Everyone has favorite recipes they’ve loved and lost. Lost Recipes Found exists to find them, get the best of them back in circulation, and tell some of the story that goes along with them.

Monica Kass Rogers started this adventure a few years ago with a column in the Chicago Tribune that eventually became a web magazine. The 1000-plus requests received since then have conveyed so much feeling, humor, and just plain good story-telling, it’s been impossible for Rogers not to get hooked into recipe sleuthing for the long haul.

Most of the recipe requests Rogers started with fell into several broad categories: Recipes from closed restaurants and department store tea rooms (“Gone But Not Forgotten”), recipes that once appeared on food packaging or promotional pamphlets (“Once Upon a Box”), even recipes from institutions (“Love from the Lunchroom”). To those, she has added a bunch more departments, including vintage celebrity-generated recipes (“Celebrity Citings”), State Fair recipes (“State Fair Fun”), recipes from chefs that were inspired by their own families and regional histories (“Chef Recipes with Vintage Flair”), and food categories (“Pie Revival,” “On the Sideboard,” “Meaty Mainstays,” “Classic Casseroles,” etc.)

Monica’s been a writer from the start. Ever since a second grade spelling list suggested the theme for her first rhyming poem, Monica’s been charmed by wordsmithing and story. After college, she plunged into publishing, writing for local, national, and  international publications about business, architecture, design, parenting, restaurants, and more. Her favorite assignments combine food writing with food photography.

Recorded Saturday, September 22, 2012 at Kendall College.