The Downs and Ups of Doing History

Down:
On Saturday I attended a presentation on disease during the Civil War. While the germ theory of disease was known, clean air was thought to be the way to good health. Proper windows and curtains were important but doctors didn’t wash their hands or satirize their equipment. When people ask if I wouldn’t like to live in Early America all I say is “doctors and dentists.”
Up:
This morning I grabbed something from the fridge and stuffed it into my cooler for lunch. Little did I know that a whole 18th century tavern meal awaited me when I got to work. Meat pasties, carrot pudding, slaw, bread pudding. Tea rather than a rum punch.
Newlin Grist Mill where I work is doing a tavern night this weekend and the staff got to be the guinea pigs for the food if not the drink.
Spices were expensive in the colonial period. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice were kept under lock and key. They were used in both savory and sweet foods so some of the tastes, while not what we are used to, are pleasing. What a wonderful lunch.