Presented by
Rachel Finn,
Founder, Roots Cuisine

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

When Rachel Finn was living in Paris several years ago, she tasted Algerian pastries for the first time; her life was changed forever. “It was, without question, love at first bite,” she recalled. “An obsession was born. I visited pastry shops throughout Paris, sampling pastries including m’khebez, rzimette, maqrout, skandriate, and my very favorites d’ziriate. After moving back to the States Rachel soon returned to France to do a short apprentissage at her favorite bakery, La Bague de Kenza, which taught her as much about Algerian culture, cooking, and Islam as it did about baking.

Please join us as Rachel gives a brief overview of the history, culinary influences, and cultural significance of Algerian pastries, which are often linked to very specific holidays, or family celebrations such as marriages and births. She will touch on their immense popularity in France, where northern African food has become part of modern French culinary heritage. It is a situation that has much in common with the other Afro-diasporic cuisines around the world that continue to transform culinary and cultural landscapes.

BIO
Rachel Finn is a freelance writer, editor, researcher, and the founder of Roots Cuisine (http://rootscuisine.org), a nonprofit created to promote the foodways of African Diaspora around the globe. Her work has appeared in print and electronic publications including Gastronomica, Chicago Sun-Times, Seattle Weekly, and The Root. She has also written encyclopedia entries on the foodways of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone for ABC-CLIO’s Food Cultures of the World. She is currently working on a book on the food history and recipes of the global African Diaspora. Her personal website is http://rachelfinn.net.

Program hosted at Kendall College.

Presented by
Chef/Author Jennifer McLagan

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

Odd bits, offal, or variety meats, whatever you call them they have had a chequered history. Prized by early man, enjoyed at Roman banquets, feted by the Elizabethans, and viewed today, in most of the English-speaking world as not worth cooking or worse still, too disgusting to eat. Why did they fall from pride of place on our table into Fido’s bowl?

Those who champion these varied and delicious morsels hope that their renaissance is underway. Economic, social and political forces that once worked against odd bits are now helping to promote them. Is the tide really changing or is it just another tiresome trend? Will it be tattooed chefs or parsimonious habits that will be odd bits saviours?

Jennifer will discuss the past, present and future of odd bits while explaining headcheese, Alice in Wonderland’s mock turtle, and the true lineage of haggis.

Jennifer McLagan is a chef and writer who has worked in Toronto, London, and Paris as well as in her native Australia. Her previous books, Bones (2005) and Fat (2008), were both widely acclaimed, and each won Beard and IACP awards. Fat won the James Beard Cookbook of the Year. Jennifer is a regular contributor to Fine Cooking and Food & Drink. She has lived in Toronto for more than thirty years with her sculptor husband, Haralds Gaikis, with whom she escapes to Paris as often as possible. On both sides of the Atlantic, Jennifer maintains friendly relations with her butchers, who put aside their best fat, bones, and odd bits for her.

Program hosted at Kendall College.

These are references to quotes from Jennifer’s talk:

Carroll, Lewis. The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1949.

Glasse, Hannah. Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (By a Lady. London: 1747.

Hartley, Dorothy. Food in England. London: Little, Brown, 2003.

Leipoldt, C. Louis. Leipoldt’s Cape Cookery. Cape Town: W. J. Flesch, 1989.

Luard, Elizabeth. The Old World Kitchen: The Rich Tradition of European Peasant Cooking. New York, Bantam, 1987

McNeil, F. Marian. The Scots Kitchen. Edinburgh: Mercat Press, 2004. This book contains my Meg Dods references but her book is online

link to Meg Dods Cook and Housewife’s Manual
http://books.google.ca/books?id=c_AGx2L5UPEC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Markham, Gervase. The English Huswife. 1615

May, Robert. The Accomplisht Cook. 1660

http://www.fromoldbooks.org/LewisCaroll-AliceInWonderland/pages/alice_09c/alice_09c-1414×1696.jpg

http://utdallas.academia.edu/MatthewBrown/Papers/384626/Picky_Eating_is_a_Moral_Failing

Presented by
Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer
Co-Founder/Academic Dean for Faculty & Programs
The French Pastry School, Chicago

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

In 2010, UNESCO declared “The Gastronomic Meal of the French” an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The meal, an elaborate celebration of good taste and togetherness, is often described as a ritual: the choosing of the aperitif, the four courses paired with impeccable wines, the desserts, the liqueurs, and the service is an art in itself. Continue reading →