Historic American Breads: Seven Breads and the Story They Tell

From the amaranth flatbreads of Native Americans and biscuits made with the labor of enslaved people to the groovy whole wheat ‘health’ loaves of the 70s, America’s daily bread tells the story of a dynamic, evolving food culture. Historian Maria Trumpler will consider breads made in America over a wide swath of its history and show how making and eating these breads allows us to engage more deeply with the lives of past Americans. The presentation will discuss how to incorporate embodied practices such as food preparation and consumption into historical understandings.

A reception will accompany the talk with tastes of spelt and barley flatbreads, amaranth crackers, hoe cakes, beaten biscuits, three-grain bread, challah, and Tassajera Bread along with historically appropriate accompaniments.

Maria Trumpler has a PhD in History of Science from Yale where she has taught for three decades on food studies, feminist critiques of science, and history of sexuality. She currently teaches a seminar on “Food, Identity and Desire” which includes embodied practice with some of the breads she will discuss. She is also President of the Board of the Dudley Farm in Guilford, CT which is a 10-acre farm preserved to the year 1900 that offers living history demonstrations.

Host or Publisher Culinary Historians of New York