Baking Wars: Food History in CT and Beyond

Cakes, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, muffins–what fluffs them all up is baking powder, a New England invention that revolutionized baking. From the 19th century Gilded Age to the 1950s, baking powder companies pitted women, scientists, and government agencies against each other and created chaos in the cookbooks. The issues raised by baking powder–health, chemical additives, and the right of government to regulate business–were new then, but are still with us now.

Join us to hear food historian, author, and Hamden native Linda Civitello discuss her book, Baking Powder Wars, named one of the Ten Best Food Books of 2017 by Smithsonian magazine. 

Linda is also the author of Cuisine & Culture: a History of Food and People, which is used to teach food history in culinary schools throughout the U.S. and Canada. The first edition won the Gourmand Award for Best Culinary History Book in English (U.S.). Linda has developed the curriculum and taught history of food at the Art Institutes in Los Angeles and Orange County, Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, CA; UCLA Extension, and Quinnipiac University. Linda writes and speaks frequently on a wide range of food history topics, from chocolate to the Mediterranean Diet. She has spoken at Harvard University on the history of baking powder, appeared on television on Bizarre Foods (Halloween, Aphrodisiacs), on the BBC, and spoken on NPR. She is currently writing a book about the history of food in Connecticut.