Food of the Wampanoag, Pilgrims, and Beyond

With the end of the calendar year approaching, it’s common for family and friend gatherings to take place in celebration of various holidays. In anticipation of lots of meals with loved ones, we wanted to highlight some of the cookbooks in our collection, plus books about the history of food and cooking in New England. Whether you have a sweet tooth or prefer something more savory, we’ve got a story or a recipe for everyone.

Let’s start by highlighting some food popular among the Wampanoags. The Wampanoags were the Indigenous people who settled the modern-day Plymouth area before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620. They were here long before Europeans arrived in North America and in the 1600s had around 40,000 people that made up the 67 villages of the Wampanoag Nation. Plimoth Patuxet Museums provides some information on the kinds of foods these Indigenous people consumed and cooked. Wampanoag families were assigned a plot of land on which they could garden, though there was food sharing amongst the community.They grew corn, beans, squash, and melons. Land shared among the community was where hunting, gathering, and fishing took place. Meat only made up about 20% of the Wampanoag diet since it wasn’t as readily available, while the foods they farmed made up the majority of their diet. They gathered berries, roots, and other plants to supplement their food supply as well. Today there are between 4,000 and 5,000 Wampanoag still living in New England and they continue to honor their ancestors and appreciate their way of life.

Plimoth Patuxet Museums also put together recipes based on primary sources and research done by their experts. You’ll find traditional Wampanoag dishes of the Indigenous people of Patuxet on their website, as well as some English versions of dishes.

Once the Pilgrims arrived in the Plymouth area, food developed further. Here are a few recipes from the book Plimoth Plantation: 1627 Autumn Recipes, which contains recipes similar to those of the Pilgrims’. Keep in mind that their food was influenced by the Wampanoag and was made according to what was available on the land where they just arrived rather than on the food they made while living in England. Many recipes needed to be adjusted based on what they had on hand, which you can read more about in the excerpt below along with a recipe for “pudding of native corn with dried blueberries.”

You can find more recent recipes based on the traditions of the Wampanoag in this cookbook, written by the former chief of the Mashpee Wampanoags and owner of The Flume restaurant in Mashpee, MA, Earl Mills Sr.  

The Flume is now closed, but over the 20+ years it was open, it was a warm, welcoming place abuzz with customers. Mills Sr. filled his menu (and this book) with recipes inspired by the traditions of his people and of his family growing up, as well as recipes that his customers shared with him.

We of course cannot talk about food in New England without talking about the chocolate chip cookie. The chocolate chip cookie was designated the state cookie of Massachusetts on July 9, 1997, but its history with our state started well before then. This now-classic cookie was born thanks to Ruth Wakefield, baker and owner of the Toll House Restaurant in Whitman, Mass., during the Great Depression. You can see the original recipe below and find more of Ruth’s recipes in her book titled “Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Tried and True Recipes.” Be sure to also take a look at one of our previous blog posts for more information.

Moving forward in time, let’s take a look at recipes that some of our Massachusetts elected officials liked to make in 1987. Yes, it’s true: we have a cookbook titled “What's cooking under the dome?: the Massachusetts state elected officials cookbook.” This book was compiled by Rep. Thomas Finneran and published in 1987 to benefit the Boston Center for Blind Children. It contains recipes for appetizers, soups, main dishes, and desserts, all from elected officials in the Commonwealth, including Governor Michael Dukakis.  

There are even helpful hints at the back of the book. For example: according to this book, did you know that if you’re baking, you’ll get better results if you preheat your cookie sheet, muffin tin, or cake pans? 

For more books related to cooking and food in New England, take a look at these titles below. You can read these books in person by visiting the Library (Monday-Friday, 9-5pm) or you can request them via interlibrary loan through your local public library.

• The baking powder controversy, 1904
• Bakers and baking in Massachusetts : including the flour, baking supply and kindred interests, from 1620 to 1909, 1909
• A collation of cakes yesterday and today : in which is included a true and accurate notation of early English and colonial America receipts, showing the beginning and progress of the gentle art of cake making to the present time, 1923 (This item is held in Special Collections. An advance appointment must be made to view this book in person and it is not loanable via ILL.)
• A century of candy making, 1847-1947 : the story of the origin and growth of New England Confectionery Company, which parallels that of the candy industry in America, 1947
• Fluff : the sticky sweet story of an American icon, 2017
• Women in the kitchen : twelve essential cookbook writers who defined the way we eat, from 1661 to today, 2020

Jessica Shrey
Reference Librarian