AmeriCorps representative Jessica Baloun presents the potato patsies she prepared and shared while discussing their origin. The pies often were stuffed with various meats and veggies and were seen as a convenient meal, especially for workers such as coal miners.

By CHRIS McBRIDE

Staff writer

WARREN — A staple of any holiday is the food families gather around the table to eat.

But, a holiday feast today is a lot different from one you might expect to have eaten in the 19th or early 20th century.

Imagine instead of passing around the apple pie, you’re digging into marlboro pudding.

That’s the experience the Trumbull County Historical Society cultivated for tour groups inside the John Stark Edwards House for its Historic Holiday Food Tour.

Led by TCHS Director Meghan Reed, groups ventured from room to room learning about not only the history of the food, but also learning about the John Stark Edwards House, which is the oldest remaining home in Warren.

“Most people living here in the early 1800s moved here from Connecticut or Pennsylviania, while they were sort of living off the land they would’ve had access to goods from New England, Pennsylvania and New York,” Reed said.

Several dishes consumed during the tour were prepared by representatives of TCHS — Sarah Moell and Ryan MacLennan, Americorps member, Jessica Baloun and Elisha Veon, owner of Babcia’s Lunchbox who prepared a number of dishes including chicken curry, Marlboro pudding and New Year’s Biscuit.

A bit of a food historian herself, Veon gave insight into the meals and what they meant to the people of that time.

“Everything was for preservation, they couldn’t eat all of their sugar, they still had a huge winter to make it through. So these recipes were made to sustain them, they were made to keep for a long time,” Veon said.

One of Veon’s dishes, the Marlboro pudding being presented by Reed, was described as being a celebratory food in the 1800s.

“This was when people had limited access to foods like sugar and lemon. It’s essentially an updated version of an apple pie,” Reed said.

Other foods on display included plum pudding, popular in the 40s and 50s and famously dined on by President Harry S. Truman.

The dish is said to be derived from medieval English sausages and was popular among lay folk and royals including George I (1660-1727) who was nicknamed “pudding king.”

Guests also were treated to Bundt Cake, a cake baked in a ring-shaped pan popular throughout the 1960s and 70s; Wacky Cake, a chocolate cake notable for being made with no eggs, which stemmed from a lack of resources and goods and popularized during World War I when rations were in place, and regained popularity during the Great Depression; a potato patsy, a meat pie that dates back to 1807, which were baked dough often stuffed with various meats and vegetables that were convenient foods for workers like coal miners.

cmcbride@tribtoday.com