Pepperpot City: Philadelphia and the Foundation of American Cuisine

William Woys Weaver is talking about his new book, Pepperpot City: Philadelphia and the Foundation of American Cuisine, at the Parkway Central Library on Thursday, October 22. He'll be joined by historian Jessica Harris for a conversation and book signing, both presented by the library's Rare Book Department.

Weaver is a veteran food writer and a Philadelphian himself, and Pepperpot City is his look at the city's culinary history across seventeen thematic essays. The title comes from pepperpot soup, a spicy dish that arrived from the Caribbean in the early eighteenth century—a dish Weaver uses as a stand-in for the dynamic at the heart of Philadelphia's food history. He traces the careers of figures like the Black caterers Robert Bogle and Thomas Dorsey, the cooking school instructors Mary Newport and her niece Elizabeth Goodfellow, and Joseph Head, whose Mansion House Hotel produced some of the finest period menus of the era.

Beyond the people, the book spotlights foods created in the Philadelphia region that have since become quintessential symbols of American food culture: lemon meringue pie, cream cheese, tomato catsup, the hamburger, and even bubblegum. It also collects modernized recipes from Old Philadelphia alongside period culinary ephemera, much of it never published before. If you've ever wondered how a few Philly kitchens ended up shaping what the rest of the country eats, this is where that story is laid out.

The evening runs from 5:30 to 7:30 PM, with the talk from 5:30 to 6:30 and a reception and book signing to follow from 6:30 to 7:30. It's held in the Rare Book Department on the third floor of the Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway.