A Brief History of Cookbooks and Recipes
Sarah Lohman is a culinary historian and the author of the bestselling book Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine. She focuses on the history of food to access the stories of diverse Americans. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, as well as on The Cooking Channel and “All Things Considered.” Formerly the Curator of Food Programming at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, she has presented across the country: from the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the New York Public Library to The Culinary Historians of Southern California. Her current project, Endangered Eating: Exploring America’s Vanishing Cuisine will be released in January 2023.
Overview
Today, we take recipes for granted — that they should be easy to follow, teach us technique, and produce exceptional results. But cookbooks have evolved over the past 1,000 years and their intentions and meanings have changed over time. In the class, we’ll explore:
· The first written recipes on cuneiform tablets
· The visceral delights of eating in the ancient Muslim world
· The first cookbook written by an East Asian woman
· The legacy of Black cookbook writers in America
· The Queer activism cookbooks of the 20th century
…and everything in between! Additionally, participants will receive a guide to accessing these historical sources in print and online!