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Photo provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
The Native Americans survived and obtained food using the hunter-gatherer method with a bow and arrow. This weapon was used to hunt game such as deer, bears, and turkey to provide substantial meals for their family. The material of the arrows was made of animal bone, antlers, or wood from a tree. The shaft is smoothed, shaped and is attached to the arrowhead which consists of a sharp piece of stone. Each bow and arrow displays the craftsmanship and resourcefulness of the Native American tribes.
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Native American women were to prepare food the men brought home. They cooked the skinned meat over hot stones or homemade cooking pots that were heated by a fire. These pots were woven together with durable materials and then coated in clay for heat insulation. The New York State Museum features a display of handmade Native American clay pots that were used for cooking over an open flame. The meals were flavorful with spices and additional ingredients such as pepper, garlic, and onions
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Photo from New York State Archives - Digital Collections -
This photo features African American slaves plowing the soil while another group is preparing sweet potatoes to be planted in the field. This photo was taken in 1862 on James Hopkins Plantation located in South Carolina. On the plantations, the slaves had to fend for themselves by growing their own food in addition to maintaining the demands of their owners. They had to be creative with their meals since they were left with the unwanted scraps of animal meat.
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Photo provided by the Library of Congress -
The cooking and food preparation was solely the responsibility of wives and women in society. This cookbook contains many recipes revolving around eggs, gravy, and ripe fruit. The concept of farming quickly expanded to more than plants and harvesting crops with the advancement of technology and labor.
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Photo provided by MSU Libraries, Digital Collections. Feeding America: the Historic American Cookbook Project -
Photo from National Museum of American History -
"Mary Hawley Bardole driving a Ford tractor in the mid-1940s. After sitting out for over a decade, Ford got back in the tractor business with a partnership with engineer and innovator Henry Ferguson. Courtesy of Roy Bardole."
The invention and use of machinery maximized efficiency and farmers were able to harvest and plant crops sufficiently faster. Food production skyrocketed as technology innovations made it possible to cultivate large quantities of food at a time to be sold and distributed. -
Photo from Cracker Barrel.com. Cracker Barrel History and Timeline. -
Restaurants serving a variety of types of food spread throughout the South and the very first infamous Cracker Barrel was founded in Lebanon, Tennessee in 1969. The Cracker Barrel menu and recipes encompassed all southern food that the South is currently known for ranging from homemade cornbread to fried chicken. The Cracker Barrel official website has a visual timeline of the restaurant featuring a photograph of the very first location founded by Dan W. Evans.