Trail cooks were not well trained and the food often consisted of barely warm beans or tough stew served with sourdough biscuits and bitter, black coffee? Some historians have noted that trail cooks were despots who inspired the common sayings heard during the mid 19th century:

Only fools argue with skunks, mules, or cooks.....
God sends meat and the devil sends cooks. [6: 8]

Many food experts claim that chili is the national American dish, not apple pie? Craig Claiborne of the New York Times has written: In one form or another, chili in America knows no regional boundaries... almost every man, woman, and child has a favorite recipe. While chili powder was developed by a German immigrant in New Braunfel, Texas, in 1802, chili con carne probably was invented after the Civil War in San Antonio, Texas. [6: 9]

Chop suey is not a Chinese dish, but was invented in America by Chinese cooks? The name chop suey means "odds and ends" and first appears in print in 1888. [6: 13]

S.O.B. stew was the biggest treat during cattle drives? Ingredients were various organ meats and calf parts: brain, head, liver, sweetbreads, tongue, and especially marrow gut, the latter providing the flavor and said to represent the soul of the calf. S.O.B. stew was seasoned with salt and pepper, sometimes skunk eggs (slang term for onion). [6: 10].

Salisbury steak, or a patty of ground beef blended with seasonings and usually broiled, was named after Dr. J. H. Salisbury? Dr. Salisbury advocated eating beef three times per day for health benefits. [6: 15]

Chuck wagon cooks were traditionally called a range of slang terms, among them: bean master, belly cheater, biscuit roller, boiler, dough-belly, dough-boxer, dough-puncher, flunky, grease burner, grub spoiler, gut burglar, hash burner, hash slinger, kitchen mechanic, lizard, scorcher, pot rustler, sheffi, sizzler, sourdough, stew builder, stomach robber, and swamper? [6: 12]

Canned foods were sometimes carried on chuck wagons during cattle drives? On fancier wagons, canned tomatoes were considered the "greatest prize of all." Sometimes, cowboys carried cans of tomatoes while on the range to cut their thirst. It can be argued that tomato juice certainly tasted better than water from wagon barrels that often was alkaline and "wiggling with wildlife." [6: 11]

The peanut was probably domesticated in Brazil? Peanuts spread from South America into Central America where they were first eaten by European explorers, then taken to Europe. The Spanish and Portuguese supplied peanuts to their African colonies, where they were grown as "slave food." The English words goober and goober peas for peanuts derive from African terminology used by slaves. Peanut butter was promoted as a health food at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Today, more than half the peanut production in America is used to make peanut butter. [6: 14]