Rethinking the Tablescape: Indigenous Origins of New England Cuisine

From pumpkin pies to johnnycakes, maple syrup, roast turkey, and cornmeal cakes, the history of “traditional” New England cuisine is rooted in Indigenous knowledge and traditional foodways. Join us for a cooking demonstration and discussion that will place Indigenous ways of knowing and tradition-keeping into conversation with AAS archival materials to examine the lasting impact of settler colonialism in the Eastern Woodlands region.

Rachel Beth Sayet, Mohegan educator and personal chef, will lead the session with a cooking demonstration and discussion of the thriving Algonquin communities’ cultures and cuisines. AAS curators and library staff will share original materials from the collection in real time to further reexamine the stories told about cooking and eating in New England, from William Bradford’s writings about harvest time in Wampanoag Country to early cookbooks and manuscripts to nineteenth-century printed works that elide Indigenous influence. Opportunities for direct interaction between presenters and participants will occur throughout the program.