Circa 1830, Naturalist John James Audubon described in detail how folks celebrated Independence day in antebellum Bear Grass Creek near Louisville, Kentucky. He provides insights into race, class, and food in a small rural slave owning society. “No personal invitation was required,” writes Audubon, neighbors welcomed everyone “from the governor to the guider of the plough,” all gathered in a field for a smorgasbord of delicious ox, ham, venison, “turkeys, and other fowls.” People in farming communities slaughtered and cooked any ox who could not work serve as a work animal. Common folk rarely ate meat thus ox represented a rare treat reserved for special occasions like Independence Day celebrations. People eat ox meat all over the world and it was regularly eaten rural America.
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