Christopher Columbus – A Culinary History

HIS VOYAGES AND DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD

THE FIRST VOYAGE
Columbus sailed from Palos de la Frontera on 3 August, 1492. His flagship, the Santa Maria had 52 men aboard while his other two ships, the Nina and Pinta each held 18 men. The expedition made a stop at the Canary Islands and on 6 September 1492 sailed westward.

Let us look at the first voyage and the victuals embarked on the three vessels, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. The first problem was to obtain supplies of food, wine and water. At the Canary islands they picked up fresh water, wood and the famous Gomera goat cheese.

Columbus' first voyage had the best victuals (and enough to last a year), not the case in his other voyages.

The menu for Spanish seamen consisted of water, vinegar, wine, olive oil, molasses, cheese, honey, raisins, rice, garlic, almonds, sea biscuits (hardtack), dry legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, beans, salted and barreled sardines, anchovies, dry salt cod and pickled or salted meats (beef and pork), salted flour. The olive oil and perhaps olives were stored in earthenware jugs. All other provisions were stored in wooden casks which, according to some reports, were of cheap and faulty construction permitting the preserving brine to leak out of the meat casks and moisture to invade the casks of dry provisions. All were stored in the hold, the driest section of which was normally reserved for those casks carrying dry provisions. A cooper (barrel maker) was responsible for keeping the casks tight, an almost impossible challenge.

Food, mostly boiled, was served in a large communal wooden bowl. It consisted of poorly cooked meat with bones in it, the sailors attacking it with fervor, picking it with their fingers as they had no forks or spoons. The larger pieces of meat were cut with the knife each sailor carried.

At the time of Columbus, the only means of cooking was an open firebox called "Fogon." It was equipped with a back to screen it from the wind. Sand was spread on the floor of the box and a wood fire built on it. Of course, all this was obliterated in stormy weather. Later on, portable ovens were made available to set up ashore when the opportunity arose.

Fish was cheaper and more readily available than meat and was served more often. Meats were often prepared in some sort of stew with peas other legumes or rice and served with sea biscuits which were soaked in the soup or in water for edibility. Sea biscuits were purchased to last at least a year, providing they were kept in dry areas.

For drink the crew had wine and water. Both were stored in wooden barrels. The wine was red and high in alcohol -- a preservative feature. It probably came from the hot, dry, undulating treeless chalky plains of Xeres (Jerez) near Cadiz, where the vines were first planted by the Phoenicians, tended by the Greeks after them and then the Romans and much later the Moors. The wines while rich in character were not fortified at that time. Fortification came much later.

During the days of calm at sea, the sailors would fish and then cook their catch.

The weather during the journey was pleasant, no major storms. By 10 October, after 34 days at sea, the sailors became hysterical and were ready to mutiny, many of them feeling that since the world was flat, at any moment they would fall off.

Columbus convinced the mutineers to wait 3 more days. They very next day they saw tree branches in the water and realized that land was close.

DISCOVERY OF NEW WORLD -
America, exploration of the Bahamas, north coasts of Cuba and Haiti.

After making landfall in the Bahamas at dawn on 12 October 1492, Columbus explored the coasts and named a large number of islands, including Cuba and La Espanola. When he went ashore he was puzzled because the "easterners" were not what footloose Marco Polo described them to be on his return to Europe in 1295 after spending 20 years in the Orient, nor did Columbus see any "pagodas" with golden roofs.

He did find lush vegetation and marvelled at the variety of strange plants. In the "New World," maize (Indian corn) was the most widely cultivated crop to be found and was invariably grown in conjunction with beans, squashes and other food plants, combinations that provided a diet with a good balance of proteins and carbohydrates.

Maize was the predominant staple of the Indian communities of the eastern part of the present-day United States. Almost all other foods were mixed with corn gruel or baked in little corn cakes. In tropical America, manioc or cassava, became the major food crop. Manioc, a plant native to South America produces a starchy root that can be made in gruel or bread. the domestication of manioc was of enormous importance to tropical communities because the plant yields more food per acre than any other crop.

One of the most important food plants developed in pre-Columbian America was the potato - first cultivated in the highlands of South America. Though the potato did not grow well in the tropics, the sweet potato thrived in both temperate and tropical zones. Other crops included the peanut, tomato, papaya, pineapple, avocado, chile pepper, cotton and cocoa. The Mayas and Aztecs valued cocoa highly as a beverage and even used cocoa beans as a medium of exchange.

Within a half a century of the first voyage of Columbus, Spain had conquered the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations and established an enormous colonial empire. The Spanish conquest did not completely destroy the pre-Columbian agrarian system. Instead, it introduced Old World plants, animals, tools and methods that coexisted with the Indian system. Eventually, each system borrowed elements from the other, irrevocably changing the agriculture of both the Old and New World.

Europeans introduced sugarcane, rice, olives, bananas, wheat, barley and European broadbeans.

On Christmas Eve 1492 the Santa Maria ran into a coral reef off the coast of Haiti and, with the help of the local Indians, Columbus removed supplies, dismantled the ships timbers and established La Navidad, a colony around two houses donated by the local "cacique" or chief.

He left behind 39 crewmen, including a carpenter, caulker, physician, gunner, tailor and cooper. He also left water casks and oils jars to collect gold. The men were told to trade with the Indians and collect as much gold as possible and hold it for his return. Columbus then instructed them to build a fort with a moat to impress the Indians and to use in case of danger. The crewmen did not follow these instructions as the Indians seemed friendly.

RETURN TO SPAIN
In early 1493 Columbus returned to Spain on the Nina. The Pinta followed. The return trip was quite rough, most of the crew were sick and 4 of the 6 Indians he brought with him, died. Columbus and his small band arrived in Palos de la Frontera on 15 March after stopping in Lisbon for repairs.

Banquets and celebrations were held in his honor. The crown appointed a special committee to acquire provisions and organize men for additional expeditions. Sailors were often cheated by ships' chandlers - they were given weak barrels, poor wine that quickly turned to vineyard and old maps instead of good.

SECOND VOYAGE
Discovered the windward and leeward Islands that bound the eastern Caribbean, explored Puerto Rico, the southern coast of Cuba and Jamaica and circumnavigated Hispaniola Columbus left Spain in September 1493 this time with 17 ships and 1,200 men, all eager to find wealth and immense riches. On October 13, 1493 they stopped at Madeira and Canaries for water, wood and gomera cheese and then in the Cape Verde Islands for goat which he then had slaughtered and salted.

We know that barreled wine from Jerez was used as ballast during Columbus' second voyage to the New World

While there are no complaints of carelessness or ship chandler's dishonesty reported on the first voyage, this was not the case on the second voyage. The people entrusted with supplying 17 vessels carrying 1200 men believed in spending the least money possible. As a result, wine and water barrels leaked, the wine quickly turned to vinegar, the food was beginning to spoil at the time of purchase, and old nags instead of Andalucian horses were loaded along with livestock.

Salting methods were very good and properly meat would keep as long as 40 years provided the casks - which contained about 30 gallons - were kept in good order and their contents were not allowed to become dry. Most of the meat was of such poor quality that it was beginning to go bad at the time of preservation.

In days of calm sea the men fished and were able to enjoy fresh fish.

On land, humidity and heat played havoc with food supplies - sea biscuits turned into soft masses of pulsating weevils, meat and dry fish turned into malodorous masses but the men endured the trials and tribulations.

When sea biscuits became too spoiled, a flour made of cassava roots of the manioc or yucca plant, leached out of their poison (hydrocyanic acid - the Indians dipped their arrow tips into this poison), was used to make into thin pancakes. At first the Spaniards did not like it, but they soon had to accept it as it was superior to the moldy hardtack they had available. They also learned to eat iguanas in Cuba (at first thought disgusting) even "barkless" dogs (thought to taste as good as "kid from Seville").

When he reached Haiti (11 months after leaving) he found La Navidad burned and all his men dead.

Of the twelve hundred crew, staff and passengers on this second voyage, three hundred died of disease in the new settlement of La Isabella during 1494, despite the heroic efforts of Dr. Chanca. The weather was also hostile. A hurricane in 1495 destroyed all the ships in the harbor including those that Columbus' financial backer Berardi had leased and loaded with merchandise. Columbus was able to return to Spain only by patching together two ships from the wreckage.

RETURN TO SPAIN - 1496
In 1496 he sailed back home. This time he did not receive a hero's welcome. His men were bitter that they did not find the wealth they were seeking, they found no cities, no money economy, no metal tools, manufactures or ores.

Columbus' report to the monarch when he arrived in Seville only confirmed the rumors they had already heard from resupply ships that had crossed the ocean during 1494 and 1495. Ferdinand and Isabel gave the Admiral a distracted if not cool reception.

By the time the monarchs once again summoned Columbus to court in 1497, relations were decidedly cool. Furthermore, the royal treasury was once again empty. Though they approved financing for a third voyage funding moved a glacially slow pace. No westbound sailing ships left in 1497.