History of Photography Fall 2019

If I had to choose between food or coffee, I would choose food. The most interesting thing I found when it came to Civil War soldiers diets was the fact that they wanted to drink coffee so badly that they would use dirty or muddy water to make coffee. They would even use the water that their horses wouldn’t drink. If that doesn’t say something about their dedication to their caffeinated beverages I don’t know what does. I also find it fascinating that the hardtak could last for literally a hundred years if not longer when stored properly. Looks like that’s what we should be stocking up on for the next nuclear Holocaust haha. If I was a photographer during the Civil War for the Civil War, I most certainly would not be able to tolerate the conditions, especially the food.

On a side note though, I also found it interesting how during the “good times” the soldiers would have Oysters along with their coffee and I assumed that that was only during the winter months because that’s the only time of year that oysters would stay good when being distributed by the trains. Also back in those days there used to be a traditional meal they would make called oyster pie, a savory pie dish similar to chicken pot pie and stuffing mix together, specifically to celebrate Christmas. Just thought someone might find that interesting.

The food that I could not live without I’d have to say is biryani, which is an indian steamed rice dish with many spices and meat.

It’s insane to think that they had to eat a creaker that could survive forever. Although the processed food we eat now could probably do the same. When you have less, you become more creative. How they tried to make it more appetizing like cooking with grease, so clever. I personally my favorite food is lobster and Macaroni both separate and together.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/perfectly-steamed-lobster

What I find most interesting about what the civil war soldiers ate was the cut pound fo 2 beef roast into 2 cube inches square and the meat and potatoes , chunk of bread and a cup of coffee . I find this interesting because this is a survival tactic people still go through today in poverty to get through the day .

A meal I cant go without is tacos , I loved tacos since I was a little kid . still till this day I could eat up to 9 chicken tacos .

What was most interesting about a Civil War soldier’s diet was that they were given raw meat. I believed the process of cooking the meat were inconvenient, given the fact that may men had little to no experience in cooking as it was a woman’s duty during this time period. Considering that you had to cook in unsanitary conditions was dangerous for a soldiers health.  It will also be foolish to create a fire to cook since it will only give away ones location in a war. In today’s rations, almost all the food given to soldiers would be cooked. The Civil War soldiers dependence on coffee was not surprising to me because many of us, non-fighting soldiers, rely on coffee in today’s world to run our day.

A food that I can not live without would be sushi. Sushi is a food that you wont get tired of because it can come in many different flavors and variation.

What i found interesting is the soldier’s diet is consist of a piece of meat, a cup of coffee and hardtack which are large thick crackers. One of the biggest problems during the Civil War was the inexperience men had with cooking and were forced to adjust to a new way of eating. Hardtack was the soldier’s primary food because it was simple and inexpensive to make requiring only water, salt and flour. I’m surprised soldiers were able to function with the amount of food provided to them.

One of my favorite food is pizza because of how simple or complex it can be .

What I found interesting about the Civil Wars Soldiers diet was the Hardtack. It was a hard nutritious piece of cracker that was also called a tooth breaker because of how hard it was to bite into it. Some thing that was really interesting about the hardtack was how the soldiers would take the moldy cracker and dip it into their coffee to kill off the insect that were living inside of them instead of throwing away the cracker and wasting it seeing how they suffering from food shortages.

What I find the most fascinating  about the Civil War diet was that coffee played such a huge role in the soldiers everyday. Having it be a myth or not that coffee is indeed a drink that helps wake up people. Nowadays coffee is still such a big contribution to millions of people in the mornings and also as stated in the NYT’s article “how coffee fueled the Civil War” there is a correlation between the two considering that the soldiers felt they couldn’t be a soldier with out their coffee. Their love for coffee went far enough to the point that they needed coffee every other moment to keep them going through their day. They didn’t really care how the coffee was truly made. They made coffee in Mississippi mud and even in puddles.  The significance that coffee also had for the soldiers is truly admirable. Coffee to them was a sign of of safety for those who survived.

I can not live with out Mexican food but most importantly tortas. They may seem like a basic “sandwich” but to me is so much more. They carry a significance for me just like coffee did for the soldiers back during the Civil War.

What I found interesting about the soldiers’ diet is the lack of food variety along with the amount of food they had. These soldiers had to go to war and all they had were small amounts of meat, coffee, and some hardtack which are crackers. I find it very interesting and it makes me wonder how they can survive the cold weather with such little food. Also, the food they had would most likely be low in sugar which helps fuel the body and yet they are required to fight in a war.

One food I could not live without is chicken. Most of my life, I’ve grown up with eating chicken and it is a staple in my household. My family eats chicken every other day and not having would be really weird.