An Invasion of Gastronomic Proportions: My Adventures with Chicago Animals, Human and Otherwise

Presented by Mike Sula,
Senior Writer, The Chicago Reader

View presentation on Facebook and Youtube

Mike’s favorite stories were about the people on the edges of the city’s food system; the oddballs, the uncelebrated, the immigrants cooking for their own—and especially the people willing to break the law to put food on the table. There was Shirley the Muffin Lady, making the rounds of the bars with baskets full of weed-spiked treats. Continue reading

When Potato Fields were Prisons: Unfree Farm Labor in McHenry County during World War II

Presented Samuel Klee, Ph.D. candidate
(Program in conjunction with the Highland Park Historical Society)

View presentation on YouTube

During World War II, some farmers in Marengo, Illinois negotiated with a large food corporation and federal agencies to make local farm fields into restricted, prison-like spaces. When the Curtiss Candy Company brought Japanese-Americans from the Tule Lake Internment Camp in California to cultivate and pick potatoes in 1943, the Marengo community struggled with the federal government and the candy company to eliminate the outsiders’ presence.

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A Taste of FoodCultura, Part 2

Liz Rice presented her work comparing food choices in South Shore and Albany Park, two very different Chicago neighborhoods.

Paige Resnick exploring Chicago’s live poultry shops and the many issues associated with selecting and preparing one’s own chicken.

Presented by Students in
Foodcultura: The Art and Anthropology of Cuisine,
University of Chicago, Autumn 2019

In November we were treated to Maggi Galaxy, a presentation by Stephan Palmié, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago and Antoni Miralda, Barcelona-based artist and founder of FoodCultura. The artist and anthropologist are collaborating on a Chicago-focused project exploring the intersection between food, art, and other forms of cultural exchange. 

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A Taste of FoodCultura

Presented by Students in 
Foodcultura: The Art and Anthropology of Cuisine, 
University of Chicago, Autumn 2019

The Chicago FoodCultura Clarion, Issue 1

The Chicago FoodCultura Clarion, Issue 2

The Chicago FoodCultura Clarion, Issue 3

The Chicago FoodCultura Clarion, Issue 4

 

Yoon-Jee Choi’s analysis of cakes from Roeser’s Bakery through the eyes of a Bauhaus historian.

Eli Bec’s discussion of ofrendas prepared for Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead altars) and her own personal ofrenda

Alana Ferguson’s musings on cotton candy as an art form.

Maisie Watson and Daniel Simantob explored the intersection of public and private dining experiences at Sinhá, a Brazilian home-restaurant in Chicago and in their own apartment.

Persian Matzoh Ball Soup

In November we were treated to Maggi Galaxy, a presentation by Stephan Palmié, Professor of Anthropology at University of Chicago and Antoni Miralda, Barcelona-based artist and founder of FoodCultura. They are collaborating on a Chicago-focused project supported by a Gray Center Mellon Collaborative Fellowship, exploring the intersection between food, art, and other forms of cultural exchange. Continue reading

A Culinary History of Downeast Maine

Presented by Sharon L. Joyce

Maine’s Downeast culinary history begins well before explorers arrived in the 1500s. Some of the food preparation and preservation techniques used by the Wabanakis and early colonists are still in use today. Lobster and other seafood from the Gulf of Maine and the area now known as Acadia National Park paved the way for a vibrant tourist food scene. Continue reading