History of Photography Fall 2019

War is always a difficult time and is especially worse for soldiers. During these times, having adequate amount of food and supplies was nearly impossible and it is a luxury to have them. Prior to this lesson, I never knew how coffee was such an important factor in the diet of Civil War soldiers. Hardtack was understandable due to its inexpensiveness and was simple to make; it was something that soldiers ate majority of the time. It wasn’t healthy or nutritional but they didn’t have a choice. Gaining access to meat, vegetables, or carbohydrates was not possible. Coffee is also a luxury therefore, during vast food shortages and coffee shortages, Confederate South created new recipes and coffee substitutes. I love coffee for its flavor and because it gives me energy, but it really never crossed my mind that soldiers heavily rely on it as well. Coffee, food, and bullets are the most important things for the soldiers in the Civil War. In my opinion, food is still more important than coffee because it also gives energy and makes us feel satiated. I love eating and trying out new food. Food can tell you a lot regarding a certain culture, its  history, and its interaction with others. A food that I cannot live without is ramen; I love eating noodles.

When I watched the short video I was very surprised to learn about what hardtacks were. I also understood how very important hardtacks and coffee was for soldiers during the civil war in the north and south. Even though the they were “tooth breakers” they really relied on them in order to not starve to death. In the video Matt Anderson shows an 150 year old hardtack and states how it looks the same as well as the day it was made. Hadtack could go bad if it was not packaged correctly but soldiers would just use coffee to clean it up enough to eat.

A food I would never be able to live without is bacon, I love bacon so much, I would give up any other food except bacon.

I love my bacon extra crispy 

After watching videos on the Civil War soldiers diet, it’s very interesting to see what they would eat compared to what soldiers eat now. Civil War soldiers would eat a large thick cracker called “hardtack”. Hardtack was the primary food source throughout the North and South. It was loved by many of the soldiers. Hardtack were long lasting; essential for the army since they would constantly be on the move. The thick cracker would be very hard and dry to eat. Coffee played an important role alongside hardtack. Soldiers would often dip their hardtack in coffee to make it soft to eat since it was thick and hard. Since it was soo hard, soldiers would also call hardtack “tooth breakers”. They would also dip their hardtack in coffee to get the mold and insects out. Sometimes the hardtack would get moldy and the soldiers would often still eat it.

The one food I can’t live without is burgers and fries. You can never go wrong with eating a burger with a side of fries. Eating a burger just makes me feel 100% complete and happy. I like going to different places and trying out different types of burgers they have. It’s soo delicious and I can eat it any day. As I’m writing this, I’m craving a burger right now. 

The most interesting part of the civil war diet I found was the lengths they went to just to make the coffee. They used old water, dirty water, mud water, water you’d never dream of putting near your mouth. I guess the boiling process probably would have cleaned out a lot of the bacteria in it. But still, gross. I enjoy coffee, but they made it sound way better than it actually is.  And not only did they drink the coffee, but they used it to soften their hardtack too. Something tells me that stale bread dipped in coffee isn’t the most appetizing thing in the world. And when they couldn’t get real coffee? They made it out of whatever they could find, and often times it was the furthest thing from coffee possible. It didn’t even have caffeine in it.

Personally, I can’t live without a good cheeseburger [and fries]. It’s easily my favorite food and one of the first things I taught myself how to cook. Right now 5 guys is my go to. I haven’t found a better burger yet and its not for lack of trying. Cheese, lettuce, a1 sauce and grilled onions is all you need.

The thing that I found most fascinating about a Civil War soldiers diet is the limited amount if food they had. The problems they had related to the limited amounts of food and the lack of nutrition for the soldiers. Union soldiers had to depend on food that has been almost always made to extend shelf life. The soldiers at the time had to depend on women to cook their food, so when the war started, it complicated some things. So many factors made food scarce during the Civil War.

The one food that I can not live without is a good classic cheeseburger. So simple, yet so delicious. A classic cheeseburger can make any day, a good day for me.

The thing that I found fascinating about the Civil War era was what the soldiers were eating during battles since they couldn’t have a good proper meal, all they depended on was a hardtack. When I first saw the image of a hardtack it was just a big large crack, also known as a tooth breaker because of how hard it was to bite down so it was dipped into coffee to soften. I would love to try a hardtack just to have that experience and imagine what it was like for a soldier in the Civil war times ate. Hardtack should be brought back to life, I don’t see why many businesses wouldn’t want to revive it. 

The food that that can’t live without would be Tacos al Pastor. Its pork meat that has been heated up in spinning brill and when grilled right you have this crispy thin layer on the outside and nice warm soft layer on the inside. You can add more toppings such as lemon, chopped onions, salsa verde or roja (green/ red sauce) and pineapple. The best tacos al pastor are found in Mexico, because of the tortilla on how different it tastes, they are really different from the tortilla here in the United States.

For the Union soldiers food was one of the biggest problems, during that time most of the soldiers were men and they didn’t know how to cook so they eat raw meat. From my Biology class, I learn that raw meat contains a lot of bacteria and can damage your brain, and eventually, you will die if that happened. there are no cure of that.
The Union soldier had a lot of coffee but the Confederate soldier did not able to get any coffee. So they rob the Union soldier coffee or tried to tread coffee for something ales. The civil war soldier was adducted for coffee. They drink coffee whenever and wherever they wanted.

A food that I would not live without would be “Chingri Vuna”. Chingri means shrimp, and vuna means the style of cooking. This food is little bit spicy, and I like to eat this with rice. You can cook this same dish in different way.

Taken From: https://www.trepup.com/kalyanifoodfestival

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPJQf2WCN_4

The most fascinating thing about a Civil War soldier’s diet is that hardtack lasted for so long, and it was considered nutritious. Another thing that was interested is that if the hardtack got moldy soldiers would just cut off the mold. In today’s age that will not suffice.

The dish I can’t live without is called pupusas. Pupusa is El Salvador’s traditional dish. It’s made out of handmade corn tortilla stuffed with cheese. There are other flavors as well.