March 27, 2026
Genealogy is a fascinating pastime. There are so many ways to learn about our ancestors. One of my favorites is to explore what my ancestors ate. If your family passed down recipes, it may be easy for you to cook some of the things your grandparents and great grandparents did.
My paternal grandmother was born and raised in Norway, and I always knew that some of the recipes she made came from there. Every Christmas she baked Norwegian Christmas cookies such as krumkakes, sandkakes and spritzes.
When I was a child, I looked forward to the weeks before the holidays when Grandma would let me taste the raw dough for all those cookies. Nowadays, I no longer eat raw cookie dough, but I still like to make the cookies Grandma made.
When I began doing research on my Norwegian and Swedish ancestors, I learned that Grandma made traditional Scandinavian cookies. Scandinavian families made enough cookies to have seven different kinds to offer holiday visitors.
Some of my other ancestors arrived in America from England in the 1600s. No one in my family had any idea what kinds of food those early ancestors ate. My favorite book about some of the customs that our colonial ancestors brought from England is Albion’s Seed. David Hackett Fischer’s book is a cultural history which describes how various English immigrants influenced America. I especially enjoy his sections on the various foodways that the early colonists transplanted to America.
There’s an old nursery rhyme that goes “Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold, Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old. Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it in the pot nine days old.”
I remember the rhyme from my childhood but had never thought much about it. As part of a genealogy trip to Massachusetts, I visited Rebecca Nurse’s homestead. Rebecca was one of the Salem witches executed in 1692. Her homestead has been recreated to reflect life at that time. I learned on the tour of the house that pease porridge was a staple colonial foodstuff brought from England.
Peas were easy to grow in New England. They were also easy to dry and store. Throughout the year, people made pease porridge by adding dried yellow split peas, salt and spices to a pot of boiling water. When the peas became mushy, the porridge could be left to simmer at the side of a fireplace for days. If bacon, ham or other meat was available, they added it. People often ate pease porridge at least once a day.
I’m sure my New England ancestors ate pease porridge. Nowadays, I make split pea soup several times each winter. The soup is a fancier version of pease porridge. While I enjoy the soup, I’m grateful I don’t have to eat it every day like my ancestors did.
Finding out what our ancestors’ food customs can be an interesting way to gain insight into their lives. There are old-time cookbooks available, but there are also lots of You Tube videos which can show you exactly how some of the old-fashioned foods were prepared. For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppmlp3VQx3E is a video which shows how meatballs were made in 1820. You will find recipes and videos for all sorts of foods that you may, or may not, want to try.
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society