Cookbooks and Food | Inside Adams

Photograph inside a factory with bottle and boxes of catsup being inspected by working. Photo take circa 1920

Playing Ketchup: A Condiment and the Pure Food Movement

January 31, 2025

Today, our beloved bottles of ketchup are consistent and shelf-stable thanks to the work of Katherine and Arvill Bitting who examined over 1,600 bottles of ketchup, visited 40 canneries producing tomato pulp, and toured 20 ketchup factories to come up with a method to make a safe and preservative-free ketchup.

Posted in: Biography, Cookbooks and Food, Rare Books and Special Collections, Science, Women's History

Black and white photograph of Jimmy and brother Billy Carter eating a plate of barbecued chicken sitting in recliners inside Billy's gas station- there are shelves of cans of automotive supplies behind them. Photograph taken on September 10,1976.

Cookbooks from Plains, Georgia and Carter Family Recipes

January 10, 2025

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

Remembering President Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter with recipes and stories from cookbooks that feature the Carter family and the community of Plains, Georgia.

Posted in: Cookbooks and Food, Presidents

Magazine cover illustration shows a man standing at a dining room table, using various chemical apparatus, such as a "Milk Tester" with "High Water Mark", a "Sand Extractor" over a "Sugar" bowl, and a "Butter Tester", as well as a microscope and a retort, to analyze food products before sitting down to eat. He has a book titled "Chemistry" in his coat pocket.

Harvey Wiley and the Pure Food Movement

December 13, 2024

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

A look at the history of food adulteration in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century and the actions that lend to enact legislation for food standards.

Posted in: Chemistry, Cookbooks and Food, Science

19th century book cover that has gold lettering that reads rhubarb culture and gold design of rhubarb.

Rhubarb Marmalades and More: Recipes from our U.S. Historical Community Cookbooks

July 2, 2024

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

Are you wondering what to do with your rhubarb harvest? Do you want to be adventurous and try something a bit different than the traditional strawberry rhubarb pie or jam? Check out some recipes for rhubarb marmalade and more from the Library's digital collections of early community cookbooks.

Posted in: Cookbooks and Food

Photograph of a bowl of yellow nance with fresh epazote. Photograph courtesy of Michelle Cadoree Bradley, Feb. 2023

My Favorite Pre-Hispanic Indigenous Foods

February 7, 2023

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

Inspired by the book Presencia de la Comida Prehispanica (1986) 2022 Fall LC intern Brian Jimenez shares his favorite family food memories from his visits to El Salvador.

Posted in: Cookbooks and Food

Print showing a family preparing tamales in a large kitchen

Tamales and the Tamalada: a Christmas Tradition

December 23, 2022

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

During the holiday season there are many diverse traditions. One food that is traditional in many Latine households is tamales, prepared at a tamalada, or tamale making party. Tamales are a Mesoamerican dish made with nixtimalized cornmeal dough—masa—steamed in a cornmeal husk, or banana leaf, and seasoned with cheese, beans, meats, and other flavors.

Posted in: Cookbooks and Food, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Hispanic American History

Photograph of Brian Jimenez at the National Mall, Fall 2022.

Five Questions, Intern Edition: Brian Jimenez 2022 Fall LOCI

December 16, 2022

Posted by: Jennifer Harbster

Brian Jimenez, a Library of Congress Fall 2022 intern, answers five questions about his internship developing Indigenous Food and Foodways collections with the Science, Technology and Business Division .

Posted in: Cookbooks and Food, Five Questions