The most fascinating thing learning about the civil war is how UN-sanitary they were. There were 2 million soldiers and they was no way to keep everyone healthy and clean.
We grab our plates and cups, and wait for no second invitation. We each get a piece of meat and a potato, a chunk of bread and a cup of coffee with a spoonful of brown sugar in it. Milk and butter we buy, or go without. We settle down, generally in groups, and the meal is soon over… We save a piece of bread for the last, with which we wipe up everything, and then eat the dish rag. Dinner and breakfast are alike, only sometimes the meat and potatoes are cut up and cooked together, which makes a really delicious stew. Supper is the same, minus the meat and potatoes.
– Lawrence VanAlstyne, Union Soldier, 128th New York Volunteer Infantry
My favorite dish is grilled octopus and it would really bother me to know if this dish was not prepped with the proper cleaning.
