Portraits: Dr. Libby O'Connell, Cultural Historian & Author

Dr. Libby O’Connell is a cultural historian and the author of The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites. She credits her love of food to spending part of her childhood in Europe, where she grew in her cultural knowledge through recipes.

Her experience as an interpreter and doing open-hearth cooking, among other tasks, at Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, was vital in her interest in both history and food. It was there she learned that cuisine could be the way to connect people with history in ways they hadn’t been able to before.

“If you talked about the history of food, everybody was interested…food is something we all have contact with.”

Libby has had many extraordinary experiences around history and food, including an opportunity to serve as the Chief Historian on A&E for several years.

Over her years of study, Libby has found that understanding the way different cultures experienced food opens the door for understanding the cultures themselves. 

“One of the things I enjoy doing is telling stories based on food and using food as a lens for understanding the past.”

The different appetites, types of foods, and even the utensils changed throughout history and these ever-evolving experiences show a more intimate look at these cultures and people groups.

“History is change over time…food is a good way of understanding change over time. It’s not static…”

For more information about Dr. Libby O’Connell, visit an article written about her here.

This episode was filmed by Laura Christian.

Art is by Matthew Gillin.