Local Author Series – Cindy Bertelsen

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Cynthia Bertelsen will discuss the challenges of cooking with historic cookbooks, using hands-on instructions from her book A Hastiness of Cooks and examples from the first American cookbook, from 1796, Amelia Simmon’s American Cookery. A skilled cook and culinary historian, Bertelsen is also the author of Mushroom: A Global History.

Cindy Bertelsen

Trained as an historian, librarian, and nutritionist, Cynthia D. Bertelsen is the author of Mushroom: A Global History (Reaktion Books U.K., 2013) and A Hastiness of Cooks: A Practical Handbook for Use in Deciphering the Mysteries of Historic Recipes and Cookbooks (Turquoise Moon Press, 2019). She has also published essays, articles, book reviews, and photographs in numerous print and online publications. Volunteering with the Peacock-Harper Culinary History Group at Virginia Tech for over ten years provided her with a deep knowledge of historic cookbooks. And her cooking skills blossomed through years of living and working in various countries, specifically Mexico, Paraguay, Honduras, Haiti, Morocco, and Burkina Faso. Cynthia also attended cooking classes in Paris, France, at Le Cordon Bleu École de Cuisine et de Pâtisserie. In 2011, the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awarded her a Julia Child Independent Scholar grant to study the impact of immigration on the future of French cuisine. 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­A Hastiness of Cooks: A Practical Handbook for Use in Deciphering the Mysteries of Historic Recipes and Cookbooks, For Living-History Reenactors, Historians, Writers, Chefs, Archaeologists, and, of Course, Cooks

Thanks to digitization, hundreds of historic cookbooks are now available online. However, several stumbling blocks―archaic language, obtuse instructions, bewildering ingredients, etc.―prevent many dedicated cooks, novelists, historical reenactors, researchers, and others from benefiting fully from these resources. And that’s where Cynthia Bertelsen’s book comes in. A Hastiness of Cooks: A Practical Handbook for Use in Deciphering the Mysteries of Historic Recipes and Cookbooks, For Living-History Reenactors, Historians, Writers, Chefs, Archaeologists, and, of Course, Cooks shows readers step by step how to 1) recreate historic recipes and 2) analyze cookbooks for telling details that add hints of authenticity to the daily dinner table, culinary reenactment at a Renaissance fair or historic site, a banquet scene in a Tudor-era novel, a Games of Thrones party, or perhaps an unusual scholarly paper. Lavishly illustrated with black-and-white ink drawings by Chicago artist Courtney Nzeribe, A Hastiness of Cooks brings the world of historic cookbooks to life. And to the kitchen.