‘Dining at Monticello’ Is Much More Than Just a Cookbook

Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s photo-heavy book is a history dive into Colonial America’s culinary culture and gardening practices.

The well-researched book includes images of dinner invitations, seed charts, historic lithographs, and cartoons depicting early American cooking.

In the early 2000s, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation teamed up with Damon Lee Fowler, a culinary historian and cookbook author, to create a comprehensive presentation of Thomas Jefferson’s “place in American food history,” as Fowler’s introductory essay is titled.

Each page of “Dining at Monticello: In Good Taste and Abundance” is dense in food photography; Jefferson’s famous historic home in Charlottesville, Virginia; beautiful table settings; and Monticello’s vast gardens. Also adorning many pages are images of handwritten notes, ledgers, and recipes.