Where are the foods of yesteryear?

"Hard Times and Hardtack" was going to be the title of my article on Civil

War food for Historical Times Magazine. The title apparently failed to please but the magazine and the article will be out on August 1, 2022. 

https://online.1stflip.com/dssx/3jfn/  

I learned fascinating things while writing it. The following tidbits are among the 3,000 words I cut: 

 American cuisine did not spring into existence with the first colonists. They brought their cookbooks and their ideas of what food should be with them, whether they came from Great Britain, France, Spain, Holland (New York City was originally New Amsterdam, founded by the Dutch), or Africa (via the slave ships). 

The first American cookbook was published in 1796 and almost all of the recipes came from English cookbooks. In fact, even in the mid-nineteenth century, American breakfasts did not vary much from those suggested in the preeminent Victorian cookbook, Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861). Any cold meat from the larder “can do duty at the breakfast table”, Isabella Beeton advises, as can potted meat or fish and meat pies. For hot dishes she recommends fish, kidneys, mutton chops, rump-steaks, eggs, muffins, toast, marmalade, butter, etc. The only real distinguishing feature of an American breakfast was the occasional appearance of corn, rice, and sweet potatoes. 

Mutton ham used to be a common dish in this country, as it was in Great Britain. Potted meat, potted pig’s head, salt cod, and cold mush sliced and fried appeared regularly in cookbooks. So did corn fritters, oddly renamed hush puppies in the late nineteenth century.  

A letter from Alexis de Tocqueville to his father dated December 20, 1831, written at Memphis, Tennessee after a trek through the wilderness shows us how primitive frontier food could be: 

…we happened upon a log cabin with chinks on every side through which a big fire could be seen crackling…Picture a fireplace half the width of the room…a bed; a few chairs; a six-foot-long carbine; a hunter’s accoutrements hanging on the log wall and dancing in the draught…the [two or three] poor Blacks served us at his behest: one presented us glasses of whisky, and another corncakes and a plate of venison. The third was sent off to fetch more wood. 

 From https://hudsonreview.com/2013/03/letters-from-america/#.YkG5qOfMIdU, retrieved 3/28/2022.

Do You Know Where North Macedonia Is?

 

No, neither did I. But at the beginning of February, I mailed a copy of my first Georgian romance, An Unsuitable Duchess, to a new friend in North Macedonia.

I can hear you saying, “North Macedonia? Where’s that?” I had not heard of it before either (but I still tend to think of the world’s nations as they were when I was in grade school) and it’s a whole different world now. The post office clerk had to look it up.  

The Republic of North Macedonia is in the Balkans, surrounded by Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Albania. Its capital is Skopje.

On the right is Sirok Sokak Street in Bitola, North Macedonia.

I asked Andriana to send me a picture of the book against a picturesque background. And then, as in the introduction to that movie classic, Casablanca, we waited…and waited…and waited…

An Unsuitable Duchess finally arrived in Bitola on April 15, two and a half months after I mailed it. The pictures Andriana sent make me wish I could visit North Macedonia because it looks fascinating. Its history goes back into antiquity (it was invaded by Persians in the late 6^th century BCE).

Below is the clock tower in Bitola, the Saat Kula, which is also visible in the street scene. I love the architecture.

Then there’s a café scene, below, which I particularly like. That beverage looks coffee- and chocolate-based: two of my favorite things. Thanks, Andriana.

 

To the right, for comparison, is a picture long-time friend and fellow Sherlockian Lisa M. took in Paris of Captain Easterday’s Bargain when she was there for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup (soccer, for anyone who is unfamiliar with the sport). Lisa, I can’t believe you toted a trade paperback in your luggage.  

Don’t you wish travel was more like Star Trek’s transporter beam? The places we could visit!

 

An Unsuitable Duchess

Back in 2013, when I was writing An Unsuitable Duchess—and only about 17,000 words in—I wrote a post about Time Travel to the Year 1740. An Unsuitable Duchess came out today, May 19, 2017, published by The Wild Rose Press, Inc. at thewildrosepress.com

It’s been a long, peculiar three and a half years.

Things I’ve done that I never expected to:

Received a contract offer 44 days after submitting my query letter. When I first began submitting work (back before home computers, the Internet and cell phones), getting a response from a publisher routinely took six months. Agents? They were often too busy to respond at all.

Had an “author photo” taken. Helpful hint to new authors if you find yourself in the delightful position of needing a photograph but feel you are insufficiently photogenic. Wear large or ridiculous headgear—an exuberant garden party hat, a pith helmet or an “Indiana Jones”-type hat. Holding a cat up is also a good move.

Loved the cover art! Almost exactly what I had envisioned, thanks to RJ Morris of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

Bought a DVD of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London and Westminster. This is a treasure for anyone who needs to know the streets, yards and docks of mid-18^th century London. A modern map is almost useless—so many streets and landmarks have been destroyed or re-named. You will not find Wych Street or Craven Buildings Yard on a modern map.

Ordered promotional business cards and postcards.

Set up a Facebook page for my book: https://www.facebook.com/anunsuitableduchess/

And yes, in spite of a bad case of nerves, I’m thrilled.