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Food and Drink

"In his devouring mind's eye he pictured to himself every roasting-pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the geese were swimming in their own gravy; and the ducks pairing cozily in dishes, like snug married couples, with a decent competency of onion-sauce." The author of this delightful description of early nineteenth-century American cuisine, Washington Irving, was popular in part because he struck responsive chords among his readers. Americans loved their food. Young women grew up with the conviction that taking care of a husband meant feeding him. Thus the reputation of a "good wife" was determined more by the quantity and variety she could feed her husband and family than by her skill in serving a balanced diet.

One thing that observers believed the Mormon faith was noted for was its pragmatism. The Saints of Nauvoo lived and worked for their spiritual salvation, but they also attended to their physical necessities. The Lord reminded the Prophet Joseph through revelation in 1831: "For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance." (D&C 49:19.)

The Latter-day Saints did not always have in abundance, especially after their forced exile from Missouri and during the first few months in rebuilding their homes and lives in Illinois. Drusilla Hendricks arrived in Nauvoo in 1839. She wrote in her journal that flour was hard to get, but there were plenty of cabbages, potatoes, and turnips. During the winter she had cornmeal but nothing with which to season vegetables. The Prophet shared the hardships of his people during those early lean times in Nauvoo, but privations never seemed to squelch his sense of humor. A visitor remembered that as a young guest of the Smith family, he was invited to eat with them. Joseph looked over the table and said, "Lord, we thank Thee for this johnny cake, and ask Thee to send us something better. Amen." The guest did not reveal just when that event occurred, but it is likely it was in Nauvoo's early years when shortages were most evident.

During summer and fall, when gardens and orchards were maturing, vegetables and fruit could be had in abundance, but staples were needed the year round, and some Nauvoo diaries mention shortages of flour, milk, butter, and eggs. Shortages were not unusual on the frontier, especially after the Panic of '37. Again, near the end of the Nauvoo years, the mobs' destruction of farms and crops in outlying Mormon settlements created shortages. Throughout most of the life of Nauvoo, however, the Saints prospered in their farms and gardens and ate well.

In February 1842 an editorial in the Millennial Star, the Church newspaper published in England, listed prices of food in Nauvoo and pointed out to would-be English emigrants that "the expense of living [in Nauvoo] is about one-eighth of what it costs in this country." One emigrant was apparently not disappointed with what she found in Nauvoo. In one of her letters home in 1844, Sally Randall wrote: "I expect you and the neighbors would like to know how we have lived. We have done very well. We have had a plenty of meat, milk, butter, flour and corn. What fruit I bought has done very well."