Last summer, when Eleanor and I were in Schönenberg, which is just across the railway tracks from Ötisheim, we took a picture of the statue of a pastor from an earlier age. Pfarrer Henri Arnaud lived from 1643 to 1721, and he is remembered in a church yard with a life size bronze casting. He is depicted with a book, presumably the Bible, but what he is remembered for is something quite different from anything that is depicted.
A plaque beneath him makes the whole purpose of the memorial very clear: "Arnaud planted here the first potato."
I do not know how quickly the potato caught on and was adopted. From a viewpoint that it was dangerous and to be avoided, it evolved into a mainstay of the diet. It was less than a century, because it was verboten at the start of the eighteenth century, and widely used at the end of the century. As one member on the list commented, it had a profound effect on the economy, because it could more efficiently produce food energy than the grains could. It produced abundantly and simply, and it freed labor for other purposes.
Corn was known and used as human food in America before the Germans came. It appears that they adopted this as a food in their diet. Squash was another New World food which was used.
Peas and beans were known and used. They had the desirable advantage that they would keep very well. The storage characteristics of a food were as important as its taste. Peas and beans appeal in taste to many people, so they were very important.
All kinds of small grains were grown.
Fresh food that was available the year around included milk, cream, and butter. Eggs were not as uniformly available.
So now that we have a few foods to use, what shall we have for dinner? The chances are that the meal would be cooked in one pot. The Germans were masters of "crock pot" cooking. They might put two or three kinds of vegetables into the pot, perhaps some dried apples, perhaps a little meat, and maybe even a few dumplings. Some butter, or drippings from meat, would add some seasoning. When done, this would be the meal. This could be done early in the morning, to be ready for the midday meal, the big meal of the day. A close variation of this was soup, for which there might not be any fixed recipe.
(11 Jul 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.