Suffrage-Era Menu Pairs History With Cooking Class

Susan B. Anthony House and Cassis Culinary hosted a tour and cooking class exploring the food and history of the suffrage era.

Updated on Nov. 8, 2026 in Food and Drink

Screen-print poster illustration of a cast-iron skillet, flour bowl, and rolling pin on a wooden table in warm mustard and rust tones, evoking historical home cooking. — Cassis Culinary and the Susan B. Anthony House hosted a Saturday cooking class and museum tour exploring suffrage-era food, with recipes drawn from Burr's 1886 cookbook. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Cassis Culinary and the Susan B. Anthony House hosted a tour and cooking class on Saturday focused on suffrage-era food. Chef-owner Renee Nastri-Windisch developed the suffrage-era menu in collaboration with the house.

Why it matters

The event connects the history of women's suffrage in Rochester to everyday food traditions, offering residents a hands-on way to engage with local history. It also shows how historical recipes can be reconstructed from primary sources.

The suffrage-era dishes were adapted from Hattie A. Burr's 1886 cookbook, while Susan B. Anthony's sponge cake recipe, dated 1898, did not include detailed measurements. Reconstructing exact quantities for the sponge cake remained a challenge for the chef.

The players

Susan B. Anthony House

The Rochester museum preserves the home of the suffragist Susan B. Anthony, who led the national women's suffrage movement.

Cassis Culinary

The Rochester culinary business led by chef-owner Renee Nastri-Windisch offers cooking classes and food programming.

The details

The cooking class, held at The Commissary from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., featured dishes from Burr's 1886 book. A museum tour and dessert followed at the Susan B. Anthony House from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Saturday: cooking class at The Commissary, 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday: museum tour and dessert at the Susan B. Anthony House, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
1886: Hattie A. Burr publishes "The Woman Sufferage Cook Book."
1898: Susan B. Anthony writes the sponge cake recipe later shared by the house.

Historical Thread

Hattie A. Burr's 1886 "The Woman Sufferage Cook Book" linked cooking to the suffrage movement decades before women gained the vote nationally. The Saturday event revisits that tradition through reconstructed period dishes.

Residents interested in suffrage-era cooking can look for future tours and classes at the Susan B. Anthony House and Cassis Culinary. The event was a hands-on experience open to ticket holders, offering a direct way to taste period dishes.

The takeaway

Historical recipes often lack precise measurements, so reconstructing them requires research into original sources and careful testing. Readers curious about local history can pair a museum visit with a hands-on class to experience it firsthand.