Eating in the Side Room: Food, Archaeology, and African American Identity

An archaeological study of African American foodways in nineteenth-century Annapolis

In Eating in the Side Room, Mark Warner uses the archaeological data of food remains recovered from excavations in Annapolis, Maryland, and the Chesapeake to show how African Americans established identity in the face of pervasive racism and marginalization.

By studying the meat purchasing habits of two African American families—the Maynards and the Burgesses—Warner skillfully demonstrates that while Africa...