Culinary Historians of Washington

In April 1861, tens of thousands of volunteer troops arrived to protect Washington, D.C., and they needed to be fed. The official army ration specified a loaf of bread (or one pound of flour or hardtack) a day. Since thousands of soldiers were using the Capitol building as a barracks, gas heated brick ovens were hastily constructed in the basement. At its height, the Army bakeries produced 58,000 loaves of bread a day. Within months, complaints were raised about the black smoke and soot, but it would take a year of the Senate trying to convince the House and then the Army, before the ovens were removed.

Pat Reber is a culinary historian whose focus is researching cooking apparatus (stew stoves, brick and iron bake ovens, Rumford Roasters, early cook stoves) and foodways using primary resources. For two decades she has demonstrated and taught bake oven and hearth cooking. Her website Hearthcook.com contains thousands of links relating to online historic culinary resources, and she posts recipes, articles and events on her blog, Researchingfoodhistory.blogspot.com.

This is a free event, no reservations necessary