Chefs and Slaves: The Cooks in Jefferson’s Kitchens

Originally published as:
Fossett, Gillette, Hemings, and Hern: Putting Names to Monticello’s Cooks
http://www.kitchensisters.org/hidden_kitchens/herculeshemings_story27.htm

This is an excerpt from my foodways lecture series entitled “Fossett, Gillette, Hemings, and Hern: Putting Names to Monticello’s Cooks.”

Edith Hern Fossett and Frances Gillette Hern, two young women from Monticello were trained at the President’s House to meet the demands of Thomas Jefferson’s dining preferences—food that was in a ‘half Virginian, helf French style.” In 1802, Edith Fossett, at age 15, began training as a cook under Jefferson’s chef Honoré Julian.  She was joined there in 1806 by her eighteen year old sister-in-law Frances Hern.  The results can be seen by the reports of their meals; “Never before had such dinners been given in the President’s House,” said one Washington resident. Read more