Friends, stop what you’re doing and join me tomorrow at the Historic Foodways Symposium, co-presented by Deborah Peterson and the Genesee Country Village and Museum.
If you haven’t visited the Genesee Country Village and Museum yet, you’re in for a treat. This expansive living-history museum brings the past to life with costumed interpreters, reconstructed historic buildings, a nature center, and the L. Wehle Art Gallery. Any day at the museum is worth a visit—but tomorrow promises something extra special.
Deborah Peterson of Deborah’s Pantry is co-hosting a full day dedicated to historic foodways. Expect demonstrations and discussions that explore how people prepared and preserved food in earlier eras, along with artisans and sutlers offering period goods. A featured focus of the symposium is Amelia Simmons, the first published American cookbook author—a pivotal figure in early American culinary history.
Amelia Simmons wrote American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life. Before her book appeared, Americans relied primarily on British cookbooks. Simmons’s work helped establish a distinctly American culinary voice. Yet she remains an enigmatic figure: beyond her authorship and the byline “Amelia Simmons: An American Orphan,” little is reliably known about her life.
I’ll be attending, eager to taste and learn from period receipts and demonstrations. The day will include cheesemaking, beer brewing, and bread baking—often using brewing byproducts to create hearty, flavorful loaves. Events like this are perfect for food and history lovers who enjoy hands-on demonstrations and lively conversation about culinary traditions.
Come join us—you’ll leave inspired by historic techniques and new discoveries about early American food culture. I’m excited to be there and would love to see you tomorrow!