Presented by Abra Berens, chef, farmer, author

It is true that we are a region known for steak houses, pizzas and pot roast, but what exactly is Midwestern food? Could it also be a dinner at Alinea? Is it the German chocolate cake made by Stephanie Hart’s Brown Sugar Bakery on 75th St? Is it the melting pot that gives us Cornish pasties from Michigan’s upper peninsula, as well as the roast duck from Chef Kelly Cheng Sun Wah?

Abra Berens, author of Ruffage: a practical guide to vegetables, believes Midwestern food is more than meat and potatoes. As a former farmer and current chef at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, MI, she knows that the Midwest has deep and diverse food traditions.

Join Abra as she argues that the Midwest has deep-rooted food traditions while simultaneously being open to an ever growing and evolving food scene. Copies of her just-published book, Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables will be available for purchase and signing.

BIOGRAPHY: Abra Berens started cooking at the storied Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, MI. She then went on to train in the garden-focused kitchen at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork, Ireland. In 2009 she co-founded Bare Knuckle Farm in Northport, MI, where she farmed and cooked for 8 years. She then left for Chicago to open the café at Local Foods. In 2017, she returned to Michigan to join the team at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, where she combines her love of farms and restaurants to create one-of-a-kind dinners celebrating the best of Southwest Michigan’s diverse agriculture.

 Saturday, June 8, 2019
10 a.m. to noon
At Louis Weiss Memorial Hospital (Auditorium, lower level)
4646 N. Marine Drive (at Wilson), Chicago

FREE PARKING: USE OPEN LOT ON SOUTH SIDE OF HOSPITAL
(Signs will say “Permit Parking” and “Doctor’s Lot” but it’s OKAY for YOU to use on this Saturday!)
FREE STREET PARKING ALSO
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: CTA BUS #146 stops directly in front

Cost of the lecture program is $5, $3 for students and no charge for CHC members or Weiss faculty and staff. To reserve, please e-mail your reservation: Culinary.Historians@gmail.com