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.
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Protest Baking: The Role of Cakes, Pies, and Other Baked Goods in American Political History
SPEAKER BIO:
KC Hysmith, PhD, is a Texas-born, North Carolina-based writer, food scholar, and recipe developer whose work focuses on the intersection of gender, food, and technologies. She holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy from Boston University. Her work has appeared in numerous print and digital publications including The Washington Post, Eater, The Boston Globe, Food52, The Kitchn, and Gastronomica. She co-wrote The Saltbox Seafood Joint Cookbook,(University of South Carolina Press, August 2019); served as the associate editor of Edible North Carolina: A Journey Across a State of Flavor (University of North Carolina, August 2022); and was the historical editor for When Southern Women Cook: History, Lore, and 300 Recipes from Every Corner of the American South, (America’s Test Kitchen, November 2024). She also served as the co-editor of An American Girl Anthology (University Press of Mississippi, May 2025). When she’s not writing or in the cookbook archives, she likes to create bite-sized bits of food history for social media. See more of her work at kchysmith.com and at @kchysmith on Instagram.
TALK DESCRIPTION:
From late 19th-century Suffragists publishing cookbooks to help fund their campaign efforts to gain the right to vote to the digital-born bake sale for #BakersAgainstRacism that raised millions during the Black Lives Matter protests in the 2020s, baked goods have been a crucial part of political tradition for generations. Recent trends in the online baking community–users who organize and connect via social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram–have further influenced the use of baked goods (or rather pictures and videos of them) as a form of political messaging with statements piped in buttercream and artfully cut out of pie dough. This talk will trace the history of the role of protest and politically-activated baking in the United States and, importantly, the bakers who use their baked goods as forms of communication and community building.