Events › The Life and Work of Abby Fisher

Please join the El Sobrante Library in celebrating Black History Month as we learn about the life of cookbook author Abby Fisher. Fisher was an American former slave from South Carolina who published the second known cookbook by a Black woman in the United States. El Sobrante resident and culinary historian Robert Brower will present his research on Fisher's life, showing us how to use online resources, e.g., city directories, census reports, newspapers, etc., to write a biographical sketch. In addition, Robert will show us how to interpret and adapt Fisher's 1881 recipe for Cream Apple Pie form her cookbook, What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking.

Robert Brower's writings include several articles in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, and the Introduction to the reprint edition of Antonia Isola's Simple Italian Cookery (Applewood Books, 2005). Robert has previously published his research on Abby Fisher's life prior to her arrival in San Francisco. The article can be found in the Fall 2007 edition of Repast Magazine, “Solving a Culinary History Mystery – Tracing Abby Fisher’s Roots to South Carolina”.