Joyce White: COOKING MARYLAND’S WAY (with Kara Harris)

In 1963, the Hammond-Harwood House Association published Maryland’s Way, The Hammond-Harwood House Cook Book, which includes over 700 recipes sourced from centuries’ old manuscript recipe books and contributions from Marylanders from across the state. Since its inception over 60 years ago, it has sold over 100,000 copies and is still in demand today.

In the new companion book, Cooking Maryland’s Way: Voices of a Diverse Cuisine, food historian Joyce M. White, supported by several contributing authors, reflects on the chief cultural influences of Maryland’s early foundational cuisine: Native American, African American, German, and British. Extensive research on both the foods and their method of preparation brings the history of Maryland’s diverse cuisine into sharp focus.

The Ivy is delighted to celebrate this seminal volume with a conversation between Joyce White and contributing author Kara Harris, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Click here to RSVP!

Books will be available at the event.

Joyce White’s work as a food historian began in college in the late 1980s when she was a museum education intern at the Geneva Historical Society/Rose Hill Mansion in the Finger Lakes region of New York where she  performed the role of an 1840s kitchen maid and learned to use the hearth to bake cakes with every 4th grade class in the county! From there, she worked as the Education Curator at the Square House Museum, an 18th century tavern located on the Boston Post Rd, in Rye, New York where she cooked frequently on the tavern’s original hearth. Joyce’s interest in Maryland’s food history began in the late 1990s when she moved to Annapolis. She volunteered as a hearth cook at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm in Virginia, was an adjunct instructor of American Studies at Anne Arundel Community College, and worked as a museum educator at the Maryland Historical Society where she studied several 19th century manuscript receipt (recipe) journal books. Joyce was also the consultant for the restoration of the 18th-century kitchen at Historic Annapolis’s William Paca House. In 2006, Joyce became Education Director and Foodways Consultant at the c. 1801 Riversdale House Museum in Riverdale Park, MD. Other accomplishments include being appointed guest curator for the Maryland State exhibit at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New Orleans. In 2018, Joyce joined the Board of Trustees at the  Annapolis’ c. 1774 Hammond-Harwood House Museum. Joyce is now creating historically accurate faux food items of use at historic sites across the United States.

Joyce has written food history articles for Outlook by the Bay, MarylandRoadTrips.com, Chesapeake Family Magazine, and other publications. She can also be seen on the following television shows:  State Plate with Taylor Hicks, Eatin’ the Chesapeake (MPT), CBS News Sunday Morning, and American the Bountiful (PBS).

Along with a B.A. from William Smith College and an M.A. from Penn State University in American Studies, Josh has studied food history with leaders in the field at various historic sites in England and the US.

Kara Mae Harris explores the culinary history of Maryland on her blog Old Line Plate. Old Line Plate has been featured on CBS Mornings, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, and other local media. She lives in Baltimore. “The Blogger Quietly Preserving Maryland’s Culinary History” – Kristina Gaddy, Gastro Obscura.