What type of food did they eat in 1899?

Answer 1

In 1899, people still ate vension (meat they got from hunting), dried meat, beef jerky, and vegetables they grew. Knowledgeable persons also could find non-poisonous berries, mushrooms, and other wild plants and roots.

In farming communities, domestic meat depended on what animals a farmer kept and bred. For example, rocky areas in Pennsylvania were best suited to sheep but not cattle. On flatter, more open lands, cattle could graze. Many--but not all-- farms had at least 1 cow, especially if they had children. Farms used oxen more for plowing, and a horse (or team) for traveling, but these 2 animals were never eaten of course. Grains-- oats, wheat -- were used to make bread and other foods. Corn was a strong crop.

City dwellers ate less immediately fresh foods. So they may have had less meat and milk, and more grains and vegetables.

In that time frame, "hucksters" took fresh farm goods and traveled by wagon through neighborhoods calling out the "specials" and prices. For example, maybe a peck of apples was 0.05-cents. When mothers/wives heard the huckster calling as the wagon ever so slowly went down the road, the women (and children) came running to see what this 'salesman' had. Hucksters also carried household goods to sell.

"Ice Houses", "Spring Houses" and a literal ice "box" were used in the late 1800s-early 1900s (ice and spring houses were also used much earlier). So there was an Ice (or Coal) Huckster. During the summer, this huckster hauled large blocks of ice to sell to keep ice houses, spring houses, and ice boxes cold.

In winter, he hauled wood and coal used to heat houses in fireplaces or in convection coal furnaces. Eventually, homes had "coal bins"-- a small "room" in the basement with a tiny door to the outside and a people-size doorway inside. The coal bin could hold a ton of coal usually and last 2 to 3 months. But if there was no coal room, households kept a tinderbox for wood and a coal box for coal. Since these were smaller, wives needed to buy coal and wood more frequently. What families ate depended a lot on whether they had appropriate storage to keep foods from spoiling.

Milk delivery wagons were also used throughout neighborhoods, but a city family needed an ice box to keep it cold. Rural families used a spring house or ice house.