October 10, 2025
During Family Weekend, Dr. Leni Sorenson gave a lecture to the Hampden-Sydney community, discussing hearth and home in 18th century Virginia.
Sponsored by the Hampden-Sydney College Office of Events, the lecture explored the history of fine dining in early federal Tidewater Virginia, focusing on the role of enslaved cooks and emphasizing the importance of understanding food within its broader historical context.
Examining the pre-revolutionary period and drawing on the diary of Martha Dangerfield Blodget, Sorenson examined entries from 1796 that recorded daily life and interactions with the enslaved laborers who cooked and served meals at her plantation, Cawsons, near Petersburg, Virginia. Blodget’s diary describes a dinner on March 26, 1796, featuring boiled beef, fried fish, boiled flour, spinach and eggs, potatoes, fried hominy, and pudding, prepared using a variety of techniques and recipes. Sorenson explored the complex commercial networks behind meal preparation, highlighting both international and local markets, with ingredients sourced from Europe, the tropics, and nearby gardens. She also explored the economic and social dynamics of the period, underscoring the central role of enslaved labor, the global trade of ingredients, and the daily routines and relationships between enslaved people and their owners.
“The diary entries reveal a woman deeply enmeshed in many levels of elite life, commerce, and consumption,” Sorenson said. “The labor of many—both in the past and on the day— the economic investment of many, both distant and recent, and the expectations, desires, and tastes of Martha Dangerfield Blodgett, shaped over her years as a daughter and wife before and after the American Revolution, all had to come together to allow the seemingly simple announcement: Mistress, the dinner is served.”
Sorensen’s interest in the intersections of food and history extends far beyond her research. In addition to working, gathering, and hosting at Indigo House, her farmstead in rural Virginia, Dr. Sorenson has participated in research and education efforts on a national and international scale. Dr. Sorenson served as African American research historian at Monticello, appeared on the PBS series “A Taste of History” with chef Walter Staib, and appeared on the Netflix series “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.”
“There are some people you meet who are so wonderfully genuine that you can’t help but wish to be a little more like them,” says Director of College Events Cameron Cary. “Leni Sorensen is one of those people. Her words paint vivid pictures; her historical research and interpretations are exceptional; and her collaborations with historians, historic sites, institutions, and acclaimed chefs all bring us back to the hearth and homestead—where she truly shines.”
Dr. Sorensen’s lecture highlighted the many layers behind a preparing a meal—the careful preparation, the labor of enslaved cooks, and the economic and social networks that made it possible—showing how food in this time period was not just sustenance, but a reflection of culture and human effort.
Watch It Takes the World to Make a Meal: Fine Dining and Enslaved Cooks in Early Federal Tidewater