WELCOME
Lately we've been doing some research into the identity of "Mrs. Bliss of Boston," author of A Practical Cook Book (1850). We hope to share more about her and other neglected New England culinary writers in a future book. For now, let us recommend one of her many superb recipes, Ginger Nuts. These are great little molasses cookies with a gingery bite. You can find them and other easy-to-make historical recipes on our blog!
Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald’s three books on New England and American food history have been widely acclaimed. Their latest, United Tastes: The Making of the First American Cookbook (University of Massachusetts Press, 2017), has been recognized as a key work of culinary and regional history.
--Editor-in-Chief, Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America
An earlier book by Stavely and Fitzgerald, Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England (University of Massachusetts Press, 2011), was called
and
Stavely and Fitzgerald made their debut with America’s Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking (University of North Carolina Press, 2004). This was praised as
Another reviewer commented that
America’s Founding Food has been deemed a “classic tome” (Choice) and was awarded a 2005 Best of the Best from University Presses selection by the American Association of University Presses.
Stavely and Fitzgerald have also contributed to the Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery and The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets.
They have written for and been interviewed by many media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, the Providence Journal, the Baltimore Sun, Slate, and Yankee Magazine. The have spoken at Plimoth Plantation, the Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island historical societies, and a great many local historical societies, libraries, museums, and interest groups throughout the Northeast.
They live in Jamestown, Rhode Island.