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Friday, April 20
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1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
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Tours of Special Collections, Newman Library, VA Tech Campus, Blacksburg
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1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
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Tours of The Historic Smithfield Plantation, Blacksburg
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6 p.m.
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Welcoming Reception
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7 p.m.
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The Alice Johnson Memorial Lecture: "Food as a Force in Virginia History"
Keynote speaker: Barbara Haber
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Cookbooks that record what people eat have the power to tell us what is
special about a region and its past. Major Virginia cookbooks will be
explored for their historic and cultural significance, in this keynote
address presented by Barbara Haber, award-winning culinary historian and
former Curator of Books at the Radcliffe Institute's Schlesinger Library
at Harvard University. Ms. Haber, a recipient of a Who's Who of Food and
Beverage in America Award from the James Beard Foundation, currently
serves on the board of the International Association of Culinary
Professionals. She helped edit and contributed to the Cambridge World
History of Food and the Encyclopedia of the History of American Food and
Beverages. Seen on Today, Martha Stewart Living and other TV programs
and interviewed in Newsweek, the New York Times and Bon Appétit, Ms.
Haber has delighted thousands around the world with her fascinating
stories of the special ways food and cooking have defined people's
lives.
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Saturday, April 21
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8:30 a.m.-9: 15 a.m.
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"Starvation, Nutrition and Cannibalism in Early Jamestown: Recipes for Disaster"
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Presented by Dr. Crandall A. Shifflett, Project Director and originator
of Virtual Jamestown (www.virtualjamestown.org) which is part of the
400th anniversary commemorative of the founding of Jamestown. A
Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies at VPI and SU, Dr.
Shifflett authored Coal Towns (winner of the Weatherford Award) and
other books on southern and U.S. history.
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9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
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"Out of the Ashes: The Taste & Textures of Open-Hearth Cooking in Early Virginia"
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Presented by Nancy Carter Crump, author of Hearthside Cooking: An
Introduction to Virginia Plantation Cuisine and many articles on
colonial cookery. Ms. Crump has worked for various historical sites in
Virginia, including Evelynton Plantation, the Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, the Chesterfield Historical Society, as well as teaching
college-level history.
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10:45 a.m.-11:45 a.m.
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"Straddling Two Worlds: The Cooks and the Foodways in Jefferson's Kitchen at Monticello"
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Presented by Dr. Leni Sorensen, African American Research Historian at
Monticello, Charlottesville, VA and contributing writer to Gastronomica: The Journal of
Food and Culture. From 1810 to his death in 1826, Thomas
Jefferson was noted for serving a combination of French-Virginia cuisine
of elegance and variety at Monticello. Dr. Sorensen will tell the story
of how his cooks learned to produce meals for one of Virginia's finest
tables.
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12 noon - 1:15 p.m.
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Lunch - Box Lunch in Owens Hall
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1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
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"Civil War Rations: A Test of Endurance"
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Presented by James I. Robertson, Jr. Napoleon Bonaparte once stated that an
army travels on its stomach. However, in the 1861-1865 American Civil War,
armies largely had to campaign in spite of what they ate. Dr. Robertson
will attempt to show why the most prevalent disease in that war was
diarrhea. Dr. Robertson is an Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at
Virginia Tech and executive director of the university's Virginia Center for
Civil War Studies. He appears regularly on Civil War-related television
programs, including Arts & Entertainment Network, the History Channel, PBS,
and NPR. Dr. Robertson has written dozens of books, from popular to
scholarly, including Daily Life in Civil War America, Civil War Virginia,
and Virginia at War, and other books on the daily lives of common soldiers.
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"Civilian Food Concerns in Virginia 1861 - 1865"
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How Virginia families took on challenges to food preparation during a
time of shortages, blockades and military occupation of their cities and
homes during the Civil War. Presented by Dr. Danielle Torisky, Professor
of Nutrition and Dietetics at James Madison University. Dr. Torisky is a
noted presenter and educator, focusing on Civil War nutrition, health
and medicine for both soldiers and civilians. Among her publications are
"Quantity Feeding in the American Civil War" and "Comfort Foods and Food
Remedies in the 19th Century" in Portals to Shenandoah Valley Folkways.
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3:15 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
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"From Spikey Rollers to Rotary Tillers: 400 Years of Virginia Agriculture: Three Sisters to Chardonnay"
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Presented by CiCi Williamson, author of six cookbooks and more than
1,500 newspaper and magazine articles. Ms. Williamson, former PBS-TV
host, syndicated food columnist and co-editor of CHoW Line, the
newsletter of Culinary Historians of Washington, will take you on a
fascinating trip across four centuries of agriculture in Virginia in
this absorbing lecture that begins with Virginia Indian farming and ends
with the state's long-sought success in producing great wines.
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Free Time
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6: 30 p.m. - 10 p.m.
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BANQUET
Menu based on historical foods
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Keynote speaker: John Egerton. Renowned African-American poet Nikki
Giovanni will introduce Mr. Egerton by reading her poem for the late
chef, Edna Lewis, "
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"Pork and Corn...and the Rest is History"
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Presented by John Egerton, editor, author and outstanding presenter,
with expertise on Southern foodways. Well renowned African-American
poet and Caldecott Medal honor winner, Nikki Giovanni, will introduce
Mr. Egerton by reading her poem to Edna Lewis that appeared in the first
volume of Cornbread Nation. Mr. Egerton has edited eleven non-fiction
books, including Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, and in History.
His articles on food and other topics have appeared in many
publications, including The Washington Post, The New York Times
Magazine, Saturday Review and Southern Magazine. A founding member of
the Southern Foodways Alliance, he edited the first volume on Southern
food, entitled, Cornbread Nation 1.
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