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

Maggi Galaxy

Presented by Stephan Palmié, Anthropology Dept. at University of Chicago
Antoni Miralda, Artist and founder of Food Cultura, Foodcultura*

Image by Peter Engler+

Haitian Djon-Djon Rice

The Reader’s Mike Sula weighs in on Maggi

As part of the Living Together Performance Series which took place in Little Haiti, the Haitian neighborhood of Miami, 2018, The Maggic Banquet, a participatory food-performance by the internationally acclaimed Miami- and Barcelona-based artist Miralda, celebrated Miami’s diverse cultural heritage by tracing the culinary history of Maggi, the ubiquitous and universal seasoning brand. Continue reading