Long before microwaves, electric stoves and refrigerators, food was prepared in clay pots and iron kettles over hot coals and preserved by smoking, salt curing and pickling. This Thanksgiving holiday, explore foodways of 17th- and 18th-century Virginia during “Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia,” a three-day event November 28-30 at Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center. 

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At Jamestown Settlement, a museum of 17th-century Virginia, discover how food was gathered, preserved and prepared on land and at sea by Virginia’s English colonists and Powhatan Indians. In the re-created Powhatan Indian village, visitors can see venison, turkey and other game roast over an open fire, while stews of corn, beans and squash cook in clay pots. A daily program will show the importance of corn to the Powhatan Indians and the variety of dishes in which it was used, including corncakes and corn dumplings. Throughout the day, visitors also can learn how Powhatan Indians made stone and bone tools used to obtain and prepare food.

At the ships’ pier, visitors will be invited to haul cargo from a replica of one of the three ships that brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607, to learn how the colony was provisioned, as well as explore typical sailors’ fare of salted fish, biscuit and dried foods. Throughout the day, visitors can try making the most common fare – a ship’s biscuit.
 
Within the re-created 1610-14 fort, food preparation will reflect the culinary skills English colonists brought to Virginia. Historical interpreters will bake bread on all three days and throughout the event will demonstrate open-hearth cooking of pudding, pies and pottage, based on recipes published by Elinore Fettiplace in 1604 and Robert May in 1660.

On Thursday and Friday, an entire pig will be processed into hams and bacon, followed by salting for preservation.

Museum visitors also can experience several military demonstrations, including the firing of a swivel gun at the ships’ pier and European military tactics and drills near the fort.