We’re going back to the 1830’s to 1860’s on the Oregon Trail to find out what pioneers were eating along their journey. Before railroads connected the west, Pioneers in covered wagons traveled about 2000 of miles on the Overland trail, taking roughly 6 months at 3-5 miles per hour! What did they eat on their journey? What food was packed on the covered wagon? How did they cook? We will cover breakfast, lunch and dinner and a recipe for dried apple pie, an Oregon Trail staple recipe.

We’re going back to January 16th of 1920 just before Prohibition went into affect. We’ll make a cocktail and prohibition era cocktail snacks. On the eve of prohibition, before midnight, Americans enjoyed a final legal beer with friends. Then there were dramatic farewell funerals for alcohol (a symbolic death of a fictional person, called John Barleycorn). The Bee’s Knees cocktail used honey syrup and lemon to balance and hide the flavors of bathtub gin. Cocktail parties were popular during prohibition because drinking from your liquor stash at home was technically legal. The goal was to create snacks to eat with one hand so that your other hand was free to drink. I’m making 2 recipes from the 1922 Everywoman’s cookbook: shrimp cocktail and blue cheese stuffed celery. We also discuss: Jazz clubs of the Harlem Renaissance, New York City Speakeasies, Gangster Bootleggers, and Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Tonic.

We’re going back 100 years to learn about food in the roaring 20’s. Americans were no longer limited to the meatless & wheatless meals of world war 1. After years of war and pandemic, Americans were finally having some fun, legal or otherwise. The largest sector of American manufacturing was the food industry by the end of the decade! New culinary innovations like : Wonder bread, Velveeta cheese, popsicles, & Reese’s peanut butter cups gained popularity in this decade. Betty Crocker entered the culinary world. We saw the emergence of home refrigerators & electric stoves. Sure the “great experiment “ -prohibition of alcohol- brought down the mood a bit, but that didn’t stop Americans from going to restaurants…or from drinking.

We’re going back to Victorian America to learn about the invention of cocktails & bartending and the free bar room lunch.

We’re going back to 18th century Versailles to learn what Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI ate. Marie Antoinette…out of touch villain who when told that the people of France had no bread said “let them eat cake!”? Or maligned scapegoat of the French Revolution? Marie Antoinette did in fact love cake and chocolate, so in her honor I made a cake fit for a queen. This chocolate cake is my Grandma’s recipe but I’ve put a Marie Antoinette spin on it with orange blossom butter cream. Her favorite breakfast was hot chocolate, flavored with orange blossom from the Versailles gardens.

We’re going back to Victorian England to find out what the British were eating and bake a Victoria sponge cake. Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837 and this era lasted until her death in 1901. A lot happened in 64 years so buckle up! The Industrial Revolution, urbanization, railroads, & colonialism changed the way the British lived, ate and cooked. New inventions like mason jars, canned foods, refrigerated rail cars & steamer ships meant that food lasted longer and could travel farther. This era was marked by luxurious hotel restaurants, ladies tea rooms, pubs and plenty of street food. Maybe you’ve heard about some of the unpleasant Victorian dishes like jellied eel, boiled calf’s head and Broxy. But It wasn’t all Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies and workhouse gruel! Victorian food was delicious if you could afford it. Victoria sponge, afternoon tea, Sunday Roast, Fish and Chips, and mince pies were all popular in this era.

Get the recipe for medieval spiced mead and learn all about alcohol in medieval Europe.

Get the recipe for this Casablanca inspired Champagne Cocktail while learning what Americans were drinking in the 1940’s and World War 2. Where did old Hollywood movie stars drink? How did World War 2 affect the alcohol industry? Find out here!

The old fashioned is well…old. The sentiment behind this cocktail is what I really love. In the late 19th century, cocktails were getting elaborate, flashy and over the top... Old timers bellied up to the bar and demanded a no frills “old fashioned cocktail.” Like in the good old days before all the nonsense. What they were referring to was the Whiskey Cocktail, first recorded in 1806, which was just whiskey, bitters, sugar and water. Originally a morning-pick me up, almost medicinal remedy. Get the recipe and more Gilded Age history and scandal here.

How did Americans cook with rationed ingredients in World War 2? Get the recipe for this classic American meal of mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and meatloaf while learning about rations and victory gardens.