WILLIAMSBURG — A new culinary trail is turning Virginia’s Revolutionary-era food traditions into a tasting tour across some of Williamsburg’s best-known dining destinations.
The America 250 Tasting Trail, part of Virginia’s American Revolution 250 Commission programming, highlights historic recipes and ingredients interpreted for modern menus. Organizers say the effort is designed to connect diners with the people and foodways that shaped early American life.
Stops along the trail include McKenzie Apothecary, Chowning’s Cider Stand, DuBois Grocer, Raleigh Tavern Bakery, King’s Arms Tavern, Christiana Campbell’s Tavern, the Terrace Room at the Williamsburg Inn and the Art Museum Café.
The offerings range from jumbles, a lightly spiced shortbread cookie based on 17th- and 18th-century cookbooks, to pasties, apple cider and root beer at Chowning’s. DuBois Grocer is serving a recreation of Thomas Jefferson’s ice cream, while Raleigh Tavern Bakery is offering ginger cakes drawn from Hannah Glasse’s 1765 cookbook, “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.”
At King’s Arms Tavern, the menu includes peanut soup and game pie rooted in Virginia colonial tavern fare. Christiana Campbell’s Tavern is serving oysters and tavern hot sauce, a nod to George Washington’s well-documented preference for oysters. The Art Museum Café is offering a jollof chicken bowl inspired by West African culinary traditions.
At the Williamsburg Inn’s Terrace Room, chefs are reimagining Virginia ham biscuits with a modern preparation that still nods to colonial-era staples.
“When deciding on an option to showcase for the VA 250 Tasting Trail, it was important to me to blend the historical with modern flair,” executive chef Juli Gutierrez said in a statement.
Gutierrez said Virginia ham biscuits have long been a staple at the Williamsburg Inn, with roots in colonial-era dining traditions associated with Martha Washington.
The updated version uses a cheddar and chive biscuit finished with pretzel-style salt and filled with Virginia ham, honey mustard butter, apple chutney and arugula.
“As much as possible, we try to infuse history and historical ingredients into the nuances of many of our dishes and beverages,” Gutierrez said.
