Joanna Pruess, culinary historian and chef, and Kelsey Brow, curator at the King Manor Museum, present A Culinary Celebration of America’s Found Mothers: Martha, Abigail, and Dolley, a lively dialogue about the legacy of three of America’s First Ladies: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Dolley Madison, and their friends. The event, which was sponsored by the New School‘s Food Studies Program, included a tasting of some recipes.

More than a century before New York women won the right to vote in 1917 (it took three more years for the country to ratify the 19th Amendment), some steadfast and intelligent wives stood alongside their husbands as our nation was created. Even without a ballot, they were an effective force in nurturing Colonial America. Woven into their biographies are details about what they ate, how meals were served, and sources for recipes, along with culinary innovations and insightful anecdotes about daily life and this new country. They reveal much of our history and even how we still eat today.

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