CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – To celebrate Thomas Jefferson’s culinary contributions and the innovative cuisine served at his home, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has published a new book, Dining at Monticello: In Good Taste and Abundance. Combining recipes, background essays, and more than 120 illustrations, the book presents a complete picture of the hospitality offered at Jefferson’s table.
Edited by culinary historian and food writer Damon Lee Fowler, Dining at Monticello features more than 75 authentic recipes. Many were selected from Jefferson family manuscripts, with some written in Jefferson’s own hand. Others are from collections assembled by his granddaughters and great-granddaughters, including recipes attributed to Martha Jefferson Randolph, Jefferson’s daughter; Etienne Lemaire, Jefferson’s maitre d’hôtel during his presidency; and James Hemings, the first of Jefferson’s enslaved cooks to be trained in French cookery. Updated by Fowler, author of Classical Southern Cooking: A Celebration of the Cuisine of the Old South, the recipes are authentic to the period yet accessible to today’s home cook.
The book’s 10 essays – written by Fowler, Monticello staff members, and outside experts – provide context for the recipes. The essays illuminate all aspects of food and drink at Jefferson’s home, ranging from the groceries, kitchenware, and wines imported from Europe to the enslaved African Americans who participated in this rich food culture at every step. In addition to addressing larger issues related to cuisine at Monticello, the book also answers frequently asked questions (“Was Jefferson a vegetarian?”) and addresses such food lore as Jefferson’s interest in or promotion of tomatoes, ice cream, and pasta.
Dining at Monticello is lavishly illustrated with color photographs that showcase the Dining Room and its tableware; the recently refurnished and reinterpreted Kitchen; and the gardens and orchards that supplied Jefferson’s table. The book also shows some original documents that shed light on Jefferson’s hospitality, including one of his bi-weekly calculations of the cost of serving dinner to guests at the President’s House and his recipe for vanilla ice cream.
Dining at Monticello (hardcover, 208 pages, $35) is available in bookstores, at the two Monticello Museum Shops, by telephone at (800) 243-1743, and online through the Web site monticello.org.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation regularly publishes both scholarly studies and general-audience books about Monticello, Jefferson, and his life and times. The University of North Carolina Press (www.uncpress.unc.edu) is the exclusive trade distributor for all Monticello publications.
