Dining out: parties from Invercreran House and Barcaldine House picnicking in Argyll countryside in 1866 Pic: © Crown Copyright, National Records of Scotland
Have you ever wanted to learn how to make strawberry acid, or how to pickle cockles like a 19th century fish wife? Did you ever want to share a gem of a family recipe that’s been handed down through several generations? Would you be interested in sampling a Regency era seed cake that once doubled as a cure for madness?
Well the Scottish Council on Archives needs you. This year, the National Archives Awareness Campaign is albout culture and diversity, and in particular they are inviting archives and members of the public across Scotland to contribute recipes from their collections and personal cookbooks. Your contributions will be included in an archival cookbook, The Edible Archive.
The food we eat is a reflection of who we are, where we’ve been, and where we live. The recipes we keep and use reveal aspects of our family and national history and culture. With your help, they aim to compile a collection of recipes spanning several centuries, ranging from the familiar to the bizarre. They hope that The Edible Archive will represent the diversity of the regions, communities and archival collections across Scotland.
The ultimate goal of this year’s campaign is to bring the recipes to life by staging a feast based on selected recipes from The Edible Archive cookbook. If you have a unique, traditional or interesting recipe in your collection, send it (with a picture of the original document if possible) and some information about the history of your recipe and submit it to info@scoarch.org.uk by 1 July 2011
The whole point of the SCA is to rasie awareness of the treasures in our national archives but also to remind us that collecting material is an ongoing process. It might be grandma's old recipe book to you. to the experts it's a treasure trove of information. They need all of your contributions and support so please get involved!
In the meantime here are some marvellous old pictures that various collections have kindly lent us to remind you of the old days.
