As January is the birth month of Ben Franklin, he was born on January 17, 1706, I thought it would be fun to revisit an episode about Ben Franklin from 2019.

Now, in episode 221, we spoke with Ray Catherine Amy about her book,

stirring the pot with Benjamin Franklin. And in our conversation, Ray really helped us explore

Ben's childhood in Boston, the different types of foods that his sister and mother would

have prepared for Franklin and his family. And we also discussed the Franklin

family chandelory, or candle and soap making business, which actually involves a lot of cooking.

Now, after a full-length conversation, Ray stayed on with me so that we can answer a few more of your

questions about Ben Franklin and food. So in this episode, we're going to discuss early American holidays and

special holiday foods, the types of flour that early Americans used in their pastry baking,

and whether Franklin preferred to drink beer or wine. So without further ado, let's go

reconnect with Ray Catherine Amy and learn more about Ben Franklin

and his culinary preferences.

So Ray, Jeremy would like to know about the foods British Americans ate during special times of the year.

Did colonial Americans celebrate holidays and have special foods that they consume during those holidays?

That's an interesting question.

And as far as I'm able to tell, the holidays are not as expansively celebrated.

Certainly there wasn't Thanksgiving the way we know it.

People did celebrate a little bit around Christmas.

We see that Ben had a huge celebration in France for Christmas time.

You know, the list of groceries that were ordered by his French staff, sort of,

they read like 12 days of Christmas song.

It's, you know, partridges and hens and turkeys and all sorts of things.

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