My name is Stacy Booth, a Foodways Historian who loves keeping history alive through cooking demonstrations and workshops around New England. Welcome to my website where you can read about historical recipes and cooking techniques or — even better — hire me to do demonstrations, tutorials, talks, or presentations about food in the 17th through early 19th centuries.
About Stacy
I’m a Foodways Historian with a passion for food and cooking throughout history, specifically in the 17th to early 19th centuries. My special interest is open hearth and campfire cooking, and my experience working at Coggeshall Farm Museum and Plimoth Patuxet gave me many of the skills I still use today. I’ve set up several historical foodways displays at museums and events and done presenstations for various South Shore sites including Alden House in Duxbury, Stetson House in Hanover, and Parker Tavern in Reading.
Even in my free time, I love reenacting the Revolutionary War time period with Col. Bailey’s 2nd Massachusetts Regiment alongside my husband and son. Gardening and sewing (both modern and historical) are other favorite pastimes of mine.
Presentations & Topics
I offer the services listed below, with a focus on late Tudor to Early Republic (Georgian) time periods, including Colonial America and European foodways and recipes. I can present in Modern or Historical Dress
- Open Hearth cooking demonstrations/workshops
- Campfire cooking demonstrations
- Foodways displays for museums or talks at historical societies
- Modern displays of foodways techniques (i.e. making butter with girl scouts at Hanover House)
- Presentations and Talks on Foodways topics for historical societies, school groups and reenactments. Examples include “A Bille of Fare” talk I did for Parker Tavern (a powerpoint presentation), as well as modern discussions on Revolutionary War camp rations
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
“Colonial Books and Brews”
6 pm – 8:30 pm at the Acton Memorial Library, Acton, MA
PAST EVENTS
“Native Corn and the Importance of Bread in Plimoth Colony”
Alden House, Duxbury, MA.
“Puddings, 18th Century Puddings in the Hearth”
Lafayette Durfee House, Fall River, MA
“Baking Demonstration”
Fort at No 4, Charlestown, NH
“Making Butter”
Hanover House, Hanover, MA
Forgotten Recipes Blog
To Make Apple Frazes
Hello my friends! I'm back! It was quite the busy October, with three reenacting events and preparations for my upcoming talk in a few weeks. But I wanted to get some new recipes in before the abundant harvest of fall was gone, so here we go! Fall and apples go hand...
HFF #19: Fried Sausages
Though I finished this challenge over a week ago it's only now that I've gotten a moment to finally put it all in a post. So many things going on, but the best part is.... I WON!!! My hedgehogs from "A Tale of Two Hedgehogs" won the competition. I'm so excited about...
A Tale Of Two Hedgehogs…
It's time for another Historic Foodway's Challenge!!! This particular one comes from the magazine "Eaten". It was through this challenge that I figured out this magazine existed (and promptly purchased several editions because I needed to). This cooking...
To Make a Paste of Peaches
It wouldn't be a "Preserve" month if I didn't include one of Martha Washington's receipts from her "Booke of Sweetmeats". There are SO MANY different receipts! Which one to choose? I finally narrowed down my choice for two reasons. The first being that peaches were in...
HFF #18: Piccalilli
This particular Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge was called "Eat Your Veggies" and, as you can guess, the focus is on dishes full of vegetables! So, in keeping with the theme of "Preserves" this month, I chose one preserve in particular that is a celebration of...
Cucumber Catsup
Our preserve adventure continues! I'm particularly excited about this receipt because it comes out of a cookbook that I was lucky to find in a rare cookbook store I found in my area! I was SOOOO excited when I found this one! And I got a really great deal for it from...