I am fascinated by the everyday history of how people lived their day-to-day lives, because I believe that if we contemplate & understand the past, we can shape a better future.
I've worked as a Historical Interpreter in Canadian historic house museums with a culinary focus for a decade, from a farm house to an Italianate villa. This is where my love for Food History was conceived, while cooking, baking & preserving with an open hearth, brick oven and wood-fired range.
After a while, this passion started to leak into my personal life and I began to read and do research about culinary history on my own time for fun! If I am in a thrift store or second hand book store, I always make a beeline to the cookbook section first to see what old treasures I can find. I need to buy a bigger bookshelf.
And so I've begun this Cloud 9 Cookery blog, and I'll be following along wherever my curiosity leads me. I’d love it if you tag along and make a recipe or two.
If you’d like to see me in person, I do historic cooking demonstrations, teach cooking classes and give presentations on food history. Get in touch to bring me to you, or check out my Events page to see what I’ve already got lined up.
On top of explaining who I am, I should probably also explain who I am not.
I'm not John Lennon's half sister Julia Baird – you'll find her online at juliabaird.eu
I'm also not Julia Baird, Australian journalist and author – her website is juliabaird.me
