GLOBE PEQUOT
LENOX — Culinary historian Becky Libourel Diamond returns to Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion and Museum, 3:30 p.m. Nov. 8, to share recipes and stories from her new book, “The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook,” in a program highlighting holiday traditions of the late 19th century.
Tickets are $45 and include admission to Ventfort Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the day of the program. Reservations are recommended and can be made online at gildedage.org or by calling 413-637-3206.
The event will feature Diamond’s research into confections and dishes that have faded from modern holiday tables, including sugar plums. Though widely known from Clement Clarke Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” sugar plums are not sugar-dusted fruit but a spiced candy that was once a seasonal staple.
Diamond is the author of several works on food history, including “The Gilded Age Cookbook,” “The Thousand Dollar Dinner” and “Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s First Cooking School.” A food writer, librarian and research historian, she earned a journalism degree from Rider University and a master’s degree in library service from Rutgers University.
Dining and Cooking