WBEZ | Kendall College

The Secret Financial Life of Food Event

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:42:00 -0500

Kara Newman began her career as a financial writer. Her inspiration for The Secret Financial Life of Food began with two little words in the financial newsweekly Barron’s. Jim Rogers, a noted commodities expert, gave the following advice: “Buy breakfast.” He was talking about pork belly futures (which no longer trade) and frozen orange juice futures. That one little comment snapped into focus the point that agricultural commodities aren’t abstract financial concepts – at heart, they’re about food. Pork bellies become the bacon on your plate; frozen orange juice becomes the OJ in your glass. In the end, it’s all about food.

The ups and downs of the commodities market – in Chicago and elsewhere - influence what we eat and what we pay for food. Many farmers study commodities prices to decide what and how much to plant. Chain restaurants use them to manage costs – if the price of beef is expected to spike, does it make sense to raise menu prices, or find an ingredient substitution? Commodities prices set a baseline for prices at supermarkets and greenmarkets alike -- and most people don't even realize it.

Kara Newman is a spirits and cocktail writer based in New York. She is the Spirits Editor for Wine Enthusiast and her work appears in The New York Times, Saveur, The San Francisco Chronicle, Arrive, and Sommelier Journal, among other publications. Previously, she was vice president of Strategic Research at Thomson Reuters.

More information about this event here.

The Old Girl Network: Charity Cookbooks and the Empowerment of Women

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:30:00 -0500

The Old Girl Network: Charity Cookbooks and the Empowerment of Women Presented by Janice Bluestein Longone Curator of American Culinary History, University of Michigan’s Special Collections Division

The Culinary Historians of Chicago had its first meeting in 1993, and we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary this year with a special lecture: Before mass media, communication and transit, the first wave of the women’s movement was already active via the most ordinary of objects – the lowly cookbook. “Charity cookbooks,” a legacy of the Civil War, championed many causes: suffrage, education, temperance, prohibition, equal rights, working conditions, welfare, immigration, and legal rights and responsibilities, while benefiting churches, schools, sororities, the homeless, and others in need. The effort required to create, publish and distribute the books created networks of communication, which nurtured fledging political movements that transformed American culture. The books demonstrate how women worked together to help themselves, other women, and the outside world, while, along the way, the recipes and how-to advice in the books offer a compelling glimpse into America’s cooking habits and its region-by-region culinary heritage.

As many people do not understand why we preserve these ephemeral materials, we invite you to our illustrated lecture to see the politics just under every woman’s nose (and, often, behind many men’s backs). In short, if you think cookbooks are dull with nothing but recipes (as interesting as they may be) in them, then this is the lecture to prove you wrong!

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In addition to being Curator of American Culinary History at the University of Michigan’s Special Collection Division at the Hatcher Library, Jan Longone is proprietor of The Wine and Food Library, America’s oldest antiquarian culinary bookshop. Ms. Longone is also founder and honorary chair of the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor. Among her many other activities was helping to develop MSU’s “Feeding America” website.

More information about this event here.

The Flavor of Africa

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:11:00 -0600

Please join Wilbert Jones as he takes you on a culinary journey throughout the earth's second largest mass of land, Africa. This enormous continent contains 55 countries, where more than 1,500 languages are spoken. Jones will share his knowledge about the ancient Egyptian's daily diet, national dishes from several countries, traditional use of some unique ingredients as well as cooking techniques, and current food and beverage trends emerging out of Africa. He will also address the lack of African culinary presence in America and offers some solutions to increase visibility.

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Wilbert Jones is the president of Chicago-based The Wilbert Jones Company, a 20 year old food/beverage product development and marketing company. He has written several African cuisine articles for both, food trade and consumer magazines. Jones is currently working on hosting a cable-television series, titled: "A Taste of Africa."

More information on this event here.

Soup & Bread: Building Community One Pot at a Time

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:47:00 -0600

Martha Bayne explores the social role of soup and its history as a tool for both building community and fostering social justice. She examines the classic model of a soup kitchen, national initiatives like Empty Bowls fundraisers and Sunday Soup dinners, as well as casual soup swaps and community soup cookoffs. Soup, she explains, means different things to different groups: For the activists of Food Not Bombs, the act of serving soup can be a political statement; to others it can be art practice, social service, or ministry. But though the context may change, the essential connection remains the same: In extending hospitality over the soup pot, a connection is formed and community ties are strengthened.

Martha Bayne is a Chicago-based writer and editor and author of Soup & Bread

Cookbook: Building Community One Pot at a Time (Agate/Surrey Books, 2011).

She launched Soup & Bread, a free community meal and hunger-relief fundraiser, at the Chicago bar the Hideout in 2009. Since then this annual winter tradition has raised more than $30,000 for a range of local food pantries and soup kitchens, and brought together food activists, farmers, celebrity chefs, and amateur cooks around a common pot of soup.

There will be soup and bread afterwards. If you wish to bring soup to share afterwards, please alert Catherine Lambrecht using the reservation contact information.

This program is hosted by the Chicago Foodways Roundtable. To reserve, please

e-mail: chicago.foodways.roundtable@gmail.com, then leave your name and how many people in your party.

"Chocolate With a Taste of Pakistan" East meets West in Crossover Confecti

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:57:00 -0600

Uzma Sharif has some sweet tales to tell. Join us as this acclaimed Chicago chocolatier recounts the confectionary influences of her Pakistani heritage, and the history of pastries in South Asian countries. She will also touch on the special ingredients that are used in her culture.

Uzma says she has had a sweet life, surrounded by family and food. Growing up as a first generation Pakistani-American in Chicago and occasionally visiting her family in South Asia, Uzma recalls being greatly influenced by her grandfather, a renowned pastry chef in Pakistan.

Uzma ultimately studied under French pastry chefs in Chicago, traveled and tasted widely in Europe, served as head pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, began teaching chocolate and pastry classes at Triton College, and ultimately opened her own shop, Chocolat Uzma Sharif, on south Halsted St. (chocolatuzma.com).

It’s at her shop where Uzma infuses her South Asian heritage with her French training to create her chocolate-covered creations, some with spices and flowers. (Think East-meets-West chocolates, which we will sample, of

course!)

More information here.

From Cinnamon To Saffron: Demystifying Indian Cooking in the Western World

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:16:00 -0600

Right from the chicken curry served out of a food truck in a bustling New York city street, to the jhalmuri served at eat.st in King’s Cross in London, Indian food today has become more mainstream and less exotic than it used to be. Everyone seems to like a taste of something Indian—a deep-fried samosa or a scoop of biryani—but they’re often a little intimidated by what they believe it entails: long hours of slaving in front of the stove and a gazillion spices to pepper everything with.

While volumes of text have been devoted to busting those myths, there aren’t too many endeavors focused on making Indian cooking simpler, using ingredients sourced right out of a regular grocery store in the West. Ranjini Rao and her partner, Ruchira Ramanujam, recently wrote and published Mango Masala: 60 Indian Recipes From Your Local Supermarket, which demonstrates what a cinch Indian cooking really is in any kitchen, right from breakfast to snacks, full-fledged lunches to dinner spreads.

Ranjini Rao is a marketing and social media co-ordinator at an online publishing company here in Chicago. She runs a food blog, Tadka Pasta, along with her partner Ruchira, and will highlight the practicalities of whipping up Indian food in the Western world and talk a little bit about her own journey as a writer, foodie, multicultural culinary enthusiast. She'll also talk about how she ended up crafting a cookbook with her best friend and share her insights into the world of digital publishing.

The Frosting on the (Filipino) Cake: A Family Carries on Their Matriarch’s Dessert Legacy

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:05:00 -0600

If Philippine food and culture is a mystery to most of us, then Filipino desserts are a best kept secret.

Join us for a look at some sweet ethnic history as Maribel (Delia) Anama talks about the influence her baking maven mother, Gloria, had on her while she was growing up in the Philippines. It was her mother’s influence that led her to a career in baking, ultimately becoming an entrepreneur, opening her own sweet tooth emporium in Park Ridge. Delia will give us a look at the Philippine baking industry of years ago, its evolution, and what Filipino desserts and delicacies are like. And to prove that she is not sugarcoating the facts, Delia will bring Filipino rice cakes for us to sample.

For the last 20 years, Delia Anama has been creating a sweet storm, working for such renowned places as Long Grove Confectionery Company, Panera Bread, Mrs. Fields, Long Grove Confectionery, Let Them Eat Cake, and Turano Baking Company, before realizing her dream and opening her own shop, Mrs. A. Cupcakes@the Pickwick, in Park Ridge.

“Much More Than Tapas”: Food Trends and Culture in 21st-Century Spain

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:13:00 -0600

In the last decade Spain has earned a reputation as a star of the culinary world, but this honor is not due to paella or tortilla but to molecular gastronomy. In a country so rich in regional foods, culture and products, this association is not always fair or correct.

In a country where food traditions are millenary, one feels the influence of the Romans, the Jews, the Moors and the Americas, and Spanish food culture has evolved into something very diverse, rich and at times perplexing. In some respects Spain is deeply traditional and in others there is a peculiar modernity.

On the traditional side Spain still reveres the pig, and pork products are elevated to iconic status in the form of the Iberian or black-hoofed pig. Having several ham cutters at your wedding is still the ultimate status symbol.

On the modern side Spain is the land of Thermomix, and every good housewife (whether stay at home or not) is besotted with this German cooking robot, which weighs, stirs, kneads, stews, chops and much more, and retails for about 1200 USD. For the working mom there is now the convenience of ready-made gazpacho and tortilla where once they would have spent hours making them from scratch.

Do join us so we can savor and sample Spain’s culinary delights and culture with Blanca Valencia.

Blanca Valencia grew up in Spain and Latin America. She was educated in Virginia and started work as a management consultant in Spain, moving to London in 2000. Food has always been a passion in her life, and, in 2003, she made a career change and left consulting to study at Le Cordon Bleu. Having graduated with a grand diplome, she has spent the past 10 years working in the culinary industry in London, Spain, and now Chicago.

Learn more about this event here.

American Tuna and Drinking: A Doubleheader

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 15:58:00 -0600

Andy Smith, one of our nation’s most eminent food historians, has so much information to dish out he’s going to give us a two-subject lecture, based on his latest books: American Tuna—the Rise and Fall of an Improbable Food and Drinking History: 15 Turning Points in the Making of an American Beverages.

Regarding tuna, he asks how a fish that was sold primarily as a fertilizer became one of the most commonly consumed fishes in the country in just a decade? How does a cheap fish become haute cuisine? And how does a fish become embroiled in U.S. foreign policy, immigration and environmental politics, and American dietary trends? He will also describe how the American tuna industry was decimated by concerns about toxic levels of methylmercury, and over-harvesting.

Offering a chaser to that talk, Smith discusses why Americans drink what we drink, how beverages—alcoholic and non-alcoholic—have changed American history and how Americans have invented, adopted, modified, and commercialized tens of thousands of beverages.

Andy Smith teaches food studies at the New School University in New York. He is the editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, has edited or authored more than 20 books, and has written more than 1000 articles on culinary topics. In addition, Mr. Smith conducts acclaimed food writing conferences in New York City.

To reserve your seats, please email your reservation to Culinary.Historians@gmail.com or call 847-432-8255.

Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:53:00 -0500

In Chicago, New York, L.A., and other American cities, the delicatessen was the lifeblood and the linchpin of the Jewish community. The "soul food" and atmosphere it dished up became a quintessential part of American culture for Jews and non-Jews alike. But as Jews moved into the suburban middle class, the deli lost its bite, giving way to other ethnic restaurants and cuisines. Can the deli be resurrected?

Ted Merwin, an associate professor of religion and Judaic studies at Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) and a well-known writer on Jewish culture, will show how the Jewish deli, which originated in Germany and Eastern Europe, developed in this country into a neighborhood institution on par with the synagogue. He will also discuss how the deli became an icon of film, TV, music, and comedy about the Jewish experience, from When Harry Met Sally to a Shelley Berman routine about a rebellious son of a Chicago deli owner.