Happy birthday, USA! Tomorrow is July 4th, and the whole country gets ready to celebrate with cookouts, fireworks and parades. I thought it would be a good idea to post about what they ate on the First Independence Day Celebration.

The first Fourth of July celebration was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1777. In 1777, the Continental Congress gathered at the City Tavern in Philadelphia to celebrate the first year of our independence. There were speeches, toasts and a 13-gun salute. City Tavern was a popular meeting and dining place for Adams, Washington, Franklin and the long list of Revolutionary War figures.

Not much is known about the food, but they did drink hard cider and eat potato salad. Only the potato salad seems to have survived the ages of traditional July 4th eats. Potato salad was first documented in 1597 when the potatoes were roasted in the ashes of the fire. Another very popular colonial dish was Boeuf a la Mode, which was cooked ahead of time and always kept on hand at most Taverns. It’s a rump roast cooked with garlic, spices and mushrooms. Even George Washington was said to have it served as one of the courses with each meal.

The “I had to write something about Hot Dogs” Fact: An estimated 150 million hot dogs will be consumed on July 4th (That is about 1 for every 2 people).