“The basic Chicago dog has its own ingredients,” said Dennis Foley about the “Magnificent Seven” of mustard, onions, relish, tomatoes, pickle (or cucumber), sport peppers and celery salt that should top a dog with snap in a steamed bun. Continue reading
Category Archives: Chicago Foodways Roundtable
An Invasion of Gastronomic Proportions: My Adventures with Chicago Animals, Human and Otherwise
View presentation on Facebook
Presented by Mike Sula,
Senior Writer, The Chicago Reader
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)
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.
Continue ReadingA 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.
Continue readingA Taste of FoodCultura
Presented by Students in
Foodcultura: The Art and Anthropology of Cuisine,
University of Chicago, Autumn 2019
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.
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