Capri Cafaro Explores 250th-Anniversary Food Adaptations in New Documentary

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 5

Capri Cafaro says her new “America the Bountiful” special traces how colonial Americans built a self-sustaining food system when European imports became unreliable ahead of independence.
The documentary follows adaptations that turned local grain, milk and wild game into staples, including cheese-making, whiskey production at Mount Vernon and preservation methods for meat and dairy.
Cafaro said the toughest part of filming was joining a squirrel hunt and then eating it, underscoring how small game such as squirrel pie and stew once fed households and still survives in Appalachia.
The program also highlights Indigenous, European settler and enslaved contributions, including Liberty Teas made from local plants after the Boston Tea Party turned an everyday drink into a symbol of independence.
Released as the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary, the film uses food to connect economics, agriculture and national identity, with Cafaro framing colonial ingenuity as a lasting part of American culinary tradition.

Sources

Did America's celebrated 'food independence' come at the cost of Native American survival and culture?

Squirrel was once a presidential meal. What other forgotten foods defined survival and independence in early America?