Researching Food History

Balls of ice cream encased in warm pie crust made by Jefferson's French chef were novel enough to stir comment by TWO Congressmen atten...

Madeira, the island off the coast of Portugal, not the fortified wine made there, was the subject of the 1821 book A History of Madeira .  P...

Selling Ice Cream - or more likely Ice Milk - on the streets of NYC "during the hot sultry weather in July and August" while car...

Foodstuffs and other items were stored in sacks, boxes, crates, jars and barrels of all sizes.  Smaller barrels could easily be put in wagon...

Traveling with "a broad plate of metal" (a 'girdle' or griddle) "under the Haps [cover, wrap] of his saddle," th...

This entertaining and well researched book details how all alcoholic beverages are composed of plants.   Actually, it is the focus on each ...

New residents in some parts of England held a dinner in front of their home on Midsummer Eve to meet their neighbors .  This custom was st...

The wealthy and socially prominent Jane Gilmor Howard, as Mrs. B. C. Howard, wrote the immensely popular 1873 fundraising cookbook.   On...

Cherries were tied with white thread to sticks in addition to being sold by weight.   Some sticks held up to eleven bunches (1825)   a...

Drinking the water, shooting, bowling, billiards, dancing, walking, talking, riding and eating...

Scottish short bread in some 19th century recipes was baked in a "petticoat" shape.  A recipe from 1820 had carraway seeds, a mu...

Two Spring Cakes, one with candied violets, and angelica stems from 1920, and a Regency recipe, Gateau de Mai (Cake of May) which is n...

It is not Fall butchering time nor Burns Night (January 25), but after hearing an talk on Haggis yesterday, I wanted to do a quick picto...

11 Activities in Virginia, Maryland, Ireland, Amsterdam, UK, Italy, Mass., Miss., and Ill.

BETTY the COOK MAIDS HEAD DREST is a satirical image from London in 1776.   Her exaggerated wig contains some cooking tools, cheese, veget...

The marvelous mahogany hues of hard-boiled eggs boiled in onion skins make a wonderful backdrop to etch with a needle or knife, as seen in t...

You can't eat just one... in 1887 - "The more you have of them, the more you will want one."  The paper thin chips were eate...

Egg shells filled with scented rose-water were to be thrown by the ladies during banquets... after the cannons were fired on board pastr...

In 1818 Cobbett listed the many “groceries” the Americans paid half or even a third the price that the British paid.   Furthermore, everyone...

For hundreds of years depictions have shown extensive creases on the tablecloths. This was achieved by ironing, placing in a napkin press...