Upcoming Programs at a Glance

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Currently all our programs are presented virtually via Zoom. Once we can meet again, we hope to continue with both 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. 

Culinary Historians of Chicago:

  • Wednesday, March 24, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom: Vivian Howard
  • Wednesday, April 14, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom: The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard with John Birdsall
Chicago Foodways Roundtable:

  • Thursday, March 4, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom: Swedish Pancakes for Breakfast? with B. Marcus Cederstrom
  • Saturday, March 13, 2021 @ 10:00 AM via Zoom from Denmark: A Curious, Secret Spice in Your Masala with Priya Mani
  • Thursday, April 8, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom: Food Rationing in Great Britain during WW2 and beyond with Annette Laing
  • Tuesday, May 4, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom: Special cookbook club selection Ossoli Cookbook, a fundraiser for the first public beach in Highland Park, IL. A joint meeting with Highland Park Public Library,  Highland Park Historical Society and us!
  • Thursday, May 13, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom: Deep Dish Pizza History with Peter Regas

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

Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance:

  • Tuesday, May 4, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom: Special cookbook club selection Ossoli Cookbook, a fundraiser for the first public beach in Highland Park, IL. A joint meeting with Highland Park Public Library,  Highland Park Historical Society and us!
  • Thursday, May 13, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom: Deep Dish Pizza History with Peter Regas
  • Thursday, August 12, 2021, Live judging @ 3:00 PM Eastern Time: Family Heirloom Recipe Contest @ Indiana State Fair (Indiana Building)
  • Friday, August 13, 2021, Winners announced @ 12:15 Central Time: Family Heirloom Recipe Contest @ Illinois State Fair (Hobby, Arts and Craft Building)
  • Saturday, August 14, 2021, Live judging @ 2:30 PM Central Time: Family Heirloom Recipe Contest @ Missouri State Fair (Home Economics Building)
  • September 2021: Heirloom Apple Tour – postponed from 2019.

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

A Curious, Secret Spice in your Masala?

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Join us on Saturday March 13, 2021 @ 10:00 AM via Zoom!

Stoney Curry Lichen
Stone Curry Lichen

Presented by Priya Mani
Live from Denmark

A talk by Priya Mani on gathered, edible lichens from the Indian subcontinent. It is hardly imaginable that a lichen scraped off tree barks in the sub-Himalayan forests is the decisive and defining ingredient of what we know and imagine as “spicy-Indian.” Continue reading →

How the Frugality of Rural Foodways Reshaped this Nationally Acclaimed Chef

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Join us on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom!

Presented by Vivian Howard
Chef, Author, PBS Host

Vivian Howard moved from New York back to her rural hometown to open a fine-dining restaurant that she hoped would reshape the palates of eastern North Carolina. But an encounter with collard kraut and a trip to “America’s largest pork display” ignited her interest in the traditional foods and culinary techniques unique to the Carolina coastal plain she calls home. Continue reading →

The Making of James Beard, An American Legend

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Join us on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 via Zoom!

Presented by John Birdsall, Author,
The Man Who Ate Too Much


Food of the past that comes to us through recipes and cookbooks can appear to be fixed evidence of what generations before us ate, their tastes and preferences. John Birdsall says that his research for The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard (Norton, 2020) challenged all his assumptions about that. Continue reading →