some specifics. Slave-owners were expected to provide all slaves aged sixteen and older with two pots of manioc flour or three cassavas of equivalent weight, plus two pounds of salted beef or three pounds of fish (or equivalent) per week. Allowances for children under 16 were half this quantity. Slave owners were prohibited from giving their slaves brandy made from sugar cane in lieu of food.
James Stephen. The slavery of the British West India colonies delineated as it exists both in law and practice. v.1. London : Joseph Butterworth and Son, 1824.
James Stephen (1758-1832), a master in Chancery and later a member of the British Parliament, was deeply opposed to slavery and fought for its abolition throughout his life. In an appendix to this comprehensive treatise on slavery, he compares the diets of the slaves in the Leeward Islands and the Bahamas. Although there was more variety in the diet of Leeward Island slaves, slaves in the Bahamas actually received much more food, leading Stephen to conclude that they were, in fact, better off.
Eighteenth annual report of the board of trustees and officers of the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum . for the year 1856. Columbus : Richard Revins, 1856.
From the Library's collection of annual reports of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum, which covers the years from 1839 to 1860, one can glean information on the diet and dining customs of the patients there. It appears that many of their fruits and vegetables were grown on the asylum grounds. The maintenance of orchards and gardens in fact was considered an important part of the patients' treatment. The list here illustrates the scale of the asylum's enterprise. Female patients also helped out in the kitchen and bakery. While these reports tend to paint an almost cheerful picture of life at the asylum, the patients' days were clearly regimented and carefully controlled. Men and women ate in separate dining halls, were given "an abundance of food and of a good quality"--but were never forced to eat--and care was taken to keep them from leaving the dining hall with knives or forks.
August V. Kautz. Customs of service for non-commissioned officers and soldiers as practised in the Army of the United States. Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott, 1864.
This practical Civil War army manual contains 14 pages of information and advice on cooking while in permanent camp or in the field of battle. It gives no recipes, but provides rather straightforward general instructions, obviously intended for men with limited cooking experience. Kautz suggests building small clay ovens for baking bread, if the troops are stopped for a few days, and recommends substituting parched wheat or corn, cooked whole or as a cold or hot mush, when bread is unavailable. He also gives instructions on the preparation of fresh and salt beef, salt pork, beans, peas, rice, hominy and vegetables. He notes that "coffee is the soldier's greatest sustainer," but adds that "on a long and fatiguing march a canteen of cold tea is invaluable, greatly relieving exhaustion."