Personal kit for eat and drink

[madPete]

Everyone needs kit for food and drink, below are a couple of examples that have worked well in the past. If you can find them at a thrift store, more power to you, otherwise I've tried to help with the links to some products:

bowl or trencher: These are available new, but the hot score is a thrift store where they can be found for a couple bucks if you are lucky. You can find them at Js Townsend too at a bit steeper price. These bowls come in a few sizes and I've actually collected a couple larger ones for serving, again thrift stores. The one pictured below is a 9 inch round bowl which is a great size for whatever is served, whether its soup, stew or beef and a couple sides. Trenchers are also a good option, but less useful for soup

https://www.townsends.us/collections/bowls-plates/products/wooden-bowl-wb898-p-118

SamsonHistorical has bowls also

https://www.samsonhistorical.com/collections/table-settings/products/wooden-bowl

 

A spoon:  forks were not standard utensils at this time but a knife and spoon are. I found a pewter spoon molded from an original mold at Pumpkintown Primitives, made brand new. Pewter spoons are rather difficult to find at thrift shops, but a smaller wood or horn spoon could also suffice.

https://pumpkintown-108720.square.site/product/table-spoon-finished-queen-anne-trifid-7-5-/88?cs=true&cst=custom

 

a knife: sailors had their own knives for rigging etc. you can use that or bring a specific knife just for eating [Added pics: a common reproduction penny knife courtesy of William Brand]

A place that supplies period knives: https://olddominionforge.com/knives.html

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1503046618/18th-century-english-trade-knife-and?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=penny+knife+18th+century&ref=sr_gallery-1-28&cns=1&organic_search_click=1

 

mug or tankard of sorts: Theres a few options here depending what you prefer. There are lots of "pewter-like" mugs which are not what you should look for. They are defined by a metal that looks a lot like aluminum and has casting lines. These are pretty prevalent. A pewter mug will have very thin sides and smaller lip. There are also clay fired mugs which are perfectly period. I know everyone has their favorite mug. This is just education, not a "bring only" this directive. There are also wood mugs, I would stay away from copper mugs tho, they transfer heat quickly and coffee is easily spilt when suddenly the mug is too hot to hold, or burns your lips, or worse

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1042542547/colonial-beer-tankard-mug-cup-17-oz?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=tankard+18th+century&ref=sc_gallery-1-1&plkey=7ad72d335b5a31fad93891328cc2f4e37eeec7d1%3A1042542547

Below is my eating kit with a birch bowl and pewter spoon and tankard (minus a knife).

a clay tankard

pewter tankard

a wood trencher

various knives of the period

[Mission]

While I haven't found any period images that show eating from the GAoP itself, I do have some later period images. My impression is that the trencher (the square thing with the plate milled into the middle of it up there from the Victoria and Albert Museum) would be the most appropriate. These later images suggest bowls, however. (Note - the big bowl is a punch bowl, not a serving bowl. In fact, the smaller bowl near it may well be an individual punch bowl. Most images of sailors at table show them drinking punch rather than eating.)

 

Four Marines eating Pease on board the Pallas, By Gabriel Bray, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Nov 1774

From The British Sailor's Loyal Toast, The British Tar in Fact and Fiction, 1738, p. 136

[Mission]

Here are some more after-period images related to dining on a ship.
Sailors Eating, Mr. Midshipman Marryat arrives on his new ship, Frederick Marrat, 1820

Fold Down Mess Table, HMS Bounty II (original built 1787), wiki user BrokenSphere

A couple of the HMS Victory (1758) from the website of Andy and Judi Patterson taken in 2017 at Portsmouth.

Portsmouth., HMS Victory (1758), Gun Crew Work Station/Messroom Table, Andy Patterson


Portsmouth, HMS Victory (1758), Messroom Plates, Andy Patterson

[Stynky Tudor]

Far from complete (or period accurate for that matter), but this is my mess kit so to speak - at least so far.

The knife I own (that isn't pictured) is a similar 18th century english trade knife design that madPete posted a source for.

Claimed to be hand forged, the metal utensils were stamped out by a machine. I filed and ground off some of the sharp rough edges and tried to make them more comfortable to hold. I also (tried to) heat treat the tips of the folk with a propane torch and quenching in water - the prongs flexed too much for my liking.

https://www.crazycrow.com/camping-cutlery/camp-utensil-set

The bowl is from the bottom of a failed gourd water bottle project, I still need to give it a coat of mineral oil - the spoon is made of horn.

https://www.crazycrow.com/camping-cutlery/horn-spoon

The copper cup is to replace my Georgian period pewter tankard. I'm still in the process of splashing it with vinegar.

https://www.crazycrow.com/copper-and-tin-camp-cookware-and-utensils/tin-lined-copper-cups-16-oz

The metal plates are actually aluminum single serving pizza plates from the thrift store - figured I could pass them off as pewter maybe.

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

They need a bit of a clean up, and I probably wouldn't use them for soup, but I just scored this stack of wood bowls for $5 if we need extra among the camp

[Stynky Tudor]

24 minutes ago, TudorSmith said:

I just scored this stack of wood bowls for $5

NOICE!!!

[madPete]

keep the photos coming!

[Picaroon Lagoon]

Dampier also speaks about coconut drinking cups (IIRC) and The Crewe of the Fancy just uploaded two shorts to their YouTube channel recently on the subject. One includes an image of rather elaborate chalice like vessel made from a coconut! 

[LadyBarbossa]

Neat examples. 

I've been lucky from time to time to find pewterware, including porringers. Plenty of pewter drinkware, too, like tankards and little alcohol sippers. All drinkware have solid bottoms to them, instead of the clear fake bottom. The more wonderful surprise, and I snatched them up quickly, were the Blue Danube or Blue Onion tableware as those are the closest I've seen to period tableware. Lord! Those plates back then were STUNNING! I even found tankard made in Holland that wasn't delft, but perfectly mimicked 18th century designs. All the above I've found at Goodwill over the years. 

The most difficult or impossible to find have been the 3 or 2 prong forks. A lot can pass for the spoons and knives, but nothing today can mimic the forks. 

Does anyone bring period like bottles? Like the onion bottle? 

🏴‍☠️

[Mission]

6 hours ago, Picaroon Lagoon said:

Dampier also speaks about coconut drinking cups (IIRC) and The Crewe of the Fancy just uploaded two shorts to their YouTube channel recently on the subject. One includes an image of rather elaborate chalice like vessel made from a coconut! 

They might well have gotten the idea from here. I was most fascinated with Dampier's Coconut back in 2008.
 

BTW, a few years back, I wrote extensively on drinkware, including the coconut chalice. Although, to be fair, it was primarily something of the wealthy English, being made out of coconuts brought back to the mother country as I understand it.

https://www.piratesurgeon.com/pages/surgeon_pages/booze3.html

in addition, I wrote quite a bit about the fruit itself on my website.

https://www.piratesurgeon.com/pages/surgeon_pages/food_type_fruit3.html#coconut

[madPete]

Forgot about coconuts! Casket Chris whittled one into a cup a few years back at Belmont Pirate Invasion.

I have a large and small Onion bottle, but I wont fly with them. I fill the large one with Madeira and the small one with rum when I drive to events.

[madPete]

On 7/12/2023 at 4:01 AM, Mission said:

While I haven't found any period images that show eating from the GAoP itself, I do have some later period images. My impression is that the trencher (the square thing with the plate milled into the middle of it up there from the Victoria and Albert Museum) would be the most appropriate. These later images suggest bowls, however. (Note - the big bowl is a punch bowl, not a serving bowl. In fact, the smaller bowl near it may well be an individual punch bowl. Most images of sailors at table show them drinking punch rather than eating.)

 

Four Marines eating Pease on board the Pallas, By Gabriel Bray, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Nov 1774

From The British Sailor's Loyal Toast, The British Tar in Fact and Fiction, 1738, p. 136

The trenchers you find in thrift stores rarely look like the one in the original post, but they are flat and take very little room in luggage, unlike the bowls.

[madPete]

hmmm.. I bet I could make those square trenchers with a router bit. Just what I need, another project...

[Mission]

4 minutes ago, madPete said:

hmmm.. I bet I could make those square trenchers with a router bit. Just what I need, another project...

I found one for sale on ETSY... for $60+. (So maybe it's a project worth considering after all.  )

(BTW, I reserve the right to be wrong about them being common in the GAoP because I haven't written the article that concerns eating utensils and dishes yet. I always learn things I didn't know and sometimes end up having to modify my views after a deep dive into a particular topic. They were found on the wreck of the Mary Rose, but that sank in 1545.)

[madPete]

$60 is a bit steep, not gonna deny people because they have a modern trencher from the thrift store.

I like your philosophy, A true scientist!

 

[madPete]

Speaking of coconuts...

 

[William Brand]

I also recommend a good dognose spoon.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/185950994/17th-18th-century-dognose-style-pewter?click_key=afe2b24f128160d310c32d01ef24642ffee45c34%3A185950994&click_sum=c5100315&ref=listing-free-shipping-bundle-1&fbclid=IwAR0v4gdxlbeTizzGpSmLoglZ3uTnWEJaWc1Vv3jJfWkSurkyTV7tsSz4X64

[madPete]

On 7/12/2023 at 5:55 PM, TudorSmith said:

They need a bit of a clean up, and I probably wouldn't use them for soup, but I just scored this stack of wood bowls for $5 if we need extra among the camp

We may need a few more as serving bowls as well as just having extras handy... We'll have nuts, cheese, and assorted fruits and vegetables available and need something to put them in

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

However they are useful! One serving bowl size, but the other smaller ones would probably suffice nicely for small eatables. I just gave them a hard clean today, the previous owners seemed to have gone to heavy on oiling them, and then letting grime collect on the sticky. They are drying up now, and I seemed to have gotten them into usable order, so will be there and can be used as needed. And honestly, I don't care if they come home to me....considered throwing them in for the auction if we didn't need them in camp but not sure they would get any money bid for them, with the condition they had been kept in 

[madPete]

Its always good to have extra kit like that, but I'm not volunteering for washing dishes except the ones I dirtied making dinner LOL