What Did Cowboys Eat in the Old West?

The history of food in the United States is one of the more complex histories in the entire world, with Earth’s melting pot bringing together countless cultures and lifestyles to allow for any kind of cuisine you can think of only a few miles away. However, what would you say if we told you America hasn’t always been home to any and every meal you could think of? In fact, go back more than a few decades and you probably wouldn’t be able to recognize the food scene as it stands today.Needless to say, the culture of food, no matter what country or continent you hail from, has changed over the years, whether it's from the way we eat, prepare, store, or source each of our meals. While the mass production of both farming and artificial, processed foods has changed the way we eat, fast food, chain restaurants, and convenient dining hasn’t always been possible, especially prior to the 20th century.Despite the differences in appearance, however, it doesn't remove the beauty and context hiding within every dish available to us throughout history. Most of our images depicting the cuisine of the western frontier might consist of a simple can of beans or basket of picked berries or a tin of beef jerky, but we can promise you, it was so much more than rations and preserves.