Hello everyone! My name is Sarah Bousfield, as those of you who’ve been reading this blog over the past couple of years know I am a graduate student at the University of Central Florida currently working on my MA in Public History. Over the past few years I have had the amazing opportunity to gain professional experience alongside my traditional academic classes in the form of internships with local museums and nonprofit organizations.

My interest in public history stems from my time as a historical interpreter working at old cowtown museum in Wichita Kansas. As a historical interpreter I had the opportunity to gain experience and knowledge in historic food ways demonstrating A variety of different cooking methods on historic technology to the public. I also had the opportunity to lead educational tours following curriculum created by the museum’s Director of Education. It was through these programs that i discovered my own love for sharing history through educational demonstrations that allowed for students to have a hands-on opportunity to engage with the past.

After moving to Florida I worked at Osceola History (following an undergraduate internship through UCF) where as Education Manager I created and continued to demonstrate historical cooking methods from the 19^th century with great success. I also began working on a personal project that has blossomed into the foundational way that I communicate my love of food history to the world, my Instagram blog @bakingthepast. My work was even featured on Spectrum 13’s Florida on a Tankful and I greatly enjoyed showcasing some of the more “modern” recipes of Florida cooking at outreach events through collaboration with groups such as the Pine Castle Historical Society.

Following my entry to graduate school I knew that I wanted to make food and kitchen history the focus of my research, continuing to build my knowledge base and looking for ways that I could continue to engage in food history in an institution like UCF that allowed for so much creativity in the development of one’s degree. Through a wonderful fellow food history friend I was able to make a connection with the Edible Education Experience operating the Emeril Lagasse Kitchen House and Culinary Garden in Orlando, Florida. This nonprofit organization focuses on creating educational programs designed for organizations and groups of all kinds. I have been fortunate enough to work with them over the spring/summer at a couple of their field trip and summer camp programs teaching children from a variety of backgrounds the history of food and how they can prepare and cook it themselves.

While I have many years of experience teaching history in museums and classrooms, I don’t have as much experience teaching and designing curriculum for the unique context that is teaching children how to cook. Yet, it is my hope that this semester will teach me how to focus on designing fun and innovative educational programs that engage students through hands-on learning while still following a strong foundation of historical knowledge. The balancing will be difficult but I am excited to tackle this challenge.