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Local Roots Menu Preview Evening Dining

April 14, 2014
Be one of the first guests to try the brand-new spring Eagle Tavern menu.

Local Roots Spring Evening Dining

May 2, 2014
Come see how the French have influenced Michigan’s cuisine.
View all food-related events
The Henry Ford has a "tasty" collection of food-related artifacts that let us peer into kitchens from America's past. It is one of the best collections of its kind in the country.

1700-1850
Peel
United States
46.96.1
Gift of Eleanor Ford
Colonial housewives made bread out of the corn native to the Americas and with grains like wheat, rye and oats that they had known in England. Being able to make a good loaf of bread demonstrated a housewife’s skill.

Women baked their bread in brick fireplace ovens heated with flames or glowing embers, or in covered cast iron pots called Dutch ovens placed among the hot coals. Once she heated up her brick oven, a woman might not only bake her bread, but also, puddings, pastries, cakes and custards. Women baked once or twice a week.

This long-handled object is a peel. It was used to place items into the oven and remove them after baking. Fireplace cooking could be hazardous and long-handled implements like this one help protect women from the fire.