Furie, Noel

The Bloodroot Collective, a feminist-lesbian work collective formed in 1977, grew out of a women's cooperative exchange hosted by Selma Miriam in her Westport, Connecticut, home between 1975 and 1976. The collective opened Bloodroot, a vegetarian restaurant and feminist bookstore, at 85 Ferris Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut, in March 1977. At the suggestion of animal rights activist friends, the group decided to focus on providing seasonal vegetarian food. Bloodroot is named after a native northeastern wildflower whose root system supports several vertically furrowed blooms, each stamen independent yet fundamentally connected, a system reflected in the collective's organization.

The original members of the collective were Betsey Beaven, Pat Shea, Samm Stockwell and Selma Miriam. Beavan, Shea and Miriam lived together and worked full-time at Bloodroot. Stockwell left the collective in 1977 and Noel Furie, then a part-time worker, was invited to join. Pat Shea left the collective in 1984, Beaven in 2001. Liz Seaborn was a collective member between 1985 and 1995. The women, committed to the practical and political dimensions of a feminist work collective, formed intense relationships: as lovers, friends, co-workers, and political cohorts.

In the 1970s and 1980s the restaurant was a hub for feminists and lesbians. It hosted many notable feminist performers and writers. In 1980 the Bloodroot Collective organized a feminist press (Sanguinaria) to publish The Political Palate cookbook series: The Political Palate (1980), The Second Seasonal Political Palate (1984), The Perennial Political Palate (1993) and Addendum to the Political Palate Series (1997). The cookbooks contain vegetarian recipes and feminist essays on various topics. In 2007, this time as Anomaly Press, the Bloodroot Collective published The Best of Bloodroot, a two volume series of vegetarian and vegan recipes. Many of the feminist concerns raised in the cookbooks have been explored further by Furie and Miriam in publications such as Heresies, Lesbian Ethics, and Sinister Wisdom, and in vegetarian magazines. Bloodroot continues as a feminist space and vegetarian eatery.

The two remaining members of the collective are Selma Miriam and Noel Furie. Miriam, born Selma Miriam Davidson, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to immigrant parents in 1934. After graduating Bassick High School, she attended Tufts University and studied biology. She married and had two children. Miriam, then Selma Bunks, hosted a women's cooperative exchange at her Westport home, attended women's rap sessions in New Haven in the mid-1970s, and became active in Connecticut NOW (National Organization for Women). In the late 1970s, Miriam divorced, came out as a lesbian, and decided to operate Bloodroot full-time as a feminist work collective. She has co-owned Bloodroot since 1977 and is a cook, fiber worker, gardener, and writer.

Furie, born Noel Seymour, was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1944. As a child and adolescent, Furie modeled for national advertisement campaigns and later worked as a waitress in New York City. She married in the mid-1960s, moved with her husband to Bridgeport and had two children. Then Noel Giordano, Furie worked as a photographer's assistant and later began her own photography business, Noel Giordano Photography. Motherhood and housewifery swept Furie into a depression. At the suggestion of a friend, she began attending women's rap sessions. In the late 1970s Furie divorced, came out as a lesbian, and began working part-time at Bloodroot. She joined the collective as a full-time member in 1978 and later adopted the surname Furie. Furie has worked as a community organizer in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and is a cook, gardener, and photographer.

From the guide to the Bloodroot Collective records, 1957-2010, 1978-2010, (Manuscripts and Archives)