History Highlight: Pineapples in Colonial America

     When one thinks of the Pineapple for many Dole and Hawaii are the first things that come to mind.  Well in America, long before Hawaii was a territory or Dole was thought into existence, the Pineapple has played a large part in social settings in America.  This historical highlight will be on the Pineapple as it was used in the American Colonies and how it is still represented today.

     Until the first time that I saw a pineapple as a carving in a facade in Thomas Jefferson's formal dining area I had no idea that it was a symbol for anything besides food.  This was the first stop of a 13 day trip around Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.  Our first day of our trip placed us in Charlottesville, Virginia in the home town of Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson was by his own admittance a farmer and often liked to entertain at home.  He had a formal dining room area where he would bring his guests.  Around the ceiling as I stared I kept seeing the reoccurring symbol of the pineapple.  Well having been from California and having visited Hawaii when I was 6, I could not understand why every where connected to Colonial America there were Pineapples.  So being one never afraid to ask questions, I asked our tour guide about it.  She told us that in the 1700's pineapples were rare, that you couldn't exactly go down to the local grocer and pick one up. They were often an item that was requested and went for high prices as they had to be shipped (by an actual ship) to cities in the American colonies.  Jefferson, like so many others would honor guests that they highly respected by presenting them with a pineapple.  The group would get to cut up this unusual fruit and it was easy to share.  

     From this point on I was obsessed with finding all of the pineapples.  Well on this particular trip, our next stop was that of Williamsburg, Virginia.  This was the first capital of Virginia and was also the seat where many decision was made that are still in affect today.  As we wandered around town, the pineapple was every where.  I became more and more interested in this small item.  Not only was it a gift given to honor a highly respected person, but it was also carved into or sculpted to mean Hospitality and Welcome.  At this point in our trip I decided that I loved everything about the pineapple.  I began to collect pineapples and bring them home with me any where that I saw them.

     So a little more history and less of my story.  The pineapple became a symbol of the American colonies.  Since towns were often small and news in a way travelled slow, visiting and socializing was one of the main forms of connectedness.  This was a main factor in the idea of hospitality.  The concept of hospitality--the warmth, charm and style with which guests were taken into ones home.

     A way that the host and hostess could entertain was through the setting of a table.  For women of the time this showcased her personality and also her families status.  Like society today, often women would try to out do one another with fanciful displays.  Often times at these feasts, small mountain ranges of tiered, pyramided and pedestaled foodstuffs often drizzled and webbed in sugar, studded with china figurines, festooned with flowers and interwoven with garlands of pine and laurel. Dinners were extravaganzas of visual delights, novel tastes, new discoveries and congenial conversation that went on for hours often late into the night.

     A hostesses's ability to have a pineapple for an important dining event said as much about her rank as it did about her resourcefulness, given that the street trade in available fresh pineapples could be as brisk as difficult.  So sought after were the prickly fruits that colonial confectioners sometimes rented them to households by the day. Later, the same fruit was sold to other, more affluent clients who actually ate it. As you might imagine, hostesses would have gone to great lengths to conceal the fact that the pineapple that was the visual apogee of their table display and a central topic of their guests' conversation was only rented.

     In larger, well-to-do homes, the dining room doors were kept closed to heighten visitors' suspense about the table being readied on the other side. At the appointed moment, and with the maximum amount of pomp and drama, the doors were flung open to reveal the evening's main event. Visitors confronted with pineapple-topped food displays felt particularly honored by a hostess who obviously spared no expense to ensure her guests' dining pleasure

     In this manner, the fruit which was the visual keystone of the feast naturally came to symbolize the high spirits of the social events themselves; the image of the pineapple coming to express the sense of welcome, good cheer, human warmth and family affection inherent to such gracious home gatherings.