Thank you to our readers for you patience, while we were on Summer hiatus. Now we are refreshed from our various diversions, and have some fun postings to share over the next few months....
To kick off our return to Blogland, here is Professor D.R. Schreiber's review of Jas Townsend's historical food preparation videos:
"The
way to a man's heart is through his stomach"
is a saying dating from around the turn of the 18th Century, and it is no
surprise that the
words still ring true today. Food,
its
consumption, creation, gathering, cooking, and hunting of, was a
central
part of Regency life, just as it had always been and continues
to be up to the
present day. Food’s
importance in the past is evident through numerous portrayals in
art from the Regency
period. Whether the
paintings
depict gentlemen hunting their next meal or the elite partaking
of tea, these
paintings tell the tale of food in the 18th Century.
While
historically women may have been the main cooks and
preparers of food, what man cannot appreciate a good meal? I have no claim to being
neither
an excellent nor a decent cook, but I have become fascinated by
a somewhat
recent discovery, exposing me to intricacy of 18th century food. The folks at JAS Townsend
and Sons
(www.jas-townsend.com), purveyors of fine 18th century wear,
have created a
weekly YouTube video series that focuses on the history of food
from the 18th
and early 19th Centuries. In
the
three years since its inception, the series has discussed
numerous topics,
themes, recipes and histories, all regarding 18th century food. A few recent topics have
included the
making of bread, the significance of the earthen oven to early
cooks, the
importance of salt in the preservation of 18th century food, and
much
more. The amount of
research
put into creating each video is clear, filling each episode with
volumes of
information. The
writing and
presentation is superb. The
production
value (sound, lighting, camera movement and editing) makes this
series as good as anything seen on broadcast television today.
In
the past year, they have built a replica 18th century
kitchen, complete with hearth, oven, food storage, and a
preparation area, and
are slowly filling it with authentic 18th century utensils,
pots, and
pans. As they say in
the videos, all
of these items are available at the JAS Townsend website or
print catalog.”
This
video series has captured my and my two boys'
imaginations. As soon
as we saw
these recipes and demonstrations, we had to try it ourselves. Since watching this
series, we have
embarked on creating our own twice baked beans, ash cakes, corn
bread, stews
and more, all cooked on our wood stove in the family room. My boys are convinced we
must build an
earthen oven in the backyard this summer, and they just might be
right. The series has
helped us to experience,
first hand, the smells and tastes of the 18th Century. While the main purpose of
these videos
is to display and sell JAS Townsend supplies and materials, the
commercial
aspect is nearly non-existent or so subtle that you would never
consider it
intrusive. The sales
aspect
typically consists of a single line offering the items for sale,
and since many
of these items cannot be purchased from anyone else besides JAS
Townsend,
(unless you know a tinsmith or blacksmith that can create it for
you) it is
only fitting that JAS Townsend sell these items.
I
must tip my hat to JAS Townsend for keeping history alive
and for producing these great videos.
I look forward to many more videos, about the past, to
come in the near
future.
Images courtesy of thecostumersmanifesto.com
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