Portal:Food/Selected article/20

The cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies was derived from familiar traditions from the colonist's home countries, mainly England. Many agricultural items came to the New World through trade with England and the West Indies. Certain familiar items grew better in the New World than others, and this led to a dependence on imports which drove the daily lives of the colonists. For example, the cost of items such as imported wool gave the colonists an incentive to raise sheep, not only for wool to replace imports, but for access to the meat of the older animals as mutton. However, the colonial diet was increasingly supplemented by meat and plant foods indigenous to the New World. In the years leading up to 1776, a number of events led to a drastic change in the diet of the American colonists. Taxes and tariffs levied by England increased the costs of goods and caused colonists to hold a grudge toward the British monarchy and British imports. Import tariffs and taxes, and other issues, eventually led to the American Revolution. As they could no longer depend on British and West Indies imports, agricultural practices of the colonists began to focus on becoming completely self sufficient.