Cooking Up History: The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook

Cooking Demonstration with Guest Chef Joan Nathan Presented in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Admission: Free This event has been postponed until further notice.

Note: This event takes place at the National Museum of American History | 1300 Constitution Ave NW | Wallace H. Coulter Performance Plaza | 1 West | Washington, D.C. 20013

Join renowned cookbook author and expert on Jewish foodways, Joan Nathan, as we explore The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook.

Cooking Up History showcases a guest chef and resident food historian of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Dr. Ashley Rose Young, preparing a recipe and talking about the history and traditions behind its ingredients, culinary techniques, and enjoyment. In 2020, we will be highlighting objects and stories about women.

Our guest chef Joan Nathan is a renowned cookbook author and expert on Jewish foodways. During this demonstration, she will shed light on a largely unknown culinary educator and author, Fania Lewando, who lived in Vilna, Lithuania in the early 20th century. Lewando authored one of the first Jewish cookbooks dedicated to vegetarianism, The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook (1938). Join us as we prepare dishes from Lewando's cookbook and explore the history of Vilna, the devastating impacts of the Holocaust on the city's Jewish population, and one woman's efforts to sustain her community through food.

Joan Nathan will sign copies of The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook, for which she wrote the foreword, as well as several of her cookbooks after the demonstration. Books will be available for purchase on site. Please note that there are a limited number of Vilna cookbooks available.

This cooking demo is held in partnership with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, which will launch its latest online course, A Seat at the Table: A Journey into Jewish Food on May 1st; attendees at the demo will be offered free registrations to the course, which covers the history of Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine through filmed lectures and cooking demonstrations by leading scholars and chefs.