Gilded Age Holiday Treats & Tales + Sugar Plum Demonstration

Virtual Event Highlights:

• Discover Gilded Age holiday dessert offerings and the traditions behind them, including plum pudding, sugar plums, gingerbread, and mince pie
• Learn how to make your own sugar plums with a live demonstration
• Get an in-depth look at the custom of the Christmas Tree and learn how it became adopted and accepted throughout America
• Find out why elaborate holiday balls, debutante parties, and tea parties were such an integral part of Gilded Age holiday celebrations, including those held by the Black elite
• Hear about the growing popularity of Hanukkah celebrations in America among the Jewish community, alongside the growth of more festive and commercial Christmas celebrations of this time
• Uncover how Gilded Age society celebrated New Year’s, including “New Year’s Calling,” a tradition that began with 17th-century Dutch settlers in New York

About this Virtual Event:

Although most Americans have heard of sugar plums thanks to the famous holiday poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement C. Moore, many have likely never had the pleasure of tasting one of these luxuries (or even know what they really are).

Delighting the inner child in everyone, food writer and historian Becky Libourel Diamond will explain the origin of these treats and other Gilded Age holiday customs. It was during this era that many of the holiday traditions still celebrated in America today began to become mainstream. 

The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook features the fascinating history behind each confection, its ingredients, and baking methods. In this talk based on the book, author Becky Libourel Diamond will touch on holiday lore of the time, with backstories of now-ubiquitous Christmas customs such as Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, and Christmas cards, interspersed with tales of Gilded Age Hanukkah and New Year’s celebrations, holiday debutante parties, teas, and grand balls.

Participants will be able to get a true taste of the Gilded Age, including a live demo of how to make their very own sugar plums! You'll receive Becky's Sugar Plum recipe in your Zoom confirmation email.

About the Author, Becky Libourel Diamond:

Becky Libourel Diamond is a food writer, librarian, and research historian. Her most recent book, The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook, blends Gilded Age details and celebrity stories with historic holiday menus and recipes updated for modern kitchens.

She is also the author of The Gilded Age Cookbook, The Thousand Dollar Dinner, and Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s First Cooking School. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Rider University and a master’s of library service degree from Rutgers University. She has worked as a business librarian at Rutgers–New Brunswick since 2020. Her current project is a history of Philadelphia's famous City Tavern restaurant. She lives in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

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