Event Date:
Sunday, March 8, 2015 - 2:30pm to 4:30pm
Free Event
Culinary Talk
Bethesda/Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Meeting Room A
20814
Bethesda
, MD
United States
See map: Google Maps
Maryland
The Culinary Historians of Washington Are Pleased to Present
Nancy J. Siegel
From Liberty Tea to Freedom Fries:
America’s Political Appetite
Metaphors linking food to politics have a long American history. In 1774, an author likened the
lack of control over the American colonies to a crumbling cake: “…a great empire, like a cake, is
most easily diminished at the edges… .” Likewise, monumental edible gifts (such as the
1,235-pound cheddar cheese presented to Thomas Jefferson or an 800-pound cake celebrating
William Henry Harrison’s inauguration) reveal a discourse between political and culinary history.
Even John Adams wrote a “Recipe to Make a Patriot.” The domestic language of food was easily
understood and this culinary vocabulary occurs most emphatically in the gendered space of the
kitchen, where hostesses prepared Election Cake, Independence Cake, and Democratic Tea
Cakes in praise of the new and fragile nation. Siegel’s talk explores how and why a culinary
vocabulary was used as a language of political expression in the years of the Early Republic.
Nancy Siegel is Professor of Art History at Towson University. She received her Ph.D. from
Rutgers University and specializes in American art, print culture, and culinary history of the 18th
and 19th centuries. Her current project, Political Appetites: Revolution, Taste, and Culinary
Activism in the Early Republic, investigates the intersection among American art and
political/horticultural/ culinary histories. Her work has appeared in Gastronomica, The
Burlington Magazine, and Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide.
for more information, contact Claudia Kousoulas
This is a free event, no reservations necessary