Joyce's Bio
Joyce's work as a food historian began in college in the late 1980s when she was a museum education intern at the Geneva Historical Society/Rose Hill Mansion in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Joyce's first experience cooking historic food occurred there while performing the role of an 1840s kitchen maid at Rose Hill, where she cooked cakes with every 4th-grade class in the county!
After college, Joyce became the Education Curator at the Square House Museum, an 18th-century tavern on the Boston Post Rd, operated by the Rye Historical Society in Westchester County, NY. While there she cooked frequently on the tavern's 18th century hearth.
In Maryland, Joyce began work in 2006 as the Education Director and Foodways Consultant at the c. 1801 Riversdale House Museum in Riverdale Park, MD, was the consultant for the restoration of the 18th-century kitchen at Annapolis’s William Paca House in 2006, was the guest curator for the Maryland State Exhibit for the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New Orleans, LA in 2012, and is a Trustee of Annapolis’ c. 1774 Hammond-Harwood House Museum.
Joyce is also an independent consultant to historic museums and offers PowerPoint presentations on a variety of topics, writes articles for local publications such as Outlook by the Bay, MarylandRoadTrips.com, Chesapeake Family Magazine, and assorted blogs, and is now creating historically accurate faux food items of use at historic sites.
Joyce has been featured on television shows several times: State Plate with Taylor Hicks, Eatin' the Chesapeake for MPT, CBS News Sunday Morning (2023), America the Bountiful (2024), and the PBS News Hour (Nov. 28, 2024). In September 2024, Joyce's first book, Cooking Maryland's Way: Voices of a Diverse Cuisine, will be available through Hammond-Harwood House Museum.
Joyce has a B.A. from William Smith College, an M.A. in American Studies from Penn State University, and has studied food history at various historic sites in England and the US.
You can find Joyce on Facebook at A Taste of History with Joyce White or at www.atasteofhistory.net. Joyce lives in Annapolis with her husband and has two grown daughters.
Joyce White, Food Historian
PBS New Hour
PBS: America the Bountiful (Episode 107)
Love it or hate it, pumpkin spice is everywhere this time of year. How did it take over?
Air Date: Thanksgiving 2024 (November 28)
PBS: America the Bountiful (Episode 107)
PBS: America the Bountiful (Episode 107)
Watch Joyce and TV host Capri chat about Maryland's iconic blue crabs in the 2024 premier series of this PBS show.
CBS News Sunday Morning
Guest food history consultant for "The History of Fudge" with Faith Salie. Aired on February 12, 2023.
MPT
Watch this Maryland Public Television special about Maryland's iconic food traditions. Joyce cooks the fifth and final feast showcasing historic Maryland food traditions.
The feast is enjoyed at Annapolis' Hammond-Harwood House, and the guests at the feast are Chef John Shields, Archivist Christ Haley, Baltimore Sun food writer, Rob Kasper, and historian, Willa Banks.
State Plate Maryland
State Plate Maryland
State Plate Maryland
Joyce was a guest on the INSP network TV show, State Plate with Taylor Hicks. Watch Joyce teach Taylor how to make Maryland's iconic Beaten Biscuits.
State Plate Maryland Season 2 Episode 11
About Joyce
State Plate Maryland
State Plate Maryland
Joyce developed her love for food history while working as a museum educator at various historic house museums and sites in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, where she gained experience making historic recipes cooked on the hearth in historic kitchens.
Food History Writing
- Articles on food history for marylandroadtrips.com
- Articles for Outlook by the Bay magazine
- Articles for Chesapeake Family Magazine
- Joyce White, Maryland's Fabulous Fare: A Taste of History, Recipe Booklet Published with and by the Maryland Historical Society (March, 2018)
- White, Joyce. Sugar Plums Demystified: A Historic Look at a Beloved Christmas Confection for The Riversdale Historical Society Newsletter, Winter 2017, Volume 34, No. 101.
- White, Joyce. Satisfy Your Chocolate Cravings, 18th c. Style. A Guest Blog for the Maryland Humanities Council, Feb. 3. 2016.
- White, Joyce. Food of the Gods: A Look at the Evolution of Chocolate as a Recipe Ingredient. Popular Anthropology Magazine, February 2013, Vol. 4, NO. 1.
- White, Joyce. 19th Century Food & Drink, Maryland Online Encyclopedia, www.mdoe.org(website no longer active)
- White, Joyce. 20th Century Food & Drink, Maryland Online Encyclopedia, www.mdoe.org(website no longer active)
- White, Joyce. Meaning and Cultural Expression: New England Election Day Cake, Digest, An Interdisciplinary Study of Food and Foodways, a publication of the American Folklore Society, Vol. 13, Nos. 1 & 2: 1993.dustry you’re in. General business trends (think national and even international) are great article fodder, too.
