I saw the jokes about the name change a few times, and went looking for what the name even meant. I didn’t expect it to be so literal, it feels like an odd format to ship crackers in
The name specifically ties into the history of what Cracker Barrel is trying to replicate: An old country store. Back when small towns often only had a few businesses, country stores were not just for selling food and supplies; they were a community gathering place. During this time, soda crackers, which are another name for saltines, were shipped to these stores in big wooden barrels to prevent them from breaking during transit. After the crackers were taken out, the barrels would be repurposed as tables that locals could sit around as they socialized. They were even used to hold checkerboards, which remain a Cracker Barrel staple.
It’s also where the phrase “bottom of the barrel” came from - by the time you reached that, they got nasty!
Not specific to soda crackers
Yeah that sounds more like some kind of protein or produce. Maybe on a ship.
Not necessarily, it was just the way most goods were shipped and stored back then. I read the memoirs of a guy who grew up around the mid 19th century, and his posh city family bought a barrel of butter from the countryside, because that was supposedly the best one. They stored it in the cellar and the barrel lasted a year, so that bottom of the barrel butter unsurprisingly became vile.
Obviously it could apply to anything. The more perishable the more applicable. Crackers seem like they might last a lot longer than these other items we are mentioning.
I think it refers to salted herrings, which were transported in barrels.
I used to watch The Food that Built America quite a bit and I could swear it was mentioned in the Nabisco/cracker episode. The reality is, there were probably quite a few foods in barrels, few of which would have been good by the time you reach the bottom.