Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Presidents Kitchen Cabinet 201704

CSPAN2 The Presidents Kitchen Cabinet April 1, 2017

Through Public Programs expeditions Film Screenings and engaging conversations like going to have today we explore the contemporary narrative that continues to shape the narrative and the world. We hope that the programs you are able to explore boasts over 10 million items and they come here from Public Programs but then go and visit one of our five divisions we can find our books, photographs and other kinds of collections and other resources. I would tell you about the rest of the program for february but since its black History Month every month here next month we are featuring the women jazz festival. This year we will feature an evening discussion and three nights of Ella Fitzgerald inspired performances. This event and others can be found on the schaumburg website as well as through event bright and you can find in our Winter Program brochure which is also located in the lobby. I want to say thank you to any Society Members that we have here. Your support makes it possible for us to deliver consistent programming for the lowcost of free to the public all year round. Before we turn to the program i will ask everyone to silence your cell phones and no flash photography or video. Before we get started and before i have a chance to introduce you to our panelists i want to bring out kevin young the director of the schaumburg center. [applause]. We are very excited to have a adrian here and all of you here. Its a goodlooking crowd out there. She told you all the good news that we have National Historic landmark status which we are delighted by. We have the black power show up right now and almost done with our renovation which has been going on over a year. We really are excited for the new spaces to have you come to warm them up for us. There is a moment ago when i was get a may be be seen i am Tonya Hopkins and conduct some of the interview who had known for a while i will turn over the state to adrian and tonya and welcome again. Thank you. [applause]. Let me introduce you to our panelists. We all know some of those. Today is a culinary historian who was lectured around the country. The first book the surprising story of an american cuisine one play at a time was published in august of 2013. Soul food is one of the 2014 James Beard Foundation book award for reference and scholarship. He is a certified Kansas City Barbecue Society judge. Leading us through tonights conversation as tiny hopkins and his career began in marketing is a qualitative researcher. They fulfilled the unique perspective and let her do all things commentary. The multimedia platform for which she also provides a historic and contemporary consulting and content. James hemming foundation. In a wine specialist inspired dinners including the june 2016 house event. The 1790s reconciliation dinner. James hemmings who helped set the table for americas future. Please welcome Adrian Miller and tony hopkins. Everybody knows my bags. Its been a while. The first time i met this brotherinlaw was at brother yall was at a Southern Food weight conference. If you remember when i tell this part. He gets up and he tells a story im all excited i think its my first one. Fifteen years ago. And im like unlike what is this brother to talk about and he tells a story about the long loss delicacy of opossum. It turns out that was great. Actually refer to that. I give you props. One hundred years ago that was the dish. People are looking for long loss so food recipes. Tonight were talking about the latest book which i actually had it my security back here the president s cabinet Untold Stories of africanamericans who had our families from washington to the obamas. You worked in the white house and you said you didnt even want go to the kitchen. Im the can to do that if im not supposed to be someplace im not gonna go. As someplace you should wander around. I worked on something called the president s president s initiative for one america. It was an outgrowth of his initiative on race. If we actually talk to one another and listened we might find out that we have a lot more in common than what supposedly divides us. That went on for about a year and half. The board that ran that recommended that there be an Ongoing Office in the white house. When you got the idea to do this book this book was eight years in the making and really what inspired me to do it was unemployment at the change of an administration what happens if youre at a political appointee. I knew someone a friend of mine who was at Georgetown Law School called me up while i was practicing law school. I got to the point i was thinking spirituals in my office. She calls me and she explains and describes the initiative for one america. I was the have of the Search Committee and only submitted my name. We get to the end of the administration is an appointee you write out your letter of resignation. The job market was soft at that time. I was watching a lot of daytime television. I thought to myself i should read something. And that book was Southern Food at home on the road in history. In the netbook the tribute to the africanamerican achievement has yet to be written. The book was about ten years old. He said no one had really taken on that project. So that led to my first book on selfhood. I discovered these africanamericans who had cooked for our president s. He was can write a history of africanamerican cooking and he talks about some of these president ial authors. One of the area earliest sources ive got is a photocopy of something i typed up. If you dig into that. Or also washington the actually didnt have a lot of work related to food. The whole extensive a study on the black eaters of philadelphia. And you touch on that and how that was a pathway of new money for black people for wealth and status in class. It still trickles into today. Its interesting that nobody had done the piece about the africanamerican accomplishments. There is so much connection and even this book. It doesnt look that thick. Its packed full with stories and people all the different people who are involved. It could be another 50 bucks. Written from the stories in here. The thing about the president ial history is a lot of it is fragments because in the 18th and 19th centuries and even into the 20th century they were looked down upon. Servitude positions were to something that they were born to do. And a lot of the historical sources the only get references to negro cooks or colored cooks. It is remarkable that we see a persons full name and some of the sources. Cooking was not the glamorous thing that it is today. It is one of the few professions that africanamericans could pursue an excel at with out garnering a lot of white backlash. Its also very clear that they are feeling our food. You talk about times when they been fired. The skill and Talent Development to the amazing black cooks. There are cooks who are scratch cooks who had more of the improvisational approach. And just can go with it. And then there are cooks that means putting everything in its place. Its probably your parents or Something Like that. I dont measure. You just head to watch them. Im one of the cooks that i have to head everything candace set out they are properly measured. In my approach for this i just decided to show all the key ingredients to president ial foodways. And what deals with the present directly what involves people around the president and then what are the things beyond the president s control. It was a very detailed story filled piece of work. Just skim it. Its really fascinating. Any other scratch cooks. I tried its much smaller. You have some of that with libido slides. Youre seen some snippets from some of the interesting personalities that i collected in this book just real quickly the first you saw was samuel francis. You probably saw that picture and thought thats a lot like a white dude. Quite a few of his defendants believe that he was biracial and that he have african heritage. I show hercules who was the in slave cook. Who actually escaped before him. I was wondered if this was inspired by the other. Whats interesting about this. Its actually a portrait portrait in madrid spain. And the title is a cook for George Washington. And the painter is gilbert stuart. Whats interesting about that portrait is that outfit that he has is one that would be one bag european chef and American Chef at that time. Knowing how vindictive George Washington was. You read the letters of the reaction in the extent to which he tries to get hercules after he escapes. You can do that song frozen called let it go. It makes sense that hercules goes overseas is probably the safest thing for him to do. He actually made money selling scraps. I have come across that. The story as you know there are stories and then in their facts and history. He was such a great cook. The piece about the scraps what was that about a lot of chefs they would give them the liberties it to sell the scraps. People would use them to make candles. This brother is cooking so good. In terms of what he was selling. After he was done working he would here just put on that blue suit. Its is a whole lot about nonetheless he was trying to be free. You touch on the happy slave. To make people believe that it wasnt so bad. He still was like im out. The clothing was a clue but nobody knows for sure where he ended up. The interesting thing, first of all when washington brings hercules to philadelphia to be his cook he does us where he was a feeling her cooking and all. He brings hercules to come to philadelphia. The tricky thing was they have something called the gradual abolition act. If you were there for six months. Read on the ten to six months would told he would pack up all of the enslaved people. Keep them there for a few weeks and then bring them back. He did this through his two terms. For some reason towards the end of his second term he sends hercules back not to the mount vernon kitchen into the field to make bricks into other hard labor. And thats what really spurs hercules to make the dash for freedom. I need my cook back. If you read the letters in sequence hes going to the five stages of grief. I really believe that. And then the letters from Martha Washington to meet every its like something you would see on the real housewives of old virginia. I worked on that. I wonder if hercules knew that. Maybe thats what spurred him. Washington suspected that hercules was going to escape with at least some of his family members. One of his sons was caught stealing some money out of his backpack. It was believed that that was enough finance the escape attempt. I found it really interesting. This character who is George Washingtons step grandson, nephew whatever, how he actually luckily for you and for us in for the sake of this Research Documents in detail about the artistry until what was that all about. Hes is going on and on about it. Im glad he did. So George Washington parke custis is his step grandson. Thanks to him the diary that he kept and the observations that he made we get a sense of hercules personality and what he have going on in the kitchen. He have a biracial staff. There were indentured whites that worked in the kitchen. They were all in the kitchen together. Obviously hercules was quite temperamental. They talk about fine at the instructions. A person seem equipped to talk about james before we can talk about laura. One is james hemmings. The chef before he becomes president. When james was 19. He actually takes it over to france. They have them trained as a classical chef. He didnt play him before. After he finishes the training. He installs him as the chef. He is here in philadelphia. As you know in the mid 1790s he says i want to be free. If to teach one of the other enslaved people. What you see reuter here that is written in hemmings on hand. Thats at the library of congress if you ever want to see it. He did study it when he got there. One of the cofounders of the james hemming foundation which you can learn more about online i believe one of our other cofounders is here i wanted to make sure we talked about it. The french cooks in the culinary technique. Research shows that its the first and not only the only who actually trains in france for this status. One because he has a fascinating story but also i think you just set the tone. To enslaved women the reason why he doesnt become chef izzy exley drinks himself to death in 1801. The principal founder will be on site in a fellowship. I alluded to this about the existing documentation. We believe will provide the dimension to the story. We had two enslaved women who are working in the white house kitchen. You talked about them being trapped. Typically in the white house and anybody who has been a washington dc in july and august will understand that. Typically during the summer they have a skeleton crew. Its in a reclaimed swap. People in the white house kitchen would actually get tropical diseases jefferson would not let those two women go back to their families when he would leave the white house during summer break. They actually had to stay there. Trying to reunite with their wives. And jefferson catching them before they even get to the white house. Their life was pretty much in the white house basement. We have to remember they are cooking from harsh cookery. And that cookie there was a fireplace with a range on top. Another fireplace that was open. And according to some sources injuries related to cooking it was was a second leading cause of injury to women in the 1800s next to pregnancy. That just shows you how dangerous that work was. We can only imagine. The long hot iron rugs. I love how you had stories within stories. How you run history along the way. Its great for those of us who prefer to use history during the lens of length of not just food but from that perspective. Actual quotes from the people who had worked and cooked and served to you want to talk about some of the personalities of the dynamic between the president s and some of the people who serve them . There are really three main themes. And then the third is unwittingly or consciously they were often civil rights advocates. They could get access with the president. They would ask the cook to whisper in her ear. Hoping that something would register and the president would move on it. One of the funniest stories involves jeff are right. Her story is fascinating. Of all of the cooks that i discussed in the book she is one that i would love to sit down with her. She was key to the 1964 civil rights act. The jim crow experiences back then and the family would drive from texas to washington dc. In many instances she was allowed to go to the bathroom. She suffered some indignities that at some point she refused to go on the trip. The president went off to say. After he signs this bill. He presents her with one of the pins and said you deserve this as much as anyone. He would often show up late for dinner you discussed in the kitchen. He would often show up late with gas. She would start making the food but she would just send out drinks and nobody ever complained. If we could play that. [inaudible conversations] its not going to play . [laughter] oh, okay. Could you hand me the book . [inaudible] thats all right. Okay. So what i did is i actually transcribed this recipe in the book, this conversation in the book, so ill just go ahead and read it. All right. So, again, the first voice youre going to hear is juanita roberts. Want me to do juanita . Im kidding. Thats all right. [laughter] we have correspondence that the pratt and the first family president and the first family like bean. What would you say if you were asked that person by a responsible person . Right answer is, oh, i would say yes. Robert says, and . They didnt ask what kind, did they . , no but he likes pock and boon, lima beans and green limas. Green . Uhhuh. And the fresh green beans, and he like the blue lake canned green beans marinated in french dressing, and he likes well, thats not a bean, thats a pea. Now, the green limas, how do you prepare those for him . Oh, just in salty water, cook them for a good long while until the juice in them is kind of thick. Yes, you use the velveeta, dont you . Well, i do that for parties, and the pinto beans, i guess, cook like i do with salt, pork and ham bone . The pork and beans, do you doctor them up . He doctors them himself with some kind of pepper sauce. All right, do you know where any of the chili recipe cards are . Uhhuh, i sure dont. I may have one or two here. Well, somebodys got one, and ill find it because i need that one also. Okay, nice talking to you. Okeydoke, bye. So velveeta for special occasions. [laughter] only the best. Right. [applause] but its a great and i believe if you get the audio book, you actually can get that tape. Oh, theres an audio book you could have sent me instead of me staying up all night . Yeah. So i just think thats fun conversation. It just shows how when the white house goes into spin control, they go to her. Another couple of stories i want to tell involves cooks for franklin roosevelt. Franklin roosevelt. Franklin roos version roosevelt, yeah. The white house food during his administration was horrible. Tell everybody, you know 1933 right. So the problem was that Eleanor Roosevelt was fundamentally uninterested in food, and for much of our president ial history, the first lady usually had an active hand in the food operations because she knew what her husband liked and would make sure what her husband wanted and needed would happen. Often president s would like to stray from their diet and get comfort food and junk food. But Eleanor Roosevelt meets henry yet that necessary bit, and she basically couldnt cook. She was a sister . No, she was a white woman. Now, the one thing that bother ored me was that you had this team of africanamerican cooks who she supervised, and they had to put something good out. But what we find out is that henry yet that nesbit would stand behind her and correct the seasoning i heard about this. Yeah. Mess everything up. When people got invited to a state dinner at the whowrks they often ate before they went. [lau

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