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"Twice as Good" Cooking Show Visits Old Fort Niagara to Learn about Food on the Niagara Frontier

by C. Clark
Wed, May 11th 2016 04:45 pm

(May 11, 2016) Youngstown, N.Y. - Old Fort Niagara last week hosted the "Twice as Good" cooking show for kids that airs on PBS stations across the country. The show's production crew and hosts were visiting the Niagara Falls area to film an episode to air in early 2017 that focuses "on the foods and traditions of the Ontario and upstate NY regions," according to its May 4 Facebook post.

 

While at Old Fort Niagara, twin hosts Delaney and Hadley learned about 18th century foods prepared at the original French fort, feeding the soldiers, and baking bread, which they helped to knead. Brian McDonald, Interpretive Department Assistant Manager, and Suzannah Emerson, Interpreter, dressed in period clothes, demonstrated bread-making methods and shared the fort's food history with them.

 

One of Old Fort Niagara's regular programs, called "foodways," involves demonstrating cooking techniques and sharing ingredients from the fort's past. This includes French, British and American methods used during different timespans. These demos happen during school tours, special events and fundraisers throughout the year.

 

Old Fort Niagara's archives of "provisions in store" records from January 1778 to serve 532 men (comprising the garrison, seamen and rangers) reveal:

90,000 pounds of flour would last 169 days

26,160 pounds of pork would last 86 days

2,977 pounds of salt beef would last 5 days

7,152 gallons of peas would last 250 days

4,113 pounds of butter would last 144 days

2,677 pounds of rice would last 70 days

56,966 pounds of oatmeal would last 1,499 days

 

Old Fort Niagara (www.oldfortniagara.org) is located in Fort Niagara State Park in Youngstown, N.Y., which is 14 miles north of Niagara Falls via the Robert Moses Parkway North. The fort is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through June and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in July and August. Admissions end 30 minutes before closing. Old Fort Niagara is a Registered National Historic Landmark and New York State Historic Site operated by the Old Fort Niagara Association (a not-for-profit organization) in cooperation with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Hours of Operation

January 13 through March, Open Wednesday-Sunday  10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m

April 1- June 30, Open Daily 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

July and August, Open Daily 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

September 1 - October 15, Open Daily 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

October 16 - December 31, Open Wednesday through Sunday (Closed Mondays and Tuesdays) 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

The fort will be open daily during Christmas week, December 26 - 31. 

Closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. 

 

General Admission

Adults:

$20.00

Children (6 to 12 years) 

$12.00

Children (5 and under):

  FREE

 

 

 

 

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Old Fort Niagara is operated by the Old Fort Niagara Association, an independent, not-for-profit organization established in 1927. We do not rely on tax dollars. Instead, the Fort is funded through a combination of admission fees, museum shop sales, and charitable contributions.

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