CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE FOOD-HABITS OF THE 17TH-CENTURY ENGLISH COLONISTS IN PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS BAY

This case study uses historical dietary data and archaeological eviden ce to assess the extent of continuity and change in the diet of the se venteenth-century English colonists who settled in Plymouth and Massac husetts Bay relative to the traditional English diet. Observations of prominent seventeenth-century chroniclers suggest that the colonial di et in Massachusetts featured a combination of familiar and novel foods , both domestic and wild, varying over rime and across different local environments. Evidence further suggests that the colonial diet underw ent modification relative to the English diet due to environmental con ditions, cost, palatability, and contact with Native Americans. Archae ological information from the region further supports these observatio ns. It is concluded that the conceptual framework proposed by food hab its researchers for the assessment of dietary continuity and change am ong migrant groups is useful in describing the diet of European people s, specifically the seventeenth-century English colonists who settled in the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies.