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KC Hysmith, PhD

@kchysmith

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food & culture writer, PhD
🍰 cake book @atriabooks
💀🍳 host of @outlawsdigest
rep: @frecklywords
bylines: @washingtonpost @saveurmag @slate

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Thought my main could use a little bit more decoration 🎂

Thank you to everyone who got me here and to everyone who has already shared their excitement for the book to come! And thank you for letting me indulge in another celebratory post (I wanted something I could pin!).

#cake #cakedecorating #bookstagram by @kchysmith

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2 months ago

Howdy 🍓 My name is KC!

There's quite a few new folks following this feed so I thought I'd do what we do around here and reintroduce myself with the help of some visual aids!

I'm a:
🍓 food and culture writer & scholar
🍓 oral historian
🍓 historical and modern recipe developer
🍓 baker
🍓 and in my past I've been a newspaper fact checker, a museum communications director, a food stylist and photographer, and my first job ever was a dishwasher at my local smalltown diner.

📔 I have a PhD and MA in food focused studies and have written books, academic articles, and public facing pieces on food and culture.

👁️ Hidden amongst the factoids and pictures about my work are secret little clues that give additional insights about me (if you're into that kind of personal lore).

🔪You can see more of me and my work at my newsletter, Penknife (link in bio).

Thanks for following!

Shout out to my Internet friend @ashlynnejoy for the scrolling intro post inspo!

#aboutme #foodhistory #bookstagram by @kchysmith

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2 months ago

Censorship has been on the rise over the past week. Our social media are now more state owned than ever before. Words shared here feel heavy and precarious, but buttercream has never let me down, even when it's a little messy.

#thebakefeed #buttercream #cakedecorating #bhgbaking #bombesquad #bakefromscratch #bakersofinstagram by @kchysmith

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2 years ago

Taking my own advice and gonna curl up with all my food history books this weekend. Really wish I had some snackwells tho.

#foodhistory #personalcurriculum #doomscrolling by @kchysmith

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2 days ago

The history of food is full of tasty stories, but some of them… have a dark side. ☠️🍰

I’m food scholar @kchysmith and on my new podcast @outlawsdigest I’m going to take you on a tour of criminally delicious stories from the shadows of food history. Poisonings, frauds, heists, a whole spread of illicit appetites.

And yeah, that one time someone stole my family recipe for broccoli cheese casserole. 🥦🧀

Follow Outlaw’s Digest on Apple Podcasts, or join us on Patreon at outlawsdigest.com.

Our first episode drops on Thursday, 10/8. It’ll be a tasty treat 🥧

#foodhistory #truecrime #podcast by @kchysmith

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3 days ago

Grateful and only a little overwhelmed by a really jam-packed October.

On the menu this month:

🎧💀 Oct 8 - My new food history podcast @outlawsdigest launches (trailer drops today!)

🫘⚖️ Oct 23 - Judging the Food Justice themed 2026 Social Justice Debates at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver)

📚🍰 Oct 29 - Our Common Table: The Sweets That Bring Us Together talk at *PINCH ME* the freaking Library of Congress (@librarycongress)

🎂🎂 Oct 1-31 - lots and lots and lots of cake research for the cake book!

Learn more, grab tickets, subscribe to my podcast, and get a peek into my cake-addled brain during my research process over in my latest PENKNIFE newsletter (link in bio and in stories).

#october #foodhistory #cake #bookstagram by @kchysmith

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3 days ago

Is your mouth watering yet? 🦐🍞

✍🏾 Come get your signed copy of Ricky’s Saltbox Seafood Joint Cookbook Second Edition with new globally-inspired recipes like this one!

📦 Or order at our bio link for shipping.

👇🏾Drop a note if you grew up eating shrimp burgers like I did.

Shout out to the cookbook team!
📖 Published by @uncpress
✍️ Written with food and culture writer @kchysmith
🖊️ New foreword by chef and author @bartonseaver
📸 Cover image by @baxmiller

#BakeAndShark #ShrimpBurger #Seafood #Recipe #Cookbook taken in Durham, North Carolina by @kchysmith

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4 days ago

📢 FRESH COOKBOOKS ARE IN THE HOUSE!

Chef Ricky’s Saltbox Seafood Joint Cookbook Second Edition has landed 🎉🎣

It’s packed with new globally-inspired dishes including:

🦀 “Hawker Style” Chili Stewed Blue Crabs
🍲 NC Coastal “Brudet” Croatian-Style Fisherman’s Stew
🍤 Ricky’s Bake n’ Shrimp
🐠 Triggerfish Ceviche with Smoked Corn, Sweet Potato & BBQ “Leche de Tigre”

Plus, all sixty original recipes including Saltbox classics like the famous shrimp roll, crab cakes, slaw, Hush Honeys® and the “Joint” seafood seasoning.

This incredible team made the Second Edition possible:
📖 Published by @uncpress
✍️ Written with food and culture writer @kchysmith
🖊️ New foreword by chef and author @bartonseaver
📸 Cover image by @baxmiller

📍Come get your signed copy today at @saltboxseafoodjoint! ✍🏾📚
📦 Order at our bio link for shipping.

#Cookbook #Chef #JBFA #SeafoodRecipes #NC taken in Durham, North Carolina by @kchysmith

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5 days ago

Tickled to speak about the sociocultural history of pink desserts with the brilliant @zoeypoll for @tmagazine.

The photos for this piece were delightful and I always love being in the same creative spaces as the amazing @andrea.sham, whose wonderful cake and dessert work I've admired for years!

Go give the piece a read and then be sure to follow Andrea!

#foodhistory by @kchysmith

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9 days ago

For fans of food history, true crime, and the sweet taste of justice, I'm excited to share my new project, the @outlawsdigest podcast.

Over the past few months, the smart folks over at @goodeggaudio and I have had our heads buried in food history research, newspaper archives, vintage cookbooks, and even submitted a couple of FOIA requests! We've talked with historians, sociologists, media scholars, food writers, recipe developers, and more to help craft highly researched—and delightfully entertaining—episodes featuring criminally delicious crimes from food history.

We're so excited to share all this work with the world and thought we'd take a quick minute to tell you about our show 🔪OUTLAW'S DIGEST 🥧, the people behind it, and how you can listen in soon!

Learn more and listen at outlawsdigest.com and follow us on @applepodcasts!

💀 Show art by @galactixy_illustrations

#foodhistory #truecrime #podcasts by @kchysmith

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10 days ago

And for my next magical manifestation, I wonder if @ahoffmanwriter has any favorite cake recipes to share!

Read more about my original plans to research the history if chocolate tipsy cake (part of the PM lore) which ultimately turned into a chance delightful interview with PM2 cake baker and production buyer @livport! Link in bio and in stories!

#cake #foodhistory #cakedecorating #practicalmagic by @kchysmith

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11 days ago

Ready for some criminally delicious food history? 🔪🍳

The @outlawsdigest podcast serves up true crimes from food history in sizzling style, a feast of malfeasance and felony from the pages of the past.

The food we make and eat forms who we are. But it’s not as simple as “you are what you eat.” Each episode, host and food scholar KC Hysmith (that’s me!) tells a thrilling story pulled from the archives of history’s illicit appetites, vicious poisonings, cunning frauds, and daring heists.

Created and produced by @goodeggaudio an independent worker cooperative, and @kchysmith.

Coming soon to @applepodcasts ! Learn more at the link in bio!

#truecrime #foodhistory #podcasts by @kchysmith

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12 days ago