In general, the foods we eat aren’t like the foods from a hundred years ago.  Foods are processed today in all sorts of different ways, and fads and trends affect what we choose to eat.  Simply put, Americans’ food preferences have shifted over time.

That’s why it’s so amusing to me to come across an account of a meal from about 150 years ago that’s quite similar to a meal today.  The description comes from a Scot named Patrick Shirreff, who visited America in the 1830s and wrote a book about it later.

He took what was then a fairly typical tour of the states: landing on the east coast, traveling east across New York state, Ohio, and Indiana, and then going south via stagecoach and boat through the south.

As he approaches Chicago in a stagecoach the party stops at a house for breakfast, and he describes the scene:

A kettle and two frying-pans were put on the fire, and two others over some ashes, removed from the general mass by means of a shovel, and placed on the hearth. Into one of these pans some small loaves were placed, which had been prepared beforehand, and covered with a lid, on which hot ashes were placed; and in the other, batter-cakes, called flap-cakes, were prepared. In one of the frying-pans on the fire bacon was dressed, and in the other potatoes; so, in less than half-an-hour, a breakfast of the best the house could afford was prepared.

So this is what they ate for breakfast: fresh bread (prepared in what was essentially a Dutch oven), pancakes (or flap-jacks), bacon, and fried potatoes.  This isn’t much different from what you can get at IHOP, just without all the sugary stuff they add to it.

There are some things we eat for breakfast that Americans in general didn’t eat back then, such as yogurt or cold cereal, but quite a bit of breakfast, especially the hot foods, were fairly common.  The only reason I can think of for why breakfast hasn’t changed much is that it tends to be a very profitable meal for restaurants, given that the ingredients (eggs, bread, potatoes) are very inexpensive.  While you might not have pancakes every morning your local diner will have them available, along with eggs, fried potatoes, oatmeal, and all the other traditional breakfast foods.  This may be one instance where capitalism is keeping a tradition alive instead of changing or getting rid of it.

The above quote was taken from A Tour Through North America…, by Patrick Shirreff (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, et.al., 1835), page 221.  You can download the book for free from Google Books.