Coastal Ingredients in Baltimore Foodways

"A Southern Oyster Peddler," Harper's Weekly, March 2, 1889

Baltimore oyster pie, recipe below

I came across the above Harper’s Weekly Magazine illustration of a “Southern Oyster Peddler” apparently in 1889 Baltimore. The illustration reminded me of the centrality of the ocean and coastal ingredients in Baltimore foodways. Oyster peddlers sold their goods to private homes, retailers, and tavern cooks. I have descriptions of tavern culture and food from earlier in the nineteenth century from which we can extrapolate what late nineteenth taverns in Baltimore might have been like. Nineteenth century taverns in port cities provided both lodging and meals which included among other items, “fish and oysters, with a great variety of hot bread, both of wheat flour and Indian corn [corn bread],” writes Adam Hodgson speaking of Petersburgh, Virginia in 1821. Here is a recipe for Baltimore oyster pie that is appropriate for this story:

Baltimore oyster pie recipe: http://www.ehow.com/how_4447877_baltimore-oyster-pie.html