Deliciously Remarkable Things We Love: November 2024 edition

We hope everyone in our small, but growing community has time to enjoy the fall weather! Here are a few of the things we are interested in this coming month.

Online Events

Ecuador's Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead) Celebration.
Monday, November 4 · 5 - 6pm MST
Join us for a special cultural presentation on Ecuador's Day of the Dead traditions, hosted by the Atlantic Institute. On November 4, 2024 LaRahna Hughes will offer an insightful look into this unique and meaningful celebration. Discover how Ecuadorians honor their ancestors through vibrant rituals, food offerings, and community gatherings that blend Indigenous and Catholic customs.
Through captivating footage and personal photos, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of this holiday, known locally as Día de los Difuntos, and its role in fostering connection across generations. Whether you're new to the tradition or eager to expand your cultural knowledge, this presentation will provide a thoughtful exploration of Ecuadorian customs and values. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the rich cultural heritage of the Day of the Dead in Ecuador.
LaRahna Hughes, Atlantic Institute
FREE (Donations accepted)

History in the Kitchen - Native American Foodways
Saturday, November 9 · 8:30 - 9:30am MST
This online series illuminates what kinds of food were eaten by different people in colonial Virginia. In November 2024, we'll be exploring Native American Foodways.
Every 45-minute class spotlights a dish eaten by one of the following groups: the Mason family; people enslaved at Gunston Hall; the white laborers, shopkeepers, and tenant farmers; and the peoples native to this land. Participants will learn how social class and wealth affected what food people had access to.
Kids and adults alike will have a great time learning history while cooking! This program is designed for families with kids 10-18, but is open to participants of all ages. All sessions are complimentary.
By Gunston Hall, FREE

Medieval Christmas Food & Customs by Prof Giles Gaspar
Saturday, November 30 · 7 - 9am MST
A fascinating illustrated talk exploring the Christmas food & customs shared between medieval and modern times.
This talk will be presented on Zoom at 14.00 GMT. (UK time) Please log in between 13.45 - 14.000 to ensure we can start on time. We will ask attendees to mute microphones and turn off cameras (to preserve bandwith and ensure a smooth stream) at the start of the meeting. A Question & Answer session will follow the talk, with questions invited via the chat function.
Richard III Society Gloucester Branch, £ 5.00 (about $ 7.00. The platform will figure it out for you).

Podcast Love

 

Comfortably Hungry Podcast, "where yesterday’s dinner is tomorrow’s history." It  is the work of Sam Bilton, a food historian, writer and presenter. "If you’re a peckish person who is curious about the history of food and drink, then you’re in the right place." I saw a post on Instagram about the new (at the time) episode called "Dark Food," and immediately downloaded the episode. Bilton interviews author and historian Dr. Allesandra Pino about how food is tied to our darker memories and historical events, not just the celebratory ones. The two authors use Cristina Garcia’s novel Dreaming in Cuban (1992), to look at how food is connected to slavery, colonialism and the dark sides of capitalism swirl around food and food memories of the characters in the novel. They also discuss the release of A Gothic Cookbook: Hauntingly Delicious Recipes Inspired by 13 Classic Tales by Ella Buchan and Allesandra Pino (see notes on this book below!) I loved the discussion about food in gothic novels - the way that use of food lulls you into comfort just before something horrible happens! 

 

Books

 

A Gothic Cookbook: Hauntingly Delicious Recipes Inspired by 13 Classic Tales by Ella Buchan and Allesandra Pino. I am still waiting for my copy to arrive so I keep checking my email. But I cannot wait to settle down and read this as the days shorten and the darkness descends! 

 

 

The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny - just dropped last week, but my KOBO e-reader died so I waiting for my new e-reader. I could read it on my phone, but its just not as cozy. I love that I can order books from Kobo (and give a little to my local Changing Hands Bookstore) AND check out books from my local libraries. I love a well-written mystery series that has lots and lots of food references as well as some very complex issues and relationships.

 

 

Elysian Kitchens: Recipes Inspired by the Traditions and Tastes of the World’s Sacred Spaces by Jody Eddy (take a look at the online events to hear her speak about her book online). Just the book to be a part of our Booklady Cooks collection! A deep dive into sacred places and how food has been shaped by the work of those who care for the traditions and spirit of these beautiful places representing so many of the world's religions. 

 

 

A Cheesemonger's History of the British Isles and A Cheesemonger's Tour de France by Ned Palmer. We love cheese! AND we love history and travel, too! So it's no wonder that Ned Palmer and his books became favorites around the Booklady Cooks community! Travel through the years, from the neolithic farmers through the postmodern cheeses of the 2000's explore the ways that historical events impacted foodways - especially cheese-ways around the British Isles. 

 

 

Our collection of Native American Cookbooks. This collection features some old favorites in brand-new book format. Take this opportunity, as we enter November to learn about some historic foods and foodways and see how Native cooks and chefs have evolved throughout the years. 

 

Social Things

Emma Kay and the Museum of Kitchenalia - Emma Kay keeps food history fun, exciting and all over social media, which we love! She has written 13 books and we are working to collect them all! We also love her YouTube channel with short, lively and fun snippets of food history and the unusual implements that have been a part of the kitchen arts in the deep, dark past. Her new project is the digitization of her extensive collection of historic kitchenalia. We can't wait to explore the online exhibits!

Kitchenlit.com with Kimberly Reynolds. Kimberly has made her list of 2025 New Cookbook Releases available on her blog and does excellent reviews of all things food and cookbook related including online cooking class reviews. A great cookbook site!

Cookbook Divas is another site that does so much to review and share cookbook and cooking information. A great place to go to for cook alongs and a cookbook club!

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Leftovers Pie from The Year of Miracles by Ella Risbridger

A Year of Miracles and a Leftover Pie.

This wonderful book begins with "This book is a memoir, which is to say, it is a kind of fiction," It also begins with a note about grief and finding miracles and how food can bring us together and help us heal. The first recipe is leftover pie - a creation made of the carcass of a leftover chicken and whatever else you may happen to have in your kitchen.

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Tacos and Tequila (and cookbooks) in 10 Links

Explore the wide world of tacos and agave liquor online - then head to Booklady Cooks Online shop to continue your journey with our curated selection of new, used and vintage cookbooks and kitchenware!

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Online Food and History Events in October

So many online opportunities in October! This month I'm highlighting 2 British organizations that do a superb job of creating meaningful online events. I was so grateful for all of the online events during the Covid years, and while I am so happy to be out and about at all the wonderful live events, sometimes its nice to stay at home with a cup of tea and learn on my couch! I want to give a tremendous THANK YOU! to Patricia Bixler Reber who writes the Researching Food History Blog for here extensive listings of both live and recorded online talks. You can see her current list HERE.

See you online!

Tuesday, October 22, 2024. 17:00 BST

We need to talk about : Gleaning in the 21st century: old traditions and new solutions for our waste-conscious world.   Oxford Food Symposium Kitchen table discussion group. FREE, advanced registration required. 

"...there was a time when your fathers, your husbands and your brothers were so often awakened by the call of the gleaner’s drum..."" — Critic, Léon Daléas

The 19th century social and class critique levied by Millet’s painting of women scavenging harvest leavings as gleaners contrasted by the harvest’s wealth in the background still resonates globally today. His painting inspired French New Wave filmmaker, Agnès Varda’s (2000) documentary, “The Gleaners and I.” Following collage artist Louis Pons’ admonition, “junk is a cluster of possibilities” forcing us all to not fritter away our resources.

Anyone outside of the economic elite out of necessity or for ethical reasons is tethered to obtaining adequate food, contending with waste, recycling, upcycling and repurposing of ingredients, prepared dishes, containers.

Our October Kitchen Table Conversation will include Eleanor Barnett, author of “Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation,” where she explores the ingenious ways our ancestors have extended the life of the foods they ate through preservation and recycling of food scraps; and Usha Thakrar, Executive Director of Boston Area Gleaners, (BAG). Her organization is committed to improving access to affordable, healthy food for our communities, and supporting equitable, just, and sustainable local food systems while supporting growers and reducing food waste. They rethink the local supply chain between regional family farms and consumers ensuring that fresh, healthy, affordable food is available to everyone."

Tuesday, October 24, 2024, 2:00PM - 3:00PM London Time

"Carla Baker: Where did northern Tasmanian apples go? (lightning talk)
Chihyin Hsiao: Changes for Soup: Charitable Food and the Plight of Manchester's Paupers during the Early Victorian Era" The Institute of Historical Research. FREE - Requires advanced registration

Apples played a central role in the ecological colonization of lutruwita, Tasmania, also known as the ‘Apple Isle’. By the early twentieth century, much of Tasmania was covered in apple orchards, reaching 3 million commercial trees by 1950. An icon of British domesticity, the apple’s swift acclimatization was perceived to be legitimization of British settlement and used to justify the theft of Indigenous land. Land grants were offered to those who would farm the land ‘productively’. In the West Tamar region in northern Tasmania, ‘Anglo-Indian’ soldiers purchased orchards which were promoted as an investment or retirement opportunity. At the core of Tasmanian apple advertising was the imagined location of the ‘Apple Isle’, an idyllic, pure, English farming utopia. Apple crate branding and multi-faceted advertising campaigns were employed to support this distortion of Tasmania’s geographical and cultural remoteness.

The soup kitchen was a common form of poor relief in early Victorian England. Previous scholarship has indicated that hunger was a familiar experience for industrial laborers due to the rising cost of food and the growing population in urban areas. Building upon this, this research investigates the social aspects of soup kitchens, which have been marginally discussed and yet to be explored with public records. Here, the primary focus is on issues such as how local soup kitchens were set up, how these establishments were financed, what was considered nutritious for paupers, and the seasonality of such ingredients. Through an examination of cookery books, public announcements, advertisements, and readers' comments in provincial newspapers during the Hungry Forties, this research attempts to evaluate the accessibility of charitable soup kitchens in the Greater Manchester area, where industrial laborers were densely populated, and pauperism was on the rise. It begins by examining the fluctuating prices of staple food items such as corn, bacon, onions, carrots, etc., then delves into the setup of soup kitchens, grounded in the commonly accepted political ideology of 'self-help.' Finally, it explores the ticket system of soup kitchens, which ultimately provided paupers with the opportunity to access readily-prepared hot food. Through the exploration of archival materials mentioned above, it is hoped that more textual examples can be included in broader studies of Victorian philanthropy and working-class diets.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 from 17:00 - 19:00 London time

Kitchen Lab - From Polish roots to New York icon- The evolution and craft of the classic bagel.  Oxford Food Symposium.  Birgitte Kampmann and Simi Rezai-Ghassemi. FREE - requiring registration

"I asked how Cathy likes her bagel and this is her reply: “My standard order (because one always goes out to a local deli for bagels) is for a ’toasted everything with veg cream cheese,” a wonderful panoply of salty, crunchy, hot-cold sensations. More flavorful than the unadorned bagels of my New Jersey childhood, I’m a partisan, firmly believing that New York City bagels are the best in the world.”

Cathy Kaufman has lived in New York City for more than 40 years and teaches in the Food Studies department at The New School, including a course on the foodways of New York City.

As always, recipes will be sent to all who sign up, so you can bake along with me in real-time. 

 

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Online Food and History Events in September (2024)

 

Daily Life in Tudor London
Wednesday, September 4, 2024, 6:30 – 8:30 PM EDT
Smithsonian Associates, $30 Member/$35 Nonmember
The 16th century is one of the most fascinating periods of English history, and its vibrant center was the great city of London. During the Tudor dynasty the city on the Thames was filled with the bustling daily life of common people living in a rapidly changing city and world. Historian Cheryl White examines the panorama of ordinary life in London at the birth of early-modern England.

 

Food Without Borders: Caribbean Cuisine
Friday, September 6, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET • 1:00 p.m. CT • 12:00 p.m. MT • 11:00 a.m. PT FREE online event. AARP Membership not required.
Come along with AARP Pennsylvania and HUBUB, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting people through language and food, on our latest culinary excursion across cultures. In this Food Without Borders class, discover the neighborhood eateries shaped by Puerto Rican and Cuban communities in Lancaster. We’ll explore the rich culinary traditions of these cultures, featuring dishes like Mofongo and classic meat and bean combinations. Learn about the deep-rooted influences that define Caribbean cuisine and how to bring these flavors into your kitchen.

My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories
September 8, 2024 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, ET FREE Email to request a ZOOM link
Joan Nathan is the author of twelve cookbooks including her latest work, My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories. Her 2018 book, King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World, won the IACP International Cookbook of the Year. That same year, the much-acclaimed Jewish Cooking in America, which in 1994 won both the James Beard Award and the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award, was named an IACP classic. From Culinary Historians of Washington, DC

Knead to Know: A History of Baking
Tuesday, September 10, 2024. 11am - 12:30pm MST. FREE
Dr Neil Buttery talks about the history of baking: bread, cakes, pies & puddings to mark the publication of his book 'Knead to Know'

Flatbread Culture
Wednesday, September 11, 2024. 8 - 8:45am MST, FREE
Learn how to preserve cultural food and knowledge with Prof. Vasilis Valdramis! By Science in the City Malta

Brasseries, Bistros and Bouillons
Sunday, September 15, 4 p.m. ET
Jim Chevallier, author of A History of the Food of Paris: From Roast Mammoth to Steak Frites
Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor

Thought for Food: Think Critically About Food, Nutrition and Ag (webinar)
Wednesday, September 18, 2024. 3:30 - 5pm MST
Some foods and farming practices are good for people and the planet, others are bad. Are you getting the whole story to know which is which? UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County

Sourdough Starter Class- What is it?
Wednesday, September 18 · 2 - 3pm MST, FREE
If you have ever wondered about baking with a sourdough starter – this Free Live Zoom Session is for you! (recording file will be shared), Vituperio - Artisan Breads & Studio

 

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Booklady Cooks First Pop-Up Cookbook and Kitchenware Store, Surprise, Arizona

We are so excited to announce our first pop-up cookbook and kitchenware store! We will be participating in Tacos and Tequilas Under the Stars by  Artisan Featured Events. We will feature some fun new and vintage kitchenware and cookbooks to make your next Taco Table an event to remember! We have curated a beautiful collection of cookbooks and books about food that highlight the foodways of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. Click here to see some of our offerings for Tacos and Tequila and click here to get your $5.00 entry tickets.

 

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National Sandwich Month!

Have you ever stopped to think about the genius of the sandwich? It's a culinary marvel that combines simplicity with endless possibilities. But where did this beloved food item come from? Let's take a bite out of the brief history of the sandwich. Check out our collection of books featuring some of the world's best sandwiches!

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A (Sampling of the) History of BBQ and Grilling in 10 Links

Check out some of these online sites all about cooking over an open fire. From Paleo humans, The Southern (US) Barbecue Trail, historic ads and videos, we've got a great sampling of Barbecue and Grilling history just for you!

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Online Food and History Events in August (2024)

There are still so many opportunities to jump online and join a live event from the comfort of your home - even wearing your pajamas! Most events are free, and a few have a small charge attached. Most require some kind of log in or registration. 

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