Upcoming Programs at a Glance

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Almost all our programs are presented virtually via Zoom on Central Time. We offer live and virtual programs. Please read the full event notices for details because days and times often vary. You are encouraged to join our email list to receive advance notices followed by day-of-meeting reminders with the required Zoom link. You are always welcome to become a member.

Culinary Historians of Chicago:

  • Saturday, April 25, 2026 @ 10 AM: Macaroni, a joint meeting with Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin
  • Wednesday, May 13, 2026: The Dining Room with John Ota

Chicago Foodways Roundtable:

  • Monday, April 13, 2026 @ 7 pm: .American Bacon with Mark Johnson, PhD

Find Culinary Historians of Chicago and Chicago Foodways Roundtable on Twitter or Facebook.

Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance:
  • Wednesday, August TBA, 2027 @ 3 PM Indiana State Fair: Family Heirloom Recipe Contest located in the Indiana Building.
  • Friday, August TBA, 2027 @ 10 AM Illinois State Fair: Family Heirloom Recipe Contest located in the
  • Saturday, August TBA, 2027 @ 3 PM Missouri State Fair: Family Heirloom Recipe Contest located in the 4H building
  • Sunday, TBA, 2027 @ 1 PM South Dakota State Fair: Family Heirloom Recipe Contest located at the Women’s Building

Find Greater Midwest Foodways on Twitter, Facebook or our website.

American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon

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:Monday, April 13, 2026 @ 7 p.m., central time via Zoom

 In American Bacon, Mark A. Johnson asks (and answers) a seemingly simple question: How has bacon overcome centuries of religious prohibition, cultural contempt, and dietary advice to become a twenty-first-century culinary and cultural powerhouse? Starting in early modern Britain and tracing the story of bacon through the colonial era, the Civil War, the Progressive Era, modern fad diets, and the emerging craft bacon industry, Johnson provides a new perspective on bacon’s story from “most dangerous food in the supermarket” to pop culture and gastronomic phenomenon. Continue reading →

How Macaroni and Cheese Shaped Human History, Karima Moyer-Nocchi

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Saturday, April 25, 2026 @ 10 a.m., central time via Zoom

 

What would it mean to view history through the lens of a single, familiar dish? At first glance, the idea of macaroni and cheese having an epic history may seem whimsical, even trivial. Yet its story begins in ancient Rome and unfolds across centuries of colonization, migration, labor, industry, and identity. In this talk, Karima Moyer-Nocchi will discuss her book The Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese from Ancient Rome to Modern America, Continue reading →

The Dining Room with John Ota

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Wednesday, May 13, 2026: 7 pm via Zoom: Jon Ota on The Dining Room

Dive into history’s most captivating dining rooms as author and architectural writer John Ota investigates the architecture, interior design, and cherished history of twelve iconic dining spaces, including the dining rooms of Claude Monet, Frida Kahlo, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 

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The Chicago Way: An Oral History of Chicago Dining with Michael Gebert

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From a city associated with steak and the stockyards, Chicago has become a capitol of innovative, even avant-garde cuisine—but how? That’s the story that James Beard-winning Chicago food journalist Michael Gebert tells in The Chicago Way: An Oral History of Chicago Dining (Agate, $36.00). https://www.agatepublishing.com/97815728…/the-chicago-way/

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