Calendar of Events

Tavern Culture Series: Political Appetites

Featuring Dr. Nancy Siegel

August 6, 2026 · 7 p.m.
Zoom

KTM&HC's program series Tavern Culture: One Sip at a Time combines lively programming with food and drink tastings – bringing historic tavern culture to life, all year round.

On August 6th, join us for a special virtual installment of KTM&HC's Taproom Culture series, as we trace the Revolutionary War-era political meanings embedded in the meals people cooked, the gardens they nurtured, and the tableware they used as part of a vivid portrait of a dynamic society learning to express its ideals through the everyday acts of preparing and eating food.

In Political Appetites: Women as Culinary Activists and the Power of Food in Revolutionary America, art and culinary historian Nancy Siegel uncovers a richly layered story in which meals, ingredients, and even kitchenware helped Americans define what democracy should look—and taste—like. From tea boycotts and homemade Liberty Tea to Washington Pie, Election Cake, and Mammoth Cheese, ordinary foods became vehicles for protest, persuasion, and celebration in the years surrounding the Revolution and the Early Republic.

Tickets on sale soon. And remember, KTM&HC receive a 40% discount on all Taproom Culture programs (plus many more great benefits)! 

KTM&HC's Tavern Culture: One Sip at a Time series is funded by the Sarah Tod Fund and the Wadsworth R. Lewis Trust Fund. 

Nancy Siegel is assistant dean and professor of art history & culinary history at Towson University, where she specializes in American landscape studies, underrepresented women artists of the 19th century, print culture, and culinary history of the 18th and 19th centuries. She provides historical cooking demonstrations, tastings, and lectures widely on landscape and food histories in addition to serving as an art and culinary consultant for museums and non-profit institutions. This lecture is based upon her forthcoming book, Political Appetites: The Power of Food in Revolutionary America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026) available now for preorders and the documentary Feeding the Revolution (WMHT).

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