Dining in the Reading Room Trivia Quiz

Answer: Granddaughter

Virginia Jefferson Randolph Trist (1801-1882) was born at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's plantation) to Martha Jefferson Randolph and Thomas Mann Randolph, growing up on her grandfather's estate.

The handwritten personal family cookbook was handed down through the generations before Fanny M. Burke (Jefferson's great great granddaughter) presented it to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation in the late 1930s. The foundation is responsible for the preservation and running of Monticello.

Noted historian Marie Kimball adapted and updated the cookbook before its publication. The work not only includes recipes from Jefferson's time in France, but also additional favorites from Monticello and the White House. Along with these are Jefferson's personal comments on the recipes.

Library of Congress Control Number: 38009824
Call Number: TX715 .K498

Phoenix Rising's psnz was pleased to set the table and prepare this question for the quiz.

Answer: Hartford

Very little is known about Amelia Simmons, the author of "American Cookery". On the book cover she is described only as "An American Orphan", and this cookbook is her only published work. She was likely a domestic worker, from either New England or the Hudson Valley region - as some have inferred from the words of Dutch origin, such as "slaw" and "cookey", in some of her recipes. In spite of her lack of formal education, she was clearly an experienced cook, though not a particularly fancy one. Indeed, the book's full title provides a rather detailed description of its contents: "American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life."

A truly groundbreaking aspect of "American Cookery" is the emphasis on American products such as cornmeal, turkey, and cranberries; a recipe for "Pompkin Pudding" (sic) baked in a crust is the earliest example of pumpkin pie, one of the staples of the Thanksgiving table. The book also pioneered the use of a chemical leavening agent (called "pearl ash") in baking.

The book's first edition was published by Hudson & Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut, and reprinted at least 13 times between 1796 and 1831; it was also reprinted several times in the 20th century. Hartford, one of the oldest cities in the US, has been the capital of Connecticut since 1662.

Library of Congress Control Number: 96126967
Call Number: TX703 .S5 1796 Am Imp

This question was dished out by LadyNym, who has always dreamed of writing her own cookbook.

Answer: Cambric

Cambric is a finely woven fabric made from linen or cotton. All the other answers are synonyms for "frugal" which also means "thrifty".

If there was a social cause requiring support in early 19th Century America, Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) was your person. Abolitionism, women's rights, Native American rights, opposition to expansionism: this author (poet, journalist and novelist) was at the forefront of societal reform efforts.

Arguably, Child's most successful publication was "The Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to those who are not ashamed of Economy", with its short title later changed to "The American Frugal Housewife" (1832) to avoid confusion with an earlier work by British author Susannah Carter.

Child's book was considered essential reading for newly married wives. More than just recipes and hints, the work also touched on remedies, parenting, housekeeping, plus ways to save: "If you are about to furnish a house, do not spend all your money... Begin humbly."

Library of Congress Control Number: 07026052
Call Number: TX147 .C53 1835

Phoenix Rising's humble psnz managed to save this question for the quiz.

Answer: She served in the California State Senate.

Abby Fisher was born to Andrew James, a white farmer, and Abbie Clifton, a slave, in 1831. She worked as a cook on a plantation in Orangeburg, South Carolina and later moved her family to San Francisco, where she taught Southern cooking. She was illiterate, and dictated her recipes to her friends, including several of the San Francisco elite.

She and her husband owned a pickling and preserves business, Mrs. Abby Fisher and Company. At the San Francisco Mechanics' Institute Fair in 1880, she won a bronze medal for best pickles and sauces, and a silver medal for best jellies and preserves. In the forward of her book, she promised, "the book will be found a complete instructor, so that a child can understand it and learn the complete art of cooking." The book was divided into 13 sections and contained a total of 160 recipes. A digital copy of the book can be viewed at the Library of Congress website.

Library of Congress Control Number: 08023680
Call Number: TX715 .F533

This question was cooked into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member Chiroman, who knows very little about Southern cooking, but is thankful for a wife who does.

Answer: Blockade of Southern ports

As of 1863 when this book was published, the ongoing blockade of Southern ports by the North meant that the Confederate South was running low on supplies. The "Confederate Receipt Book" (sic) was a book of recipes to help the southern people make things with what supplies they had on hand. The recipes were taken from newspapers and people, to help with economical directions and suggestions for cookery, housewifery, and the camp. Some examples are making apple pie without apples, medicinal remedies, soap and candles. There are only five copies of the book that are known to have survived.

Library of Congress Control Number: 04020450
Call Number: TX153 .C7 CSA Coll

This question was cooked up by Phoenix Rising's JAM6430 who is always interested in Civil War happenings.

Answer: Professional authors

A "community cookbook" is produced by a group whose members each contribute their favorite recipes and/or household hints. The contributions are collated, sometimes edited, then sold to raise funds for some worthwhile cause.

The Library of Congress would have us believe that yesterday's community cookbooks were the forerunners of today's food blogs and other social media outlets. While community cookbooks were used extensively as a fundraising vehicle, they also serve the wider purpose of documenting peoples' lives, regional cultures and tastes, and significant causes such as temperance and suffrage.

The American Civil War saw the first community cookbooks sold to raise funds for wounded soldiers and their dependents. The first known example of this genre was "A Poetical Cook-Book" (1864) by Maria J. Moss, sold at Philadelphia's Great Central Fair in June of that year.

The Library of Congress estimates that over 5,000 community cookbooks were published by the end of World War I in 1918, with thousands more appearing throughout the 20th century. Even the institution itself could not resist jumping on the bandwagon, with the Library of Congress Cooking Club publishing its own cookbooks in 1975 and 1987.

Library of Congress Control Number: 72003979 ("A Poetical Cook-Book")
Call Number: TX715 .M913 1972

Retired educator and indirect beneficiary of community cookbooks, Phoenix Rising's psnz was unable to resist contributing this question to the quiz.

Answer: Families of Members of Congress

Founded in 1908, and hosted in an early 20th-century building in the Sixteenth Street Historic District in NW Washington, DC, the Congressional Club is the official club for spouses of Members of Congress. The Congressional Club Cookbook, also known as C³, is the main fundraiser for the organization, published in hardcover format. The 14th edition of this series (the most recent at the time of writing) was published in 2005.

Besides their practical value as cookbooks, these books are of interest to historians because they reflect the social and political values of the period in which they were published. For instance, the first edition of the cookbook, published in 1927, included instructions on how to replace alcohol (banned during Prohibition) in cooking, and a tongue-in-cheek recipe on "How To Preserve a Husband" that might not be considered very politically correct these days.

Most of the recipes collected in that first book are family recipes of Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, and other government officials. Some of the later editions also include a "Men Only" section, with recipes contributed by men (such as Richard Nixon's recipe for meat loaf). Bess Truman's recipe for "Ozark pudding", one of President Harry S Truman's favorite foods, was published in the Congressional Club Cookbook in the 1950s, and acquired nationwide fame. The books also contain original photos and tips on Washington etiquette and protocol.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016364067
Call Number: TX715 .C7565 1998 CABIN BRANCH

LadyNym wrote this question, wishing that elected officials were ready to cooperate with each other on political matters as well.

Answer: Chocolate chip cookies

Mrs Wakefield sets the scene in the prologue to her cookbook: "In August of 1930, Mr. Wakefield and I bought a lovely, old Cape Cod house, built in 1709 on the outskirts of Whitman, Mass[achusetts]. At one time it was used as a tollhouse, where passengers ate, changed horses and paid toll. It was here that we started our inn, calling it the Toll House." The recipes were all dishes she served in her eating house including "lobster thermidor, oyster bisque, smothered chicken, Hawaiian ham, Spanish steak, lemon meringue pie, chocolate peppermint stick layer cake, and fudge pecan cake ball.

It also contained a recipe for what she called Toll House Cookies made with "pea-sized" semi-sweet chocolate, cut from a Nestle chocolate bar. (In 1939, Wakefield sold the rights to use her recipe and the Toll House name to Nestle where Nestle created a chocolate chip product specifically for this recipe and pasted the original Wakefield recipe on the back of the package.) It was Nestle that changed the name from Toll House to chocolate chip cookies.

The cookbook, "Ruth Wakefield Toll House Tried and True Recipes", so much more than a single recipe for cookies, is an important addition to US culinary history and certainly earned its place in the Library of Congress.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010413602
Call Number: TX715 .W17 1938

This question was baked into the quiz by Phoenix Rising cookie expert, 1nn1.

Answer: Joy of Cooking

Born in 1877, Irma S. Rombauer was the daughter of German immigrants, and a St Louis native. When she found herself widowed in 1930, at the age of 52, her children encouraged her to compile a collection of her recipes and cooking tips as a way to deal with her loss. Initially printed in 3,000 copies, this self-published book - whose original title was "The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat" - was illustrated by Irma's daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker; the cover depicted St. Martha of Bethany, the patron saint of cooking and homemaking, slaying a dragon. The first commercial edition of the book, which was an immediate success, came out in 1936, and was followed by a further seven editions - the most recent, at the time of writing, in 2019.

One of the features that have made "Joy of Cooking" so popular throughout the years is the distinctive way the recipes are presented - in a dynamic, conversational style rather than as a set of clinical instructions, with the ingredients introduced in the order they are needed, and liberally peppered with tales and anecdotes. This unique style made the book a bestseller, which was easy and fun to read as well as useful in the kitchen. Julia Child, the author of another iconic (though quite different) cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", claimed she had learned the basic principles of cooking from Irma's book.

Irma S. Rombauer passed away in 1962. The last edition of "Joy of Cooking" to be edited by Becker, the sixth, was released in 1975, and proved to be the most popular, with over 6 million copies sold. The ninth edition (2019) features an additional 600 recipes, added by Irma's great-grandson, John Becker.

"How to be a Domestic Goddess", by Nigella Lawson, and "A Modern Way to Eat", by Anna Jones, are both much more recent (published in 1998 and 2014 respectively), and their authors are British.

Library of Congress Control Number: 36009825
Call Number: TX715 .R75 1936

LadyNym joyfully prepared and served this question.

Answer: Hurricane Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2006, many people lost most of their possessions including their prized recipes, which, for a region that treats food like a religion, was a huge loss. This became obvious to the editors at the "Times-Picayune" newspaper in New Orleans. People started requesting copies of recipes they'd once cut out from the paper. The paper created a recipe swap, a column called "Exchange Alley" (named after a French Quarter street).

It became so popular that the newspaper created a cookbook titled "Cooking Up A Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans." It was produced and edited by Marcelle Bienvenue and Judy Walker. Part cookbook, and part history chronicle about the disaster, the book contains such recipes as maque chou (literally false cabbage, made with corn scraped off the cob, slow-cooked with onions and butter and celery) and crawfish stoufe (a seafood stew). The book is a worthy inclusion in the Library of Congress culinary section.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009280181
Call Number: TX715.2.L68 C64 2008

This question was blown into the quiz by Phoenix Rising amateur cook, 1nn1.