‘Taste Of History’ Chef Walter Staib Attends Harrodsburg Premiere

Chef Walter Staib, host of “A Taste of History,” and members of the show staff attended “A Taste of Histo1y” premiere in Mercer Coun­ty Saturday at the Lodge at Logan Vineyards.

The premiere was for an episode filmed at Old Fort Harrod State Park that will debut during the upcoming season.

“A Taste of History” is a travel and cooking television series that explores Ameri­ca’s culinary beginnings. It is the winner of 15 Emmy Awards.

Those attending Friday night’s event were among the first to view episode seven, which was filmed at the fort and features the history of Harrodsburg and Kentucky.  In keeping with the show’s format, the episode featured food that would have been served when the first settlement in Kentucky was founded by James Harrod. In keeping with the historic theme, the food was cooked onsite at the fort replica. As the food is prepared and tast­ed, Staib discusses the origin of each recipe and its ingre­dients in order to reveal the history surrounding the dish.

Mary Barlow from Old Fort Harrod prepared the foods for the local episode. The menu included gourd soup, elk roast with vegeta­bles, and an applestack cake—just as they would have been prepared in 1774.

Taking part in the filming, local reenactors brought to life some of the local and state histo1y as Staib narrat­ed, detailing the impo1tance of Fort Harrod—the first set­tlement west of the Allegh­eny Mountains.

Staib also discussed the upcoming 250th celebration in Harrodsburg in 2024.

Staib and his crew decid­ed to film the episode after Jill Cutler, executive direc­tor of the Mercer Chamber of Commerce reached out to him. The 250th celebration added to the appeal of com­ing to Harrodsburg, Staib said.

The episode featuring Old Fort Harrod is the seventh episode of season 13. The new season begins airing Saturday, Oct. 7, on PBS and Ama­zon Prime.