Culinary Historians | “A Single Spoonful will Excoriate the Mouth”: Pepper Pot Stew and Black Female Street Peddlers in Antebellum Philadelphia

When

Sunday May 18, 2025: 4:00pm to 5:30pm  Add to Calendar /   Add to Google Calendar

Where

Downtown Library: 4th Floor Program Room

Description

During the 19th Century, the streets of cities like Philadelphia rang with the cries of female food sellers and with their characteristic songs. Among them were the many Black women who sold pepper pot stew, a spicy dish of Caribbean origin. Their trade required specialized knowledge, from making tripe and other cheap ingredients into a delicious dish, to navigating urban markets and streets, often at night. Drawing on a variety of sources, historian Carolyn Zola explores how these women drew on diasporic foodways and carved out an important niche to support themselves, their families, and their communities.

This event is in partnership with Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor.