Old Line Plate™ is researched and authored by Kara Mae Harris, a digital humanities researcher and culinary historian exploring the foodways and cooking traditions of Maryland. This research has received honors from the Baltimore City Historical Society’s Historian/Scholar Honors program, Maryland State Arts Council, and features on CBS Mornings, Washington Post, BBC and local media.
Old Line Plate is NOT about romanticizing the past. Corrections are welcome.
‘The Blogger Quietly Preserving Maryland’s Culinary History‘ — Kristina Gaddy, Atlas Obscura
Available for speaking engagements. Past engagements include Johns Hopkins University Homewood Museum, Daughters of the American Revolution, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, and more.
Occasional freelance credits include Serious Eats, Eaten Magazine, and Maryland Historical Society.
About me:
I grew up in PG County. In 2000, at 18, I moved to Baltimore, where I soon took up residence at the Pratt Library’s Maryland Department. I started Old Line Plate in 2011 but took a hiatus from the blog to build my Maryland Recipe Database. In 2015 I re-launched the Old Line Plate blog and… here I am! In 2022 I published my first book “Old Line Plate: Stories & Recipes from Maryland,” followed by “Festive Maryland Recipes: Holiday Traditions from the Old Line State” in 2023. In 2024, I contributed to Joyce White’s “Cooking Maryland’s Way: Voices of a Diverse Cuisine.”
By day, I do IT and IT-adjacent work for a University Press. I currently live in the Remington neighborhood with my husband Chris; an Australian Kelpie named Jake (adopted from Hedgesville Hounds); and two somewhat feral cats, Dom and Mia.