Hidden Histories with Ramin Ganeshram

Ramin Ganeshram is back with us to talk about her passion for food history as a doorway into the bigger issue of American history and culture and how it effects current events. We also discuss doing what you f-ing got to do, and the problem with pigeon-holing your expertise. We even quote Shakespeare!

Ramim Ganeshram wrote the brilliant book, The General’s Cook. She dedicated 7 years to researching and writing this intriguing and suspenseful novel and continues to pursue leads into the elusive life of America’s first celebrity chef, Hercules Posey. The time: 1793. The place: Philadelphia. Hercules, President George Washington’s chef, is a fixture on the Philadelphia scene. He is famous for both his culinary prowess and for ruling his kitchen like a commanding general. He has his run of the city and earns twice the salary of an average American workingman. He wears beautiful clothes and attends the theater. But while valued by the Washingtons for his prowess in the kitchen and rewarded far over and above even white servants, Hercules is enslaved in a city where most black Americans are free. Even while he masterfully manages his kitchen and the lives of those in and around it, Hercules harbors secrets-- including the fact that he is learning to read and that he is involved in a dangerous affair with Thelma, a mixed-race woman, who, passing as white, works as a companion to the daughter of one of Philadelphia's most prestigious families. Eventually Hercules’ carefully crafted intrigues fall apart, and he finds himself trapped by his circumstance and the will of George Washington. Based on actual historical events and people, The General's Cook, will thrill fans of The Hamilton Affair, as they follow Hercules' precarious and terrifying bid for freedom.

 

Ramin is a veteran journalist with a master’s degree from Columbia University. She worked for eight years as a stringer for the New York Times, and another eight years for New York Newsday as a feature writer and food columnist. She has been honored seven times with the Society of Professional Journalist Award. Ramin is also a professionally trained chef who specializes in writing about multicultural communities from the perspective of food, history, and culture. She is the executive director of the Westport Historical Society in Connecticut and the recipient of a 2018 New England Museum Association Excellence in the field for her critically acclaimed Westport exhibit, Remembered: The History of African Americans in Westport, which also won the national American Association for State and Local History Award in 2019.

 

Ramin’s links:

Website: TheGeneralsCook.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nibblescribblenyc/

Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Generals-Cook-Novel-Ramin-Ganeshram/dp/1950691977/ref=sr_1_1

 

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

 

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