Washington, DC: Foods our ancestors ate, Feb. 8

Now, this is a great program for all of us foodie genealogists. I wish I had a transporter so I could beam to DC for this one.

"The Foods Our Ancestors Ate" will be presented by food expert and cookbook author Joan Nathan at 1pm, Sunday, February 8, hosted by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, at Adas Israel, 2850 Quebec St., NW, Washington DC.

A regular contributor to the New York Times, Nathan has authored 10 cookbooks. Her holiday cookbook has been on my shelf since it was published a l-o-n-g time ago. Its pages are lovingly speckled with the drips and splashes created during preparations of many happy meals - not the fast-food kind.

JGSGW is planning to produce a heritage cookbook and attendees at this program are asked to bring along (preferably typed) a family recipe - one that has come down two or three generations to the present. The gsociety would like to have something on the recipe's history or its creator/cook, maybe even a photo of an ancestor preparing the family favorite? Send the recipes here.

Recipes will be accepted from non-members, so if you live elsewhere in the world, feel free to send in your family favorites and participate in a great project.

Admission: JGSGW members, free; others, $5.

Since Jewish genealogy covers every topic imaginable, and food is so essential to preserving family traditions, wouldn't it be great to have a Jewish gastronomy track at an upcoming conference with specialists speaking (and perhaps demonstrating?) both Ashkenazi and Sephardi delights?