The MASS MEDIA OF COOKIES

Food seems to be one of the things I do the most googling about while writing–maybe because so many things about the way we eat seem so “natural” but have actually changed a great deal in the last two hundred years. Or maybe because I’m a cook and food seems to work its way into a lot of my scenes. Who knows? Anyway, I was looking up common shapes for Regency marzipan molds, and I found this, from CookieMold.com:

Picture cakes were one of the main attractions of fairs and festivals – the cookies represented a lively and subtle form of communication, often using a traditional symbolic code to convey the message. These “cookie messages” were shaped by the baker’s molds – more importantly, the common man was being shaped (influenced) by the MASS MEDIA OF COOKIES.

An example of a mold used for political propaganda (other than the 4000 gingerbread cookies in the image of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III): In 1800, an unknown carver added a Napoleonic hat to a billygoat rider/monkey companion mold symbolic of evil, carved five years earlier. Thus Napoleon was ridiculed – by the gingerbread baker – throughout the Austrian and Germany lands that he had invaded that summer!

How cool is that? I want to know more! I may have to get my hands on the books cited…

4 thoughts on “The MASS MEDIA OF COOKIES”

  1. Let me start by saying I love your header. That rose is beautiful and what a whimsical way to play off your name.
    This is also a delightful historical research topic. Thanks for sharing. I actually have a historical research post that you might enjoy over on my blog, it is a month by month listing of a year of food that would have been available in season to serve during the Regency era.
    Smiles,
    Teresa

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