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Who's Coming to Dinner: Cooking for Different Audiences

Presented by University of Pennsylvania Libraries at University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library

August 24-December 18, 2009

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Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said "[t]ell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." That's what this exhibition hopes to do by showing a sample of the wealth of recipes found in Penn's cookery collections. From basic spaghetti and meatballs for kids to fried grasshoppers for the adventurous eater, this exhibition offers recipes for every occasion and every guest. This exhibition displays works from the Chef Fritz Blank Culinary Archive and Library, the Esther B. Aresty Collection of Rare Books on the Culinary Arts, and the Laurie Burrows Grad Cookbook Collection, as well as from the Rare Book Collection. It explores the many different audiences for whom people cook, playing with categories of audience as a way of approaching these various collections. Materials on exhibition range from the sixteenth to the twentieth century but are not meant to be viewed chronologically but thematically. They show continuity and change over time, and suggest the many uses to which cookbooks are put, the varied audiences to which they speak.