Green’s Dictionary of Slang

fodder n.¹

food, often metaphorical.

1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. II 18: Wal, now about the price of your fodder.
1859		Wkly Varieties (Boston, MA) 3 Sept. 4/3: [T]he procurement of all the luxuries of life in the way of fodder.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Aug. 16/1: Inquiry proved that she was no liar, and she got the fodder as a sort of reward for valor.
1914		Tacoma Times (WA) 16 Mar. 4/3: It’s time to hit the fodder and if you eat enough you can grow into those stilt-bags!
1917		R. Lardner ‘Three Kings and a Pair’ in Gullible’s Travels 55: We had dinner and then I seen why Bishop was so skinny. ’Parently he hadn’t tasted fodder before for a couple o’ mont’s.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl.
1932		I.L. Idriess Flynn of the Inland 258: The cutlery, tinware and enamel [...] the ‘fodder’, roast beef and corned, with ‘spuds’ and onions.
1938		L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 27: It’s about time we [...] got outside some of Ma’s fodder.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 89: fodder Salad, or greens.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 42: Mum came in with my fodder on a steaming hot plate.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 219: We went into a respectable fodder bar on Wigmore Street.
1977		T. Berger Who is Teddy Villanova? 58: Vintage vino and fine fodder.
1982		Barr & York Sloane Ranger Hbk 158: fodder n. Nicely cooked food.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 21: You know the score. We’re fodder.

In derivatives

fodderish (adj.)

(US) hungry, ‘peckish’.

1850

Manchester Spy (NH) 21 Sept. n.p.: The gals felt kinder fodderish [...] an’ they began to hide the vittals.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

fodder-forker (n.) [his usual task]

(US) a derog. term for a farmer, as seen by cowboys.

1944

R.F. Adams Western Words (1968) 61: Fodder-forker—What the cowboy calls a hay hand or farmer.