Ambitious Appetites

Abstract: This book explores the domestic activities of the residents of the Octagon, a Federal period house in Washington, DC, in the early nineteenth century through the display and social use of food. The author captures the unique quality of the Washington environment as reflected in its habits of etiquette, dining, and entertaining, which shaped many of America's social and cultural patterns. The high style life of the residents of the Octagon is set within the context of the daily experience of more ordinary people.