Culinary Historians of Chicago
Culinary Historians of Chicago studies the history of food and drink in human cultures. Why we procure, prepare and serve the food we do has cultural, sociological, geographical, financial and political influences. We encourage participation from all walks of life: from academics to home cooks, chefs to grill masters, farmers to heirloom gardeners, food scientists to students. Our programs, and those of our sister organization Chicago Foodways Roundtable, are supported by research, fieldwork and scholarship, though geared to an informed popular audience. We welcome everyone to gather at our table to share food, drink and their life’s culinary experiences. If you would like to contact us, please e-mail us at CulinaryHistorians@gmail.com
Episodes
March 1, 2024 • 70 mins
From Bean to Bar – Exploring the Complex World of Chocolate
Presented by Adam Centamore
Chocolate is one of the world’s most beloved foods, and it’s no surprise why. Few treats can rival the sweet, rich flavors of a well-made bar of chocolate. When it comes to the history, creation and production of cacao, however, most people are far less familiar with those details. It’s time to see what makes this global favorite tick! Spend an...
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February 26, 2024 • 58 mins
Ignite The Conversation: A Exploration Into Chicago-style BBQ
Dominique Leach (Lexington Betty Smokehouse) – Brian Jupiter (Frontier/Ina Mae Tavern)- Daniel Hammond (Smoky Soul BBQ)- Ron Conner (U Want Dat Smoke BBQ)
Media Speakers: Journalist Monica Eng of AXIOS Chicago and co-author of Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites & James Beard Award-winning food writer/video producer Mike Gebert of Fooditor
Moderato...
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December 13, 2023 • 49 mins
A History of the World in 10 Dinners: 2,000 Years, 100 Recipes
Victoria Flexner and Jay Reifel
In 2014, food historians Victoria Flexner and Jay Reifel cooked up a NYC supper club called Edible History, a pairing of fine dining and intellectual stimulation. Now they’ve spun their experience into a recently published book, A History of the World in 10 Dinners: 2,000 Years, 100 Recipes (Rizzoli).
Come join us as the authors share h...
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November 10, 2023 • 74 mins
The Delmonico Way
Max Tucci
From Scott Warner, President, Culinary Historians of Chicago
I just couldn’t pass it up. When I attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference in New York this past September, one limited-seating event had me signing up immediately: an historic dinner in the board room at Delmonico’s, hosted by third generation partner and global brand officer, Max Tucci.
Max regaled us wi...
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October 17, 2023 • 51 mins
Feeding the Art Deco Spirit
Presented by Teri Edelstein, PhD
Cover image: Café, bars, restaurants, Cover Félix Jobbé-Duval Café, bars, restaurants, Cover Félix Jobbé-Duval Paris: Librairie de la Construction moderne, 1930
A central aspect of the culture and lifestyle of the 1920s and 30s was the creation and consumption of food. You could exist in an Art Deco world where everything from the soup to the nuts was inflected with thi...
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October 5, 2023 • 100 mins
What’s behind Italy’s ingredients?
Presented by Viola Buitoni
Come join us as Viola Buitoni (yes, she’s a member of that illustrious pasta-manufacturing family) shares the history and geography of Italy’s most iconic ingredients, and gives tips on how we can incorporate their vibrant flavors and techniques into our kitchens. (Think balsamic vinegar, flakes of parmigiano reggiano, fresh ricotta and creamy grains of risotto.) As a n...
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October 4, 2023 • 74 mins
Identification of Mushrooms: More than the sum of their parts
Presented by Patrick Leacock, PhD
This presentation covers visible mushroom features found with caps, gills, stems, and veils. These features are used to key out and identify wild mushrooms. We can combine these features to learn the "stature types" of gilled mushrooms, such as amanita, pluteus, tricholoma, mycena, etc.
Patrick is a mycologist documenting the mushrooms...
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September 21, 2023 • 66 mins
Madison's Magical Market
Presented by Terese Allen,
Culinary Historian and writer
Come join us as one of Wisconsin’s most celebrated culinary historians and food writers, Terese Allen, takes us on a delicious journey into our nation’s largest produce-only farmers’ market, The Dane County Farmers’ Market.
Held in Madison’s vast Capitol Square, this more than half-century old market has helped area agriculture flourish, and dramat...
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September 1, 2023 • 93 mins
Much ado about masalas—a deep dive into Indian Cuisine
Come join us as a maven of masala, Nandita Godbole, explores India’s complex and delicious regional cuisines through its culinary backbone – its masalas (which, by the way, are a vast number of spice mixtures ground into a paste or powder for use in Indian cooking).
Nandita will be dishing out a buffet of savory information on the micro cuisines of India, giving us a healthy ...
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July 13, 2023 • 63 mins
Paul Prud'homme, Dinner with the President
You all probably know of Alex Prud’homme as co-author of Julia Child’s best selling memoir, My Life in France. Come join us as Alex takes us into the White House to talk about his latest book, Dinner with the President. Alex will serve us a capsulated history of American food and politics, from the grim meals eaten by George Washington and his starving troops at Valley Forge, to Donald Tr...
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July 7, 2023 • 44 mins
Flora, Fauna and Foodways with Archivist Nancy Webster
Researching the early 20th century images of local flora and fauna by Jesse Lowe Smith and E. E. Parratt led to further investigation. Twenty-first century publications including Andreas Viestad’s Dinner in Rome a History of the world in one Meal and Arbres et arbustes sauvages des trottoirs toulousains (Wild trees and plants and shrubs of the sidewalks of Toulouse) by Boris P...
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June 11, 2023 • 97 mins
Live from Rome: A Slice of Rice - Italian Style
Valentina Masotti (with Viola Buitoni)
Our illustrious speaker, Valentina Masotti, rice sommelier, comes to us from her home in Rome, Italy, where she will serve up a cornucopia of delectable rice history, teach us about the different classifications of rice, and demonstrate how to properly prepare risotto. Here’s what’s on our rice guru’s menu:
- What kind of rice is cultivated in ...
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June 1, 2023 • 61 mins
Colombian Exchange Hit World
Like Culinary Comet
Presented by Bill St. John
What we call the Colombian Exchange was that vast interchange of foodstuffs (and peoples, non-edible plants, technology, cultures, diseases and various animals) between the New World and the Old World that began in 1492 A.D. when Columbus “reunited” those two hemispheres.
Come join us as culinary historian Bill St. John serves us the story of the Exchan...
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May 2, 2023 • 55 mins
Fieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir
Presented by Iliana Regan
As Regan explores the ancient landscape of Michigan’s boreal forest, her stories of the land, its creatures, and its dazzling profusion of plant and vegetable life are interspersed with efforts to make a home and a business of an inn that’s suddenly, as of their first full season there in 2020, empty of guests due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She discovers where the wild blueber...
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April 9, 2023 • 71 mins
Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites
Presented by Monica Eng and David Hammond
Chicago food shows its true depth in classic dishes conceived in the kitchens of immigrant innovators, neighborhood entrepreneurs, and mom-and-pop visionaries.
Monica Eng and David Hammond draw on decades of exploring the city’s food landscape to serve up thirty can’t-miss eats found in all corners of Chicago. From Mild Sauce to the...
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March 30, 2023 • 68 mins
What you probably didn’t know about Indian food
Presented by Colleen Sen
What ‘ethnic food” is universally popular among Indians?
Who is known as India’s Julia Child?
What Italian restaurateur opened a restaurant called “the Maxim’s of the East?”
How are lichens used in Indian cuisine?
How do Indian Jews celebrate Purim?
Chicago-based Indian food authority and author Colleen Sen will answer these and many more questions when she...
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March 14, 2023 • 87 mins
The Multiple Heritages of Irish Soda Bread
Presented by Lucy Long, PhD
Soda bread, a quick bread using baking soda as the primary rising agent, is closely associated in the U.S. with Ireland. Its history and meanings, however, are much more complicated—and tasty—than the sweet loaf with raisins that is usually found around St Patrick’s Day in March.
This talk discusses the various forms this bread takes in Northern Ireland, the R...
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March 7, 2023 • 73 mins
Advances in science and community science are positively impacting fungal conservation
Presented by Greg Mueller, PhD
Greg will discuss how advances in science and community science are positively impacting fungal conservation. This presentation is for all audiences, and no prior knowledge of mycology or biology will be needed to thoroughly enjoy it.
Gregory M. Mueller, Ph.D. is Negaunee Chief Scientist and Vice President of Scie...
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February 26, 2023 • 67 mins
History of American Pies and Illinois is Well Represented
Presented by Catherine Lambrecht
Pies are as American as pizza is American: we took a great idea, adapted it to our needs and ran with it. Our ancestors used what they had available locally and made the most from it. You might be thinking that pies are just for dessert, but for our American ancestors, they were often considered survival food. Sometimes, they ate pie for bre...
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February 16, 2023 • 74 mins
Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France
Kitty Morse
In our speaker’s own words: “I’d never come across another suitcase quite like it. But what was the tattered black leather valise doing there, hidden behind a crocheted comforter on the top shelf of my late mother’s closet? The tarnished brass locking mechanism had already been sprung.”
… Looking up at me from inside la petite valise was a photo...
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