Bound to the Fire Book Talk
Join us to hear Kelley Fanto Deetz, program director of Stratford Hall, VA., draw upon archaeological evidence, cookbooks, plantation records, and folklore to present a nuanced study of the lives of enslaved plantation cooks from colonial times through emancipation and beyond. Dr. Deetz reveals how these men and women were literally “bound to the fire” as they lived and worked in plantation house kitchens. Following the talk, we will sample a host of period food inspired by Dr. Deetz’s book Bound to the Fire: The Story of How Enslaved Cooks Fueled What We Eat Today and then tour one of the region’s best example of Georgian architecture, home to seven generations of the influential Chew family and the site of the bloody Revolutionary Battle of Germantown. The site also has a unique interpretation of the evolution of kitchen life over the last 200 years with both the excavation of a 1767 kitchen dependency juxtaposed with a preserved 1959 kitchen the last Chew inhabitants installed. Dr. Deetz is a visiting assistant professor at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Va. and Research Associate with the James River Institute for Archaeology. She has designed exhibits and consulted on various films and documentary projects such as the 2016 film, Birth of a Nation.
Schedule
10:00- 10:30 a.m. Registration, Coffee and Mary Randolph’s period Bread Fritters
10:30-11:30 Talk and Question and Answers
11:30-noon Tasting and Book Signing
Noon to 1:00 p.m. Tour of Cliveden, A historic site administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Date: February 24, 2019 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Location: Historic Cliveden Carriage House | 6401 Germantown Ave. , Philadelphia
Event website: eventbrite.com
