Coffee, Tea, & Chocolate

About This Event

January 26, 2019
10am-12pm
$25 Arboretum members
$35 non-members (includes Arboretum Admission)

From coffeehouses to elegant salons, coffee, tea, and chocolate stimulated the conversation of the day. Join young English gentleman J. Chauncey Prym (Judy Polinsky) as he discusses the political and social meaning of your favorite beverages. Afterwards, get a taste of chocolate as it was enjoyed in the 18th century!

Retiring from a career in the film and television industry, Judy Polinsky began to expand her passions for theater and history by presenting and interpreting foodways of the 18th Century. Her extensive collection of original and reprint Colonial era cookbooks gave her the source material to develop accurate period menus for her historical presentations. Her curiosity piqued by the frequent use of rose as a flavoring led to experimenting with roses – and a new passion for 18th Century rose flavored desserts was born! She is the author of “Delicious Rose-Flavored Desserts”; a book of historical period recipes interpreted for the modern kitchen.

Originally from New Jersey, a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Temple University and a Master’s in Theatrical Management and Design from NYU allowed Judy Polinsky to follow her dreams to California where she ended up working at CBS, MGM, and SONY. After retiring, she began volunteering at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino. There she met Clair Martin, Curator Emeritus of the Rose Garden. With his permission, and free range of one of the world’s premier rose gardens, Judy was encouraged to follow her twin passions of theater and history by interpreting historical foodways and the social and material culture of the American War for Independence.

Her extensive collection of original and reprint Colonial era cookbooks gave her the source material to develop accurate period menus for her historical presentations. Her curiosity piqued by the frequent use of rose as a flavoring led to her experimenting with roses – and a new passion for 18th Century rose flavored desserts was born! Her experiments were so successful she was invited to contribute 18th Century rose flavored desserts for the Great Rosarians of the World event several years running, for which she and her friend and assistant Myriam Hu were awarded the coveted “Friend of the Rose” award.

Her film industry production skills were put to good use as she developed and produced historical interpretive programs at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, the Skirball Cultural Center, the Huntington Library and Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, and Colonial National Historic Park in Yorktown, Virginia.

She is the author of “Delicious Rose-Flavored Desserts”; a book of historical period recipes interpreted for the modern kitchen.

She now gives lectures on roses and rose desserts, 18th century foodways, and in her spare time continues to research and develop historical recipes. Judy is married and lives in Burbank, California.