HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

Just in time for your fantasies about the perfect Thanksgiving meal, we’re going to introduce you to Boston’s matriarch of modern cooking this week. You probably thought that Julia Child was Greater Boston’s original top chef, but a generation before Julia launched her career, Fannie Farmer published a cookbook that revolutionized the way that recipes are presented, made cooking accessible to the average home maker, and put Boston at the center of kitchens across the nation.

As a side note, your humble hosts moved this weekend, so this episode will be on the shorter side, but we hope to be back next week in full force.

Please check out the full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/159/

And support the show on Patreon. Fannie Farmer’s Cookbook

• Digital editions of Fannie Farmer’s books via the Library of Congress.
• Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book : What To Do and What Not To Do in Cooking, the precursor to Fannie Farmer’s edition of the Boston Cooking School Cookbook
• Good Housekeeping Volume 51 includes Mary Lincoln’s “The Pioneers of Scientific Cookery.”
• Fannie Farmer included what is considered to be the first brownie recipe. Give it a try and see if the first is the best.
• Advertisement for Farmer’s cookbook in The Boston Globe, December 19, 1896
• An obituary for Fannie Farmer from The New York Times’s “Overlooked No More” series, in which obituaries are written for significant historical figures, often women and People of Color, whose contributions were not recognized at the time of their death.
• If you enjoyed Julie and Julia, this book is for you. Fannie’s Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook.
• The podcast Documents that Changed the World covers Farmer’s cookbook.

Many of you probably have guests who will be visiting Boston this holiday season. It can be hard to find a walking tour in November and December, but on a mild day it is the perfect season to explore historic Boston. The Complete Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail by Charles Bahne is our go-to for the Freedom Trail. It provides detailed walking instructions and just the right amount of history and context at each stop. It’s small enough to carry in a coat pocket, and if you order it right away, you can study up to impress your friends and family.

If you embark on the trail, you’ll want to make a few stops along the way to warm up. We recommend Boston Cream Pie at the Omni Parker House, a cup of chowder at the Union Oyster House, and a hearty lunch at the Warren Tavern in Charlestown. All of these sites are uniquely historic with delicious menus.

On Monday, December 16, experience one of the best ways to be part of Boston’s revolutionary history. Practice your colonial insults and curses for the annual Boston Tea Party Reenactment hosted by Old South Meeting House and the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.

The event website describes the evening:

It’s December 16th, and trouble is brewing in Boston. Join us to travel back in time and relive one of the most iconic public protests in American history– the Boston Tea Party!

First, gather at Old South Meeting House, the actual historic landmark where the colonists met in 1773, with Boston’s infamous rabblerousers like Samuel Adams, Paul Revere– and even some crown-loving Loyalists– to debate the tea tax and demand liberty from the British crown. Then, join the fife and drum led procession to Griffin’s Wharf, and line the shores of Boston Harbor with scores of colonists to “Huzzah!” the Sons of Liberty as they storm the Brig Beaver and toss that troublesome tea into the icy waters below!

The event schedule is as follows:

• 6:30pm “Meeting of The Body of the People” (TICKET REQUIRED) Ticket holders join an authentic, spirited, and theatrical colonial meeting at Old South Meeting House to protest the colonial tax on tea, just as unprecedented numbers of colonists gathered in this very building 245 years ago. (INSIDE PERFORMANCE REQUIRES TICKET)

• 6:30pm “Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!” (FREE TO THE PUBLIC)As the town meeting rages inside of Old South Meeting House, join the crowds outside and hear from a Town Crier and the women of Colonial Boston as they discuss news of this tea crisis. (OUTSIDE PERFORMANCE FREE TO THE PUBLIC)

• 7:30pm “Huzzah for Griffin’s Wharf” (FREE TO THE PUBLIC; TICKET HOLDERS GET PRIME PLACEMENT) Led by fife & drum corps, we’ll parade through the Financial District of Boston and down to the Waterfront where Griffin’s Wharf once stood. We’ll follow same route the original Patriots walked to Boston Harbor to destroy the tea!

• 8:00pm “Boston Harbor, A Teapot Tonight!” (FREE TO THE PUBLIC; TICKET HOLDERS GET GUARANTEED VIEWING) Stand side-by-side with the colonists as we line the shores of Boston Harbor. We’ll “Huzzah!” as the Sons of Liberty storm aboard the Brig Beaver to destroy chest after chest of East India Company Tea.

Advanced registration is required for the ticketed portion of the event, and tickets cost $30.