What Kinds of Food Did Pennsylvania Colonists Eat?

Pennsylvania colonists ate a wide variety of foods, including wild game, berries, fish and puddings. Culinary influences included English, French and West Indian, though food tended to be simple. Farmers grew wheat, grains and many other crops.

Colonial Pennsylvania was largely inhabited by Quakers, and gluttony was frowned upon. Some Quakers deliberately abstained from consuming certain foods, such as salt and sugar, because they believed them to be tainted by sin. Others declined to eat butter, tea or meat.

The most popular cooking method of the day was boiling, and it wasn’t uncommon to boil food for breakfast and dinner. During meals, everyone in a household, including the servants, shared a single table.