I recently received a fabulous book called The Pirate Primer that is not only useful for speaking pyrate in a proper manner, it’s also been a source for some bouts of tear-inducing, hysterical laughter.
For instance, pyrate nicknames for food. While at sea, most pyrates ate typical naval rations of pickled or salted meat, hard biscuits, beans, and what is described as a tasteless goo of porridge called burgoo. Yuck, right? No wonder rum was the number one choice of what to put in one’s belly!
Anyway, despite the less-than-gourmet meals on ship, it seems that (at least one) pyrate came up with some rather colorful (and funny) nicknames for the food:
Bunny grub means a serving of some sort of vegetable. Most likely, beans or peas were served but every now and again they may have gotten something really tasty like…well…potatoes or onions. Or maybe a different sort of bean than what they had been eating. At any rate, bunny grub was not necessarily a reason for culinary excitement. Or was it?
Cackle fruit means eggs…from chickens, of course. I personally LOVE eggs, so I definitely would have been quite happy to know that cackle fruit was on the menu. Eggs were probably boiled and salted, if ye were lucky.
Dog’s body meant hardtack, (which is a hard, thick biscuit made from flour), boiled in cloth with some water and sugar. I don’t want to know why they called it Dog’s body as I worry that it refers to someone’s pet or maybe a best friend whose nickname was “Dog”. Whichever it might be, it’s slightly disturbing that something about the hardtack was reminiscent of (a) dog. Just. Ew.
Finally, for this plunderin’, let’s end the voyage with what might have been a tasty delight: Burgoo.
Sidenote: There is a contemporary food also called burgoo that is considered a Southern US (Kentucky specifically) delicacy. Kentucky burgoo is a savory vegetable stew that contains mutton or some type of meat. This is not the burgoo that pyrates would have eaten.
17th and 18th century burgoo was made of ground oats, water, and maybe some fat or sugar added in. If available, molasses could be added as a topping. If you leave out the extra fat, add the sugar, put some molasses on top, and serve it WARM, I’m team Burgoo all the way.
You can even try to make burgoo yourself:
Burgoo, a kind of porridge, is a nutritive dish, eaten by mariners, and much used in Scotland; it is made by gradually adding two quarts of water to one of oatmeal, so that the whole may mix smoothly; then boiling it for a quarter of an hour, stirring it constantly; after which, a little salt and butter should be added. This quantity, prepared as directed, will serve five or six persons for a meal.
Anthony Willich’s Domestic Encyclopaedia, London 1802
Fun fact: burgoo comes from a Persian word for wheat that has been cooked, dried, and crushed. https://worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-bur1.htm
Well, now I’m hungry. Time to get some grub.
Next time…Pyrate Cats
Virginia Chandler 