prepared over an open hearth. (Image courtesy of Visit Williamsburg.)
WILLIAMSBURG — Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown will present 40 years of tradition with Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia, celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday by digging into historical “foodways” that connect cultures through centuries-old cooking techniques and culinary practices.
The special weekend event will be held on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 24 and 25.
According to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation (JYF), Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia first began in 1983 as a fall harvest festival at both museums, formerly known as Jamestown Festival Park and the Yorktown Victory Center.
Four decades later, the two history museums have kept this seasonal tradition alive through hands-on demonstrations that explore traditional cooking techniques of early Virginia and cultural influences that inspired new “American” cuisine.
a historical interpreter stokes a fire over an open hearth. (Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation photo)
- Jamestown Settlement: How food was gathered, preserved and prepared on land and at sea by Virginia’s Powhatan Indians, English colonists and West Central Africans.
- American Revolution Museum at Yorktown: How Continental Army soldiers earned their rations and farmers, free and enslaved, transformed a bounty of crops into stews, pies and breads and preserved food for the winter ahead.
