Celebrating cultural connections with cuisine – Daily Press

Jamestown Settlement and the Museum of the American Revolution in Yorktown extend Thanksgiving celebrations with a special culinary presentation.

Friday and Saturday, Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia will explore “historical foodways that connect cultures through centuries-old cooking techniques and culinary practices,” said the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. The event began in 1983 as an autumn harvest festival.

During the two-day presentation, historic dishes will be prepared in the outdoor living history spaces, with a selection of early colonial recipes for adventurous chefs to try at home.

At Jamestown Settlement, visitors can learn how food was collected, preserved and prepared by English settlers and Powhatan Indians through cooking demonstrations throughout the day in the recreated town of Paspahegh, at Fort James and along the the ships pier. The presentation will also include an exploration of the provisions the sailors collected en route to Jamestown.

Meanwhile, the Museum of the American Revolution in Yorktown will explore the culinary efforts of a Continental Army encampment, where soldiers attempted to turn their meager dried beans, salted meat, and hard bread rations into soups and stews. , and a Revolutionary-era farmhouse, where meals for farm owners and slaves are prepared using 18th-century open-hearth cooking techniques and recipes.

Although the food prepared during the two-day event is intended for demonstration purposes only, the early Colonial “recipes,” as they were called at the time, are available online at jyfmuseums.org/recipes.

Taken from an early 17th century cookbook, a recipe for the Lord of Devonshire’s Pudding calls for bakers to take a pommet, a type of bread, and slice it thinly before placing it in the bottom of a dish and to place “fruit (and) Mary” on it. the top “so until your dish is full.”

Other recipes available online include African Okra Soup, Powhatan Bread, Turkey Pie, and Pumpkin Pie, among others.

The two-day event will be followed by special holiday shopping opportunities for Sunday, November 26 at the museum stores. Stores at Jamestown Settlement and the Museum of the American Revolution in Yorktown will join stores around the world for this annual shopping event – offering one day 20% off total in-store purchases.

The museums, which will be closed on Thanksgiving, are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Combo tickets for both museums cost $30 for adults and $15 for ages 6 to 12, while tickets for each museum cost $18 for adults and $9 for ages 6. -12. Children ages 5 and under receive free admission, while residents of York, James City and Williamsburg counties, including William & Mary students, receive free admission with presentation of proof of residence.

For more information on Friday and Saturday’s events, visit jyfmuseums.org/foodsandfeasts.

Sian Wilkerson, 757-342-6616, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com