Presented by
Bruce Kraig, PhD

War is a great driver of changes in all human societies. As Von Clauswitz, famously said, war is an instrument of political policy.  And politics are the external expressions of drives and themes in a society, from economics, to social conditions and cultural perceptions. If these are so, then the changes that war brings are really accelerations of trends and currents that are already going on in the world.

The American Civil War is an excellent example of such changes coming from a political and social conflict. This was the first American war with mass mobilization of men and materiel. And with these came what are now familiar effects: centralization of authority and economies into the hands of governments and larger business entities; technological change and intensification; and new ideas percolating through societies. All of these have to do with food production and the way Americans ate.

This talk ranges over several topics relating to the Civil War, from organizing food production and transportation systems to feed troops in the field to what civilians ate at home, from high to low. And, how all this led to the creation of our modern food systems is the final point. Or, maybe it is the immortal words of a Southern Belle, made destitute by war, “I’ll never go hungry again!” Did she include her (former) slaves?

There will be a representation of Civil War food rations served

Bruce Kraig is an accomplished scholar in the history of food within the larger context of the social and cultural history of the United States. He holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and has won numerous awards including the Silver Apple Award for “Hidden Mexico,” and an Emmy and CHRIS awards for the program “Hidden China,” as well as the Gold Apple and Bronze Medal for the program “Food for the Ancestors.”  Bruce is President of  Culinary Historians of Chicago and founding member of Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance.

Program hosted at Kendall College.