[Camp Johnson, near Winchester, Virginia—The First Maryland Regiment playing football before Evening Parade.]
The first Super Bowl was played January 15, 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Who would have guessed, 50 Super Bowls later, more than 190 million Americans would be planning to watch Super Bowl LI this Sunday when the New England Patriots play the Atlanta Falcons in Houston. (Sidebar: While the New England Patriots have the most Super Bowl appearances, it is the Pittsburgh Steelers who hold the title for the most Super Bowl victories.)
For many, Super Bowl Sunday is considered a national holiday right up there with, July 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas. In fact, we eat more food on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year except Thanksgiving! So how much food do we eat? How about 1 billion chicken wings, 28 million pounds of potato chips, 12 million slices of pizza, and 8 million pounds of popcorn. And we wash it all down with 325 million gallons of beer.
In light of all this, I started to wonder what Game Day might have looked like back in 1864—had there been such a match-up. No pizza. No BBQ wings. And a very different kind of “potato chip”, to be sure.
And so, with apologies to Civil War historians everywhere, I submit the following “Civil War Super Bowl” menu for your consideration.
Have a go at making your own Civil War style chips:
Civil War Potato Chips
Recipe courtesy of The Civil War Zone
Potatoes
Butter
Salt
Wash and peel some potatoes, then pare them, ribbon-like into long lengths. Put them in cold water to remove the strong potato flavor; drain them, and throw them into a pan with a little butter, and fry them light brown. Take them out of the pan, and place them close to the fire on a sieve lined with clean writing paper to dry, before they are served up. A little salt may be sprinkled over them.
In case you’re wondering:
1. Cracklin: The skins and residue left from the rendering of pork fat. You might say, “passing the pigskin” looked a whole lot different back then.
2. Goober Peas: Peanuts
3. Switchels: Drinks made from cool water, juice, vinegar, and a sweetener like loaf sugar or treacle.
Super Bowl consumption statistics from Pursuitist.
Photo courtesy of Mitchel Archives, Harpers Weekly August 31, 1861
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