Cowboys were carnivores not vegetarians! The notion of a group of cowboys huddled around the fire scooping up beans out of a tin is misleading. Yes cowboys did eat what nature provided as long as it had four legs and was covered in meat. Why carry a heavy load of beans when you could shoot buffalo, antelope, deer or fox? Tasty as it might seem, steak only nights are not healthy and must have had an impact on their health and waists-likewise let's not forget they must have been plagued by bad breath rather than wind as portrayed in the Western spoof "Blazing Saddles".

(Wargames Foundry Old West Figures designed by Mark Copplestone)