Category Archives: Food
Matzo in the Mountains in Charleston, West Virginia
My great-grandfather, A.P. Silverstein, an immigrant from Lithuania, traveled through the central United States as a peddler in the 1890s. As family legend goes, his horse dropped dead and he couldn’t afford another, so he stayed in West Virginia. He … Continue reading
“Bunns” from the Boston Cook Book of 1883
This week, my quest for retro ways to carbo-load for the modern endeavor of marathon running brought me to the Boston Cook Book of 1883. Its author, Mary J. Lincoln, principal at the Boston School of Cookery, taught cooking as … Continue reading
Curry: Bombay Meets Dixie and Becomes a Roosevelt Favorite
My grandmother, Hanna, collected quite a few chicken curry recipes, a surprisingly exotic departure from her preference for plain food. I don’t remember meeting anyone from India while I was growing up in Richmond, but Indian food was nonetheless popular … Continue reading
More Carbo-Loading with Dilly Bread from Nebraska via Tennessee
In my recent travels through Tennessee, I picked up the Memphis Cookbook and Confederate Era Recipes. Each pamphlet contained a recipe for “Dilly” Bread, so I thought this was an old Southern tradition. However, a bit of research turned up … Continue reading
Carbo-Loading: Sweet Potato Biscuits from Dr. George Washington Carver
Since I’m running the Boston Marathon in 2014 to raise money for Newton Community Farm, my neighborhood farm-to-table resource, I’m looking for ways to carbo-load with locally-grown produce. Early March is the nadir of the New England growing season, as … Continue reading
Mix-in-the-Pan Brownies From My ‘I Hate to Cook’ Mom
As a young mother in the 1960s, my mother never watched Julia Child – or any TV shows, for that matter. She preferred the humor and slap-dash directions in Peg Bracken’s I Hate to Cook Cookbook. This book, inspired by … Continue reading
Canned Peach Salad to “Heighten Appetites and Brighten Meals”
Blame the invention of canned food on Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1795, the French general – who proclaimed that “an army marches on its stomach” – offered 12,000 francs to anyone who could come up with a way to provide his … Continue reading
Hot Chocolate, Cold Meat, Gingerbread: What Washington Really Ate
For George Washington’s birthday, my mother used to buy a supermarket cake overloaded with pink frosting that stuck to the knife. Never mind that the cherries tasted more of chemicals than fruit. Every bite felt patriotic. At my elementary school … Continue reading
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