Culinary Historians NY: Joyful Traditions, 12/3

Culinary Historians of New York (CHNY)

Joyful Traditions
How the Dutch St. Nicholas Celebration Brought Us Santa, Presents, and Holiday Treats

with Peter G. Rose

Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Location:
For nearly 200 years the Christmas season has brought revelry and sweet indulgences to New Yorkers based on the English traditions captured in Washington Irving's "Old Christmas" and Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." But before there was New York, there was New Amsterdam, and as we mark the 400th anniversary of the Dutch arrival on our shores, culinary historian Peter G. Rose will bring to life the distinctly Dutch holiday of St. Nicholas's Day, celebrated on December 6. Not only was St. Nicholas's Day the premier winter feast in New Amsterdam, but many of its foodstuffs and traditions are the foundation of our contemporary celebrations. Drawing on literature, religion, the fine arts, and especially foodways, Rose will reveal how St. Nicholas came to America and how he morphed into Santa Claus in the mid-nineteenth century to adapt to changing cultural dynamics.

The program will include a tasting of traditional Dutch holiday foods, including a 17th-century holiday bread called "Duivekater," marzipan-filled puff pastry "letters," spiced "speculaas" cookies, and "olie-koecken," forerunners of the doughnut, served with spiced "Bishop's wine."

Peter Rose is a food historian, consultant, lecturer, and author. Her books include "The Sensible Cook: Dutch Foodways in the Old and the New World"; "Food, Drink, and Celebrations of the Hudson Valley Dutch"; and "Matters of Taste: Food and Drink in 17th Century Dutch Art and Life."

Location:
Mount Vernon Hotel Museum
417 East 61st Street
New York, NY 10065

Time: 6:30 pm Check-In and Reception | 7:00 pm Lecture

Fee: $40 Non-Members and Guests | $25 CHNY/MVHM Members | $22 CHNY Student & Senior Members

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