Q: What sources do you use to find out what people ate?
A: Research. I look for receipts, journals, diaries, recipes, and letters—anything that may help to identify what someone ate. These primary source documents help me determine who ate what depending on social status, social situation, and time of year.
Like today, money determined the diet, not only quality but accessibility. More money meant a more varied diet; less money meant fewer meals with less selection. Unlike today, items served at meals were predicated on the season. So, while we may strive for a balanced diet throughout the year, that has not always been the primary focus.
For The Isle of Devils, set in 1609 Bermuda, I read William Strachey’s True Reportory and Sylvanus Jourdain’s Discovery of the Bermudas, the only two first-hand accounts of life on the island following the shipwreck of the Sea Venture. These men listed not only what was eaten, but the quantity. I learned of cahow being harvested at roughly 300 birds per day and the eggs consumed by the dozens. (Is it any wonder they were believed to be extinct within ten years?) * I learned that harvested sea turtles could be stored on their backs for weeks at a time, their meat and oil both consumables. I expected the castaways to consume copious amounts of fish, but was surprised there were wild hogs. Talk about a varied diet! While on Bermuda, no one went hungry.
Discovering what people ate is interesting. Discovering why they ate what they ate is the rest of the story.
*Cahows were thought extinct until the 1950s. Now, thanks to conservation efforts, they are populating Nonsuch Island, and can be viewed via CahowCam.