Thomas Jefferson's Influence On American Culture

Long before Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States of America, the Virginian developed a unique passion for food and wine. Upon his arrival to the soon-to-be United States he found dull colonial cuisine, unappetizing . The common fare was far from elegant and rather boring. Even high society was not accustomed to the elegant meals from accomplished and worldly chefs. Meals typically consisted of boiled, roasted, baked, or stewed meats, served with poorly cooked, overly salted vegetables, a side of bread and a highly sweetened dessert. Much of American eighteenth-century food was lacking texture and often described as mushy. Cooks didn’t lavish a lot of attention on the food nor try to experiment. Food was a means to an
end and the quality showed.
When it came to alcohol, port, madeira, ale, and hard cider were popular. The sweeter the better. During the war, French allies brought troops as well as local French cooks. Introducing the young Virginian to French cuisine. However, on a whole the cuisine had little lasting effect on the country until the mid-19 and early 20-century when it was popularized by the world regarding French cooking as the epitome of fine dining. Jefferson an adventurous eater sampled many dishes of French troops and was intrigued by the foreign fare and urning to sample the cuisine. In 1784, Jefferson was appointed minister plenipotentiary in Paris. On the same day he accepted his position he called on a long loyal slave James Hemings for a specific task. Jefferson writes, “I propose for a particular purpose to carry my servant Jame with me… If you conclude to join me I would wish you to order Jame to join and attend you without a moment’s delay. If you decline
the trip, be so good as to direct that he shall immediately come on to me at Philadelphia.” James Hemings at the age of nineteen joined Thomas and his daughter Martha in Boston to begin the journey to Paris. After the Trans-Atlantic trip the trio arrived at Le Harbe on July 31, 1784. Hemings received money to travel the Rouen and arrange for accommodations for the family. During these travels James was confronted with the coming revolution and with the revolution in French cuisine, which was chopping, dicing, slicing and puréeing the century-old Ancien Réime diet. Following his arrival and solemn travels James was apprenticed to a caterer named Combeaux, who along with James, provided all Jefferson’s meals during their first year in Paris. At the conclusion of his apprenticeship Hemings also trained along side another Jefferson cook and learned the craft of pastries. A extremely quick learner James became the chef de cuisine at the Hotel de Langeac, which was Jefferson’s private residence. Since slavery had been abolished in France Hemings was able to work for a small wage. It is here that the once plantation slave learned his abilities to work outside of the plantation system as well as thrive a free man. While in France James received French lessons and became fluent in language and also in the culinary techniques of the region. After five years in Paris and tours throughout the country in search of delicacies and wine Jefferson was able to pursade James to return to Monticello and resume his duties as a chef.
Hemings, now accustomed to living as a free man insured that he would later receive wages and would be granted his freedom after he trained a replacement. The Jefferson’s with James and his sister returned to Monticello on December 23, 1789. Through 1790 Jefferson and James remained mostly in New York, Philadelphia and Boston with James Madison. While on the East Coast James Hemings served as the kitchen manager, cooking all meals, but also as a butler, and personal attendant. Although there was no binding contract between Hemings and Jefferson upon their arrival to the states, Hemings began to train his younger brother in the art of preparing French meals. This training took over two years but on February 5, 1796, Jefferson signed a deed of manumission for James Hemings, he was thirty-one years old. The freed slave left and inventory of utensils and a beautiful book of recipes and scripts. Of the original one hundred and fifty recipes only eight survived. What Hemings did after he was granted his freedom is a bit of a mystery. He traveled for more than five years in search for a purpose or adventure. The relationship between Jefferson and Hemings was not over though. Upon Jefferson’s Presidential Election of 1801 he asked James to return to Washington and become the chef de cuisine at the
White House. James was reluctant but eventually turned up at Monticello, not in Washington, to run the kitchen during Jefferson’s long summer vacation. In September 1796 James Hemings left Monticello for the final time. A little over a month after he left he committed suicide. To this day it is not known why James Hemings, a talented man with a promising career, who had become educated and even witnessed two revolution on two continents, took his own life, but his legacy on American cuisine was substantial. Hemings seized an opportunity as a slave and in doing so introduced the elite politicians and high society to cuisine that would soon become the embodiment of fine dinning. Without James Hemings and his work in the culinary field, America would have remained aloof to the artistic explosion of French cuisine during the Colonial and Post-Colonial eras.