Last year, Americans spent an estimated total of $13.3 billion on food and beverages for the Fourth of July. As we come together to celebrate Independence Day, food and drinks will be a highlight for many. Several of these dishes echo the same one that the Founding Fathers and American colonists ate in 1776, and others are completely different. One similarity appears to be the barbecue.
American kitchens have changed since the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Independence Day has always been a time to gather, feast and celebrate with family and friends. Today's picnics and BBQs may look quite different, yet a mix of heritage recipes, colonial-era staples and overlooked foodways bring a patriotic legacy to a modern picnic. Back in colonial times, barbecues were popular in part because there was no refrigeration.
“Not only was no refrigeration, but there were outdoor events,” said Robert Moss, author of the book “Barbecue: The History of an American Institution,” published by University of Alabama Press. He’ll be my guest on an upcoming edition of Alabama Public Radio’s new interview program “APR Notebook.”
“There were always outdoor events,” continued Moss. “You couldn't go to the butcher shop. And, you know, get pork shoulder or rack of ribs in the 19th century, you started with a unit. Of a whole pig or a whole cow or a whole sheep, or what, quite commonly, a little bit of all of those, and there's no refrigeration. So what do you do with it when you have to take it to wherever the barbecue is going to be held? And usually these were community events.”
When the American colonies declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, John Adams wrote in a letter, "I am apt to believe that Independence Day will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival … It ought to be solemnized … from one End of the Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
Americans have seemingly taken John Adams' words to heart over the past 200 years, gathering for picnics, festivals, fireworks and backyard BBQs. Capital One finds 70% of Americans expect to celebrate the Fourth of July in 2025. Of that number, 83% plan to purchase food, and 44% will buy drinks.
Hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, macaroni, salad, chips, watermelon, pies and beer are among the offerings at many Fourth of July parties today. Celebrations in 1776 and following years may have had the same spirit of patriotism and revelry, but the menus looked different. Early Americans were limited to the food they could hunt and grow. While trading companies shipped foodstuffs like tea, coffee and spices to the colonies, the weeks-long voyages made food costly. Without refrigeration, colonists had to eat seasonally or preserve their foods through drying, canning, pickling or salting.
Robert Moss notes how Independence Day has always been associated with outdoor barbecues. Another occasion was politics, from George Washington to LBJ. From colonial times through Abraham Lincoln’s two campaigns for the Presidency, barbecues were considered a good way to get groups of people together to sway their votes. Moss says, however, that practice only went so far with Washington and Lincoln.
“Back then you weren't supposed to campaign in politics, right? It was supposed to be this gentlemanly thing, but you would show your hospitality about holding a giant feast for everybody,” Moss noted. “And of course, everybody get together, and you'd walk around and talk, but you weren't giving speeches and all that kind of stuff.”
However, Moss says one phrase associated with politics appears to have its origins with barbecues. That’s the so-called “stump speech.” He says candidates who wanted to address large groups of voters, would often stand on top of the stump of downed tree to deliver their talks.
Common ingredients in the colonies included wild game, such as deer, fish and meat from livestock like cows, sheep and pigs. Even if they were not farmers, many colonists kept their own gardens where they could grow corn, oats, beans, wheat, barley, squash and fruit. Many of these foods are still served at modern Fourth of July gatherings. Hot dogs and hamburgers might be a more modern invention, but meat was certainly a center of feasts in the 18th century. Grilled corn on the cob, fruit salads and fresh vegetables are as common now as they were then. While pickling may no longer be a necessity for preserving vegetables, snacks like bread and butter pickles have remained staples.
As the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and launched the American Revolution, they celebrated with their own favorite foods. George Washington preferred seafood, often serving oyster gumbos, salmon mousse and crabmeat casseroles at his plantation.
Thomas Jefferson preferred French foods, often serving ice cream and champagne. James Hemings, one of Jefferson's enslaved workers, first made macaroni and cheese in the colonies, long before it became a popular dish at cookouts. John Adams' wife, Abigail, often baked a pandowdy, a pie-like dessert without the bottom crust.
Alcohol was a daily drink in the colonies, and beer was consumed by all ages, including infants, throughout the day. Much of this habit was a holdover from the English settlers who drank ale in Britain to avoid illness from polluted water. Every meal of the day included a beer. Because it was an essential drink and the commercial industry in the colonies was still limited, many homes brewed their own ales and ciders.
When you crack open a cold one this Independence Day, you'll follow a long tradition of drinking in America. If beer is not a staple of your Fourth of July parties, a beer cheese or beer cake can still be a nice nod to the past.
No party is complete without dessert, even in the 1700s. In addition to the early forms of ice cream eaten by elites like Thomas Jefferson, cookies, cakes and pies graced colonial tables. American Cookery, published in 1796 as the first American cookbook, collected popular recipes including syllabub, a pudding made of whipped cream and hard liquor.
