Can food help us better understand the people and events of the past? Can we better understand a person like Benjamin Franklin and who he was by the foods he ate?
Rae Katherine Eighmey, an award-winning food historian, author, and cook, joins us to explore the culinary tastes and habits of Benjamin Franklin and colonial British Americans with details from her book Stirring the Pot with Benjamin Franklin: A Founding Father’s Culinary Adventures.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Episode Summary
Rae Katherine Eighmey, an award-winning food historian, author, and cook, joins us to explore the culinary tastes and habits of Benjamin Franklin and colonial British Americans with details from her book Stirring the Pot with Benjamin Franklin: A Founding Father’s Culinary Adventures.
During our conversation, Rae addresses what historians study when they study food history; The colonial American kitchen, its tools, and ingredients; And the eating habits and culinary tastes of Benjamin Franklin.
What You’ll Discover
- Food history
- Historic recipes and historical sources about food
- Benjamin Franklin’s childhood in Boston
- Colonial Boston foods
- The economics of diet and food choice in colonial America
- Food preparation in the Franklin kitchen
- The colonial American kitchen
- Spices and ingredients in colonial American kitchens
- Regional variations in colonial kitchens
- Food shopping in colonial British America
- Colonial American food preservation techniques
- Colonial American meal times
- Chandlery work and tallow candle making
- Ben Franklin’s eating habits and preferences
- Foodstuffs Franklin sent from Europe
- Colonial understandings about diet and health
- Ben Franklin’s experiments with cooking by electricity
- How you can cook and try early American dishes
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Rae Katherine Eighmey
- Stirring the Pot with Benjamin Franklin: A Founding Father’s Culinary Adventures
Sponsor Links
- Omohundro Institute
- OI Books (Use promo code 01DAH40 to save 40 percent)
- Denver Meet Up Saturday, January 19, 3:30pm at Prost Brewing
Complementary Episodes
- Episode 019: Kenneth Turino, The Colonial Boston Marketplace
- Episode 022: Vivian Bruce Conger, Deborah Read Franklin & Sally Franklin Bache: Benjamin Franklin’s Women
- Episode 044: Adam D. Shprintzen, The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement
- Episode 135: Julie Holcomb, Moral Commerce: The Transatlantic Boycott of the Slave Labor Economy
- Episode 169: Thomas S. Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin
- Episode 207: Nick Bunker, Young Benjamin Franklin
Time Warp Question
In your opinion, what might have happened if Benjamin Franklin had not traveled abroad? If he had not traveled to London as a youth or later as an adult, and if he had not had the chance to serve the United States abroad in Paris, how would his eating habits and tastes have been different?
Questions, Comments, Suggestions
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