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Baking Powder Wars: The Cutthroat Food Fight That Revolutionized Cooking
The Seymour Library welcomes the author and food historian Linda Civitello who will give a free talk on her interest in food history and the subject of her book "Baking Powder Wars: the Cutthroat Food Fight That Revolutionized Cooking". Smithsonian named the book as one of the Ten Best Food Books of 2017.
The dull sounding subject is anything but. Most food was produced locally and consumed locally at home. But by the nineteenth century chemists, factories and the railroad started to change the American diet. Add in mass media, mass advertising and the promise of mass profit--Ms. Linda Citivello will show the titanic struggle that reshaped America's diet and rewrote its recipes. Presidents and robber barons, bare-knuckle litigation and bold-faced bribery, competing formulas and ruthless pricing--Ms. Civitello shows how hundreds of companies sought market control, focusing on the big four of Rumford, Calumet, Clabber Girl and the once popular Royal. "Baking Powder Wars" is the forgotten story of how a dawning industry raised Cain--and cakes, cookies, muffins, pancakes, donuts and biscuits. There was a state-level showdown over the rights to produce and sell baking powder and Ms. Civitello says Connecticut played a central role in the new industry.
This is an in person talk with no registration needed. For more information please call the Library at 203-888-3903. As an added interest and draw tea and a "historical" ginger cookie made from a 1837 "reciept" made by Ms. Civitello will be available during the talk.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2049974-0
