As 2011 draws to a close, so does our exhibit "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?" which will end on January 3, 2012. It's been a great year for food here at the National Archives. We've had amazing guests come and speak, including Chef José Andrés, our neighbor and Chief Culinary Adviser for the exhibit; Chef Roland … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday: Top Ten Food Records of 2011
Have you visited our exhibit "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?" Don't wait! The exhibit closes on January 3, 2012. Are you in a sugar coma yet? If not, there's still time to make some sweet desserts straight from the records of the National Archives. These favorite cookie recipes (below) come from the 1966 Forest Service Fire Lookout Cookbook, part of the … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday: Holiday Sugar Spike
One of the themes throughout our "What's Cooking Wednesday" posts has been war and food rationing. American citizens were asked to grow their own food, ration sugar, and eat less meat so that there would be more supplies for soldiers fighting overseas and for people with little food left in their war-torn country. As a result, … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday: Flour Sack Art
What do you if you love Thanksgiving but it falls on a day when you can't eat turkey? In 1947, President Truman faced an awkward dilemma. Truman took up the office of President during World War II, but even after the war ended, the plight of the Europeans was on his mind. Americans were still urged … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday: Truman and the no-turkey Thursday
Congratulations to Sheila Fisher, whose comment on last week's post, "A fire place with hickory wood burning and crackling. Nothing makes a house smell more like a home than a wood burning fireplace on a frosty winter morning! MMMMMM" was randomly chosen by Patty Mason, the editor of Eating with Uncle Sam. The Foundation for the … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday: Giving thanks for the calorie?
Leave a comment on the bottom of this post telling us your favorite food smell. and you'll be entered into a random drawing to win a copy of Eating with Uncle Sam from the Foundation for the National Archives! Smells are everywhere. Realtors bake cookies and make coffee to help sell houses. Proud … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday: What’s That Smell?
If you really want to be scared by food, don't miss "Food Frights" on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the National Archives Building! David Gregory of NPR will moderate this discussion about how America's government became involved in food safety and how food safety will look in the future. One of our panelists is Chef José Andrés … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday: Halloween BBQ
This postcard (ARC 2657925) was enclosed with several others as part of a letter from Acting Secretary of State Robert Bacon to U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Whitelaw Reid regarding postcards that were circulating in South Africa regarding the meatpacking industry. Do you like to be scared? If you do, forget about watching Halloween … Continue reading Need a Halloween costume? Four food frights from our holdings
Since it's fall and October, our thoughts naturally turned to Oktoberfest as a possible topic for What's Cooking Wednesdays. However, one too many encounters with Upton Sinclair's letter to President Teddy Roosevelt about the working conditions in meat factories had us avoiding the bratwurst. And, apparently, drinking beer in the office is hugely frowned upon by the management. So … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesdays: The case of the buttered pretzel
This week's edition of What's Cooking Wednesday comes from Kathleen Crosman, an archivist at the National Archives at Seattle. Those who manned fire lookout towers were essentially camping out for weeks at a time. They had to pack their rations, which were mostly canned or nonperishable food, and prepare what meals they could. Today’s high-tech, … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesdays: Lookout cookouts
