ARTH1100 History of Photography S2017

Before viewing the two articles I had no idea that there was such a food shortage during the civil war. Based off the articles it seems like food, and coffee as well, played an pivotal role in the Union’s success during the civil war. However it’s not surprising, if you’re hardly eating—like the Confederate soldiers weren’t— you would suffer from headaches, stomach pains and if your blood sugar got too low, fainting was a possibility. Because of this moral would’ve been extremely low so people wouldn’t want to fight at all.
I found it surprising on how heavily people relied on coffee as they do now. It’s interesting to see how long this cultural norm has been around and how desperate people were back then to keep it. The mixed potential fatal ingredients together in hopes of making something similar to coffee.
A food I couldn’t live without is rice. Rice is a huge part of my diet and is extremely filling. And you can make so many different dishes with rice.  Continue reading →

Soldiers are heroes who save our country. They put their lives on the fire. The fascinating part of the articles is that coffee plays an important role in their lives during the war. I was surprise that they can’t live without coffee instead of rice. Usually soldiers think food is the most important to them in order to give them energy to fight. They drink coffee before fighting and they also celebrate by drinking coffee. Coffee can keep them focus since they will be lack of sleep during war time. Other than coffee, hardtack is also important to them since it can be stored for a long time and hardtack can give them energy for the entire day not like other foods that will be digested very soon.

Noodles is the food that I cannot live without. I eat noodles more offen than rice and It tastes more delicious.

A civil war is arguably the toughest thing that anyone could be asked to go through, in this case not only did the soldiers have to fight against their own families, but they also had to endure the unsanitary food given to them, which they needed to survive. What I found most interesting after reading the diaries of the soldiers and How Coffee fueled the Civil War was how much coffee kept the soldiers going. Without such a simple drug like caffeine the soldiers would not have been able to even shoot their rifles. Also, another thing I found interesting was that there was a sixteen-year old soldier fighting for what he believed in, even if it meant that he would lose his life. The reason I found this so interesting Is because it made me realize how much times have changed; how much people have changed for the worse.

The food I wouldn’t be able to live without is pasta because it’s such a great source of carbohydrates, which give the energy to do things like to go they gym or even something more simple like simply type this homework up.

http://daily.swarthmore.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Pasta.jpg

Perhaps the most fascinating Civil War Soldier diet is that it is similar to our daily diets today. The fact that they relied on small portions of food to gain their source of energy is very similar to how we manage to grab a quick snack in between our classes. Hardtack is a cracker like bar that’s made from flour, water and salt. It may not be the most nutritious thing available but it was all they could carry on their long journeys. This would also explain how photographers managed to carry their food along with all the equipment needed for the wet plate collodion process photos.

When it came to drinks, coffee served as their energy drink. Soldiers ground the coffee themselves and they prepared it with very poor sources of water using muckets.

One of the things I can’t live without is a Clif bar. They are small protein bars made to serve as a source of energy when you can’t carry heavy loads of food. The founder of Clif Company was once climbing a mountain and he noticed how he couldn’t carry heavy food on his trip, so he created this bar.

The most fascinating thing about a Civil War soldiers diet would be how soldiers would be satisfied with a cup a coffee. Coffee became a part of them. They would drink some before going to war and after. It seems that coffee really does give you a boost of energy because until this day people drink coffee because they think that it gives them energy. Coffee became a big deal during the Civil War. Union troops were fascinated with coffee that they began making their coffee everywhere and with everything; from canteens and puddles, brackish bays and Mississippi mud and the list goes on.

I did not find it strange that the soldiers heavily relied upon coffee. Modern day people rely on the beverage to give them the energy need to complete tasks through the day. I did not find anything fascinating about the soldiers diet. I did however gain some insight in regards to the wartime culture.
I found it interesting that the first cookbook that was distributed among the shoulders was written by a man. During that time men were dependent on women to provide them with the meals. So many would assume that the cookbook would be written by a woman but because there were no women around, men had to adjust to their environment. Cooking was a foreign thing to men at the time so it’s interesting that they would try to create a coffee substitute when supply was low. Also a coffee substitute during that time sounds highly unnatural, unhealthy, and potentially deadly. It is no wonder that sometimes it was deadly if the ingredients were not mixed properly.

War is not a luxury resort, therefore it is understandable that soldiers often ate small portions and flavorless food. People often assume that government workers are well compensated for their work however that is not always the case. They are often under compensated and suffer at the cost of providing the public with a service.

Furthermore bread is very filling. So the fact that they consumed hardtack is not surprising.

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