A History of Cookbooks and Recipes (Online)
Taught by Sarah Lohman
Sarah Lohman is a culinary historian and the author of the bestselling books Endangered Eating: America’s Vanishing Foods and Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine. She focuses on the history of food as a way to access the stories of diverse Americans. Endangered Eating was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and was named one of the Best Books of 2023 by Amazon’s Editors, Food & Wine, and Adam Gopnik on the Milk Street podcast. It was a finalist for the Nach Waxman Prize for Food & Drink Scholarship and winner of the Ohioana Library Book Prize for Nonfiction. Lohman’s work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and NPR. Lohman has lectured across the country, from the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, DC to The Culinary Historians of Southern California
This is a live, online class via Zoom.
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!