The Buffalo Bill story is one for the books. And one of them is a cookbook.
Buffalo Bill Cody is known as one of the iconic figures of the Old West but did you know what his Wild West show hauled around to feed a cast of 500 that included cowboys, Native Americans, sharpshooters, stagehands (and later Cossacks, Mexican vaqueros, acrobats and bicyclists)?
Cody didn’t skimp when it came to feeding his troops. Workers were all fed three meals a day by a cooking contingent comprised of over 50 people that include chefs, butchers, wait staff as well as people to tend cooking fires and wash and pack dishes.
Those are just some of the things you learn in Steve Friesen's book, Galloping Gourmet: Eating and Drinking with Buffalo Bill.
An accomplished scout and hunter who lived in the era when the West was still wild, Cody was already a veteran stagehand by 1872 when he staged Grand Buffalo Hunt at Niagara Falls in 1872 (Wild Bill Hickok was part of the troupe).
The 1870s was the era of the dime novel when Western characters like Cody found fame with their rifles and buckskin.
Shows grew out of the dime-novel legends got bigger and, with Cody, insisting on authenticity, helped give birth to the idea of a traveling western circus. "Even as the West he knew disappeared, he would live it on a daily basis," noted Friesen.
It should be noted that along with carrying hundreds of people, the Wild West Show also hauled hundreds of horses, thirty buffalo and grandstand seating for 20,000 people. Little wonder two trains with 50 or more cars were often required to make the moves.
And moves they did. In 1899, Cody’s show covered 11,000 miles in 200 days, providing 341 performances in 132 cities. For a full accounting of staff and the show itinerary, check: https://codyarchive.org/memorabilia/wfc.route.1899.html
While traveling in show business circles, usually staying in top hotels where food and drink were major attractions, Cody developed got to be as handy with a knife and fork as he was his rifle. Among Buffalo Bill’s favorite spots were New York's Delmonico's, Nashville's Maxwell House (before they started serving coffee there) and the DeWitt Hotel in Lewiston, Me., all notable restaurants of their day, related Friesen.
Cody and a vaunted promotion team (that featured Arizona John Burke, his ace advance man, and later included James Bailey of Barnum & Bailey circus fame) didn’t dine out when they went on the road. They ate what was prepared for the staff. That meant they always ate well.
In 1889, Cody met up with one of his heroes, Thomas Edison, in Paris. Friesen recounted the breakfast menu that Buffalo Bill had prepared for the inventor he admired: pork and beans, fried beef, mince pie, peanuts, sole, quail on toast, steak with mushrooms, clam chowder, Maryland-style chicken and side orders of hominy, cornbread and biscuits.
Cody ran his Wild West shows all over the world for 30 years. Friesen said that Buffalo Bill succeeded because he had a magnetic personality who liked traveling and being around people. He was also a man who understood the power of promotion and never failed to cultivate the press at every opportunity.
He was also a man who felt it was important to enjoy a good meal. Little wonder the last section of Friesen’s book contains some of Cody’s favorite recipes.
Buffalo Bill: scout, hunter, entertainer and foodie?