In Focus: In Margrieta’s Kitchen—Early Modern Atlantic Foodways

The cultural history of what has been called the “Columbian Exchange,” after Christopher Columbus’ 1492 voyage, is still very much a topic of inquiry. Imagining what Margrieta van Varick, whose household inventory from late seventeenth-century New York was the subject of a BGC exhibition in 2009, had in her kitchen, from the pots and pans to the foods they contained, provides a conceptual imaginary for this project. After a survey of current historiographic trends in the first half of the term, we will focus on the interpenetration of European and North American economies in the realm of food, including both the structures of production and distribution and the materials used for its transport, storage, and preparation. Dutch, English, and Native American / Indigenous foodways in the American colonies as well as the Caribbean will be examined. Research topics will include: specific crops such as tobacco, maize, and sugar; materials such as copper, tin, silver, and iron; recipes; food storage; climate and environment, and others to be determined. Class assignments will include some empirical inquiry, i.e. cooking. This class is the first installment of a focus project that will culminate in an exhibition at the BGC in spring 2020. 3 credits. Satisfies the pre-1800 requirement.