There are two things in life that are simultaneously of the present and the past: food and history. Let’s think about this… a meal is prepared in the moment of its cooking and eaten very soon after, yet each dish is a process much longer in the making. It requires hours of finding, editing, and compiling recipes, recipes that have their own histories spanning much further back than you might assume. Similarly history is both of the now and then — it is researched and written in a particular moment that greatly affects the perspective of that “past” we often view as static and unchanging. It requires a knowledge of not only what came before — the historical facts and the historiography (the history of the history) — but also of what is happening in the present and how it skews (both positively and negatively) our understanding. This blending of the past and present in both food and history is what intrigues me as a cook and a graduate student. Thus the characterization of myself as hungry and historical. Thus the Epicurean Historian.

To maintain my sanity, I take time out of my grad school schedule (a.k.a. reading, reading, reading, and writing) to relax, cook, and drink with friends and family. It’s time I combine these two pursuits. Each week I’ll mine the archives (both physical and electronic) to find an old recipe, one that intrigues my dual senses as historian and cook. Then I’ll prepare a modern dish from that recipe; inspired by what I find, I’ll apply contemporary techniques, technology, and products to culinary classics. Maybe you can tell me which recipe (traditional or modern) piques your interest, speaks to your history, or makes you glad you live in the twenty-first century.

For food and history to provide us with something meaningful, they require immediate consumption through eating and reading. And yet they also necessitate contemplation and consideration. Through this, our labors (both culinary and historical) can facilitate us on our quest for the good life. So let’s celebrate what brings us joy, for “we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it” (Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus, found at www.epicurus.net).