It was a delight to host Ellen Letourneau and Claudia Kousoulas as they recounted their mission to bring attention to the Ag Reserve with their writing projects “Bread and Beauty” and “A Culinary History of Montgomery County.” Many thanks to this duo who traced changes in Montgomery County power, politics, markets, and technology by examining its “foodways,” the “eating habits and culinary practices of a people, region, or historical period”.
Among other research, they compared the cookbooks of Elizabeth Ellicott Lea (1845 “Domestic Cookery”) and Maria Brook Watkins (1897 “Up to Date” cookbook) and documented the influence of farm machinery technology like the corn planter, baking powder, refrigeration, the expansion of the C&O Canal, and the Civil War and its aftermath on the “foodways” and table fare.
You can see the recorded event on our Facebook Live and YouTube channels. The “Culinary History of Montgomery County” book is available at Locals in the treasure room to the left of the counter.