Category Archives: Chicago Foodways Roundtable

American Farmer

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Photograph by Paul Mobley

American Farmer celebrates the living spirit of our heartland, through the faces and voices of the people who keep it alive. Featuring 45 full-color and black-and-white portraits and interviews with farmers across the United States—from cattle ranchers to strawberry growers—American Farmer tells the honest and inspiring stories of the true stewards of our land. This is a program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance and The National Endowment for the Arts. Continue reading →

“I’ll Have What She’s Having:” The Jewish Deli

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(Kaufman’s Deli image Catherine Lambrecht)

Docent lead private tour of the Jewish Deli exhibit

More than a place to get a meal, the Jewish deli is a community forged in food. “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli explores how Jewish immigrants, mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, imported and adapted traditions to create a uniquely American restaurant. The exhibition reveals how Jewish delicatessens became a cornerstone of American food culture, and how delis served as a lifeline for many Holocaust Survivors and refugees who came to the United States. Continue reading →

Feeding the Art Deco Spirit

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Podcast


A central aspect of the culture and lifestyle of the 1920s and 30s was the creation and consumption of food.  You could exist in an Art Deco world where everything from the soup to the nuts was inflected with this style. As a pervasive mode, Deco shaped a total environment and food and drink were an integral part of this.  The lecture will focus upon some of the more striking results of this encounter.

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A Tour of Windy City Mushrooms

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featuring their growing rooms and 
tasting of their new fungi food products

Presented by John James
Co-Owner/Head of Sales/Mycologist

Windy City Mushroom was founded 3 years ago in 2020. With the start of the pandemic, healthy resources became scarce, and mushrooms were out of stock in nearly every grocery store and co-op. Chicago needed a sustainable option for local consumers, thus Windy City Mushroom was born. Located in the Ford City neighborhood of Chicago, we pride ourselves on growing the finest premium gourmet mushrooms Chicago has to offer at an affordable price. Continue reading →

Flora, Fauna and Foodways

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Presented by Nancy Webster, Archivist
Highland Park Historical Society

Podcast

Recipes recorded orally by Native Americans and written by local pioneer settlers demonstrate sustenance and diet using native flora and fauna.  Using exclusively 19th century or earlier resources, an exhibit and presentation of these natural and cultivated food sources were created‌.  The images of the Jesse Lowe Smith Image Collection’s documentation of flora and fauna provided the inspiration to explore diverse natural food sources being documented. Continue reading →