Dining in the Gilded Age: A Demonstration & Tea | Saturday November 9 from 2pm to 4pm

Join Becky Diamond, author of "The Gilded Age Cookbook" for a festive demonstration & Tea to learn secrets & techniques of authentic Gilded Age recipes!

Cost:

$45.00 per person

Duration:

2h

About this experience

Join Becky Libourel Diamond, historian and author of (our favorite!) Gilded Age Cookbook for a festive cooking demonstration & tea at Ventfort Hall! 
Saturday, November 9, Becky will be with us for one day to spill the tea (and sugar!) on authentic Gilded Age recipes & techniques.

Step back in time with Dining in the Gilded Age, a sumptuous lecture and food demonstration. Discover the lavish traditions, tantalizing stories, and indulgent foods that graced the tables of the Gilded Age elite.

From delicate tea sandwiches to the sweet delight of sugar plums and jumbles, Becky will showcase how these treats were crafted to dazzle the most discerning of palates. Afterward, enjoy a tasting of these recreated delicacies along with an elegant tea, making this a truly immersive experience of Gilded Age gastronomy.

Becky Libourel Diamond is a food writer, librarian, and research historian. Her latest book, The Gilded Age Cookbook, blends Gilded Age details and celebrity stories with historic menus and recipes updated for modern kitchens. She is also the author of The Thousand Dollar Dinner and Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s First Cooking School. Her current project is The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook, slated for a fall 2025 release. She lives in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

Tickets are $45. The ticket price includes access to Ventfort Hall from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on the day of the event. Reservations are highly encouraged as seating is limited, with walk-ins accommodated as space allows. For reservations, visit https://gildedage.org/pages/calendar or call (413) 637-3206. Please note that all tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.

Your Host

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A food writer, librarian and historian, Becky Libourel Diamond has had a varied career combining writing and research. Her latest book, The Gilded Age Cookbook, was published by Globe Pequot in August 2023.

Her previous book, The Thousand Dollar Dinner, tells the unique story of a nineteenth century “Top Chef”-style competition between Philadelphia restauranteur James Parkinson and the Delmonico family of New York. The result was a luxurious seventeen course feast that helped launch fine restaurant dining in America as we know it today.

She is also the author of Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s Cooking School, a successful nineteenth century pastry chef who also ran an innovative cooking school for young women - a Philadelphia first.

She is currently working on her fourth book, The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook: Cookies and Treats from America’s Golden Era, to be published by Globe Pequot in the fall of 2025