The 2013 Chestertown Tea Party Festival will kick-off with a new feature this year – a presentation by Michael Twitty called, “Fighting Old Nep: The Food Culture of Enslaved Afro-Marylanders,” on Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 6:30 PM at the Ken County Historical Society Bordley Building at 301 High St..
Twitty’s presentation will trace three centuries of African American culinary history from specific West and Central African civilizations to colonial Maryland. He will incorporate music, historical narratives, and authentic foods, to illustrate the vast influence of both enslaved and free black people on the cuisine and culture of the New World. Twitty’s lecture will also explores the influences Native Americans and Europeans had on Maryland foodways that were later adapted by other parts of the country.
Michael Twitty is Director of Interpretation for the Menare Foundation and a Hebrew School instructor in Montgomery County. He has given presentations on African American and Jewish food traditions at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Library of Congress, American University, and at museums and historic sites in the Washington, DC area. He is the author of Fighting Old Nep: The Foodways of Enslaved Afro-Marylanders 1634-1864.
This presentation is made possible by a grant from the Maryland Humanities Council. Admission iis free, but seating is limited. For more information, call 410 699-1369.
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