"We dined with him that day...in the French Manner": Food, identity, and politics in the Mississippi Valley

Summary

Located on the frontier of the French Louisiana colony in the Mississippi Valley, early 18th century colonial fortresses were centers of intercultural exchange and negotiation between the French inhabitants and the powerful indigenous nations they lived among. This paper examines animal remains and ceramic artifacts recovered from colonial outposts dating to this period. Faunal artifacts and locally made colonoware vessels recovered from these sites provides strong evidence of the intimate relationships forged between the French garrisons and the Native inhabitants. It also highlights the value of food and the ceremony of dining to intercultural diplomacy. Likewise, these artifacts hint at the importance of food rituals and cuisine during this period as part of the way the French negotaited their sense of identity and reproduction of "Frenchness" at remote outposts in a "savage" land.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Disrupted Identities: Colonialism, Personhood, and Frontier Forts   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 635