Ask the Librarian
...about Diet
Q: What were their favorite foods?
A: White pudding, beaver and buffalo tongue and hump.
Q: How many dogs did the Expedition consume and why?
A: The number is around 190. i
The Expedition's introduction to eating dog meat occurred early on the Missouri.
By the time they had reached the Pacific Ocean dog meat was an accepted supplement
to their diet. Clark noted at the Dalles, the hesitancy of the Indians to
sell fish to them required them to purchase dogs. Clark never acquired a taste
for it but Lewis found it worthy of noting in his journal while at Fort Clatsop.
[Meriwether Lewis, Friday January 3, 1806]
our party from necessaty having been obliged to subsist some lenth of time
on dogs have now become extreemly fond of their flesh; it is worthy of remark
that while we lived principally on the flesh of this anamal we were much
more healthy strong and more fleshy than we had been since we left the Buffaloe
country. for my own part I have become so perfectly reconciled to the dog
that I think it an agreeable food and would prefer it vastly to lean Venison
or Elk. ii
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