Calendar of Events
Note: Meetings are usually held on the second Sunday of each month, September through May, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Currently we are meeting via Zoom, but in-person meetings are held at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, Maryland, and occasionally at other venues. The meetings are open to anyone. However, certain meetings may require a fee.
- This event has passed.
Marshmallow Metamorphosis
November 12, 2023 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Speaker: Shirley Cherkasky
Alexandria, Virginia
BIO
Shirley Cherkasky is a founding member of CHoW DC. Since 1989 she also has been an active member of the International Commission on Ethnological Food Research. The theme of the 2012 meeting at the University of Lund in Sweden was “Traditional Foods That Are New Again.” Intrigued by the renewed popularity of marshmallows in the U.S., she began preliminary research in 2010.
The Wisconsin native moved to the Washington area in 1968 after earning an M.S. in Sociology from the Univ. of Wisconsin. First employed by the Social Research Group affiliated with the George Washington University, in 1973 she joined the Division of Performing Arts of the Smithsonian Institution in preparation for the 1976 Festival of American Folklife, part of the Bicentennial Celebration. She became the Project Director of the “Old Ways in the New World” part of the Festival. In 1983 she became the Public Programs Coordinator at the National Museum of American History, planning and producing a wide variety of exhibit-related programs. She retired in 1995.
TALK DESCRIPTION
In ancient times in Europe, it was discovered that a sticky sweet potion could be prepared from the pulverized dried roots of the common marshmallow plant and used as a medication, or as a means of making medicine more palatable. The French were the first to develop a way to use ingredients such as sugar, egg white, and gum arabic to provide the same qualities of springiness and sweet unctiousness without the complicated process necessary to produce marshmallow’s appeal from finely pulverized dried roots. German confectioners soon brought it to the U.S. in the mid-19th century but retained the name of the original source.
It was not until the 20th century that ways were found to cope with all the quantities of marshmallow so that it could be shaped, packed, shipped, and kept soft and spongy which was its primary appeal.
This is the story of how American ingenuity in the 20th century succeeded in creating the infinite variety of shapes. colors, textures and flavors that have won a place not only in our hearts in America but throughout the world.