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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer 

CHELSEA – Residents had an opportunity to learn how to cook the old-fashioned way when The Historic Foodie visited the Chelsea Historical Museum.

The Historic Foodie, also known as Victoria Brady, is an author and old-fashioned cooking enthusiast. She provided residents with a presentation on 18th century cooking at the Chelsea Historical Museum on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m.

“She goes around doing demonstrations for schools for daughters of the American Revolution, different organizations and talks to them about how the food process was back then,” Chelsea Historical Society Vice President Kristi Averette said. “In our demonstration that she did this (past) weekend she talked about pickling, canning and preserving and she focused on ketchup. Not how we see ketchup today, but how they may have made ketchup back then.”

Victoria Brady is the author of multiple books and magazine articles about food and cooking in earlier times. She also collects antique cookware.

“She also had a lot of tools laid out on the table, different instruments that they may have used and talked about how they made waffles back then,” Averette said. “(She) had a waffle iron basically, but it was a big heavy cast-iron long pole that would have gone into the coals, and (she) gave everybody the opportunity to hold it if they wanted to.”

Brady showed attendees pictures of different items that she has.

“I would say what’s most important is that there’s still a lot of family recipes probably that we have from that time,” Averette said. “They didn’t have a grocery store right around the corner. They grew their own stuff. They preserved their stuff to last for a whole year, if they needed to. Because when supplies were available they would use them. So, it’s just a matter of learning that everything back then was not as readily available as it is today.”

Those interested can learn more about Victoria Brady can visit Thehistoricfoodie.wordpress.com/about.

The Chelsea Historical Society has guest speakers every quarter in the conference room at the Historical Museum. The next speaker is currently set to speak on Sunday, Jan. 22.

The Chelsea Historical Society and museum are funded through donations. Yearly memberships are available for $20.

For more information visit its Facebook page at Facebook.com/ChelseaALHistoricalSociety, or take a tour of the Historical Museum at 41 Weldron Dr. Chelsea.