Curious about what fine cuisine Titusville families were dining on during the 19th century? Looking to serve up a menu of meals from the time of Colonial Drake? Want to taste a treat like what would have been served to Ida Tarbell? The Titusville Historical Society has just the program for you.
The group will host Bill Moore for a discussion about his book "Titusville Eats: A Social History" a collection of late 19th-century Titusville recipes. The free event will be held at 6:30 p.m. on February 20 at the society's Heritage Center in the Parkside building.
Attendees should use the Washington Street entry ramp. The program can also be viewed through Zoom channel. For more details, email the society titusvillehistoricalsociety@gmail.com.
The group will host Bill Moore for a discussion about his book "Titusville Eats: A Social History" a collection of late 19th-century Titusville recipes. The free event will be held at 6:30 p.m. on February 20 at the society's Heritage Center in the Parkside building.
Attendees should use the Washington Street entry ramp. The program can also be viewed through Zoom channel. For more details, email the society titusvillehistoricalsociety@gmail.com.
| Moore is a member of the society, an avid book collector, but not a particularly talented cook. In 2018, he discovered he had four out of the five earliest cookbooks from Titusville and later found the fifth online, according to a press release from the historical society. Then as now, churches, clubs, and other organizations solicited favorite recipes from their members and issued cookbooks as fundraisers. Since the contributors’ names are listed, short biographies were prepared for each person, which made it clear that the cookbooks were community-wide projects even though prepared by two churches. |  The above photo was taken from the Drake Well newsletter published in spring 2022. |
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In providing a description of the book, the society said "The oil business gave Titusville a place in the national news, and it even received a presidential visit in 1872. Many of the recipe contributors were famous at the time, and a few of their names are still recognizable — Ida Tarbell’s mother, for example, contributed over 20 recipes, so historians can see what Ida ate while she was growing up. Because Titusville still has a remarkable collection of historic homes, recipes can be matched to their makers and even to the buildings where they lived."
Moore decided he should kitchen tested about 20 of the recipes to see if they were worthy of attention, according to the press. The recipes mostly passed with flying colors, but they underscored how cooking has changed in the last 125 years.
In the end, he included about 800 recipes, contributed to earlier cookbooks by 70 women and a handful of men, in the book. There are dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as remedies for the sick, and tips for things like removing stains from linen, washing lace curtains, polishing furniture and whitewash.
"As a whole, the recipes provide a detailed view of local 19th-century food habits, and offer a chance to experiment in reconstructing early recipes that are more varied—and tastier—than many might have thought," the press said.
Moore decided he should kitchen tested about 20 of the recipes to see if they were worthy of attention, according to the press. The recipes mostly passed with flying colors, but they underscored how cooking has changed in the last 125 years.
In the end, he included about 800 recipes, contributed to earlier cookbooks by 70 women and a handful of men, in the book. There are dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as remedies for the sick, and tips for things like removing stains from linen, washing lace curtains, polishing furniture and whitewash.
"As a whole, the recipes provide a detailed view of local 19th-century food habits, and offer a chance to experiment in reconstructing early recipes that are more varied—and tastier—than many might have thought," the press said.
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