Category Archives: Greater Midwest Foodways

The Road Joyfully Traveled: Judging Family Heirloom Recipes at Midwestern State Fairs

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Podcast

Join us for an oral report card on Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance’s Family Heirloom Recipe contest.

Since 2009, Greater Midwest Foodways has sponsored and judged Family Heirloom Recipes contests in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Contestants prepare their family recipe circa 1950 or earlier, submit their recipe and its history. We suggest they display their family heirloom recipe simply though attractively, with the use of props, such as a copy of the original recipe, photographs, placemat, napkins, glassware or flowers. All this for cash prizes of: 1st place – $150., 2nd place – $100., 3rd place – $50 Continue reading →

Midwestern Newspaper Food Editors: Ruth Ellen Church, Clarice Rowlands & Peggy Daum

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Presented by
Kimberly Wilmot Voss, PhD
American Midwest Foodways Scholar’s Grant recipient, 2013

This talk is the story of three significant Midwestern food editors from the 1950s and 1960s. Ruth Ellen Church joined the Chicago Tribune as cooking editor in 1936 and oversaw one of the first test kitchens at a newspaper. She published many cookbooks—several under the pen name of Mary Meade. She remained the food editor until 1974 and became the nation’s first newspaper wine editor in 1962. Clarice Rowlands joined the Milwaukee Journal as food editor in 1943 based on an interest she developed as a member of the 4-H Club in high school. She occasionally wrote under the pen name Alice Richards. Peggy Daum began working in the women’s pages in the 1950s and was the food editor at the Milwaukee Journal from 1968 to 1988. She initiated the creation of what is now known as the Association of Food Journalists and was its first president. These women documented what home cooks were making and what was served in fine restaurants. They judged cooking contests and oversaw recipe exchange programs. They also had a lot of fun. Continue reading →

Greater Midwest Foodways: High Tea with Amelia Earhart

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High Tea by Gerri
Literary dramatist Leslie Goddard in character as Amelia Earhart

American aviator Amelia Earhart’s courageous exploits and spirited personality made her an international celebrity. Her dazzling achievements include becoming the first woman to cross the Atlantic ocean by airplane (1928) and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic (1932). She set numerous speed and altitude records before disappearing mysteriously in 1937 during an attempted around-the-world flight.

Leslie Goddard’s presentation reviews Amelia Earhart’s upbringing, the records she broke, and her tireless work to promote opportunities for women. Continue reading →

High Tea

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Below Stairs: A Servants Life in Early 20th Century England
Guest Speaker Leslie Goddard
in Character as Margaret Powell

Maid pouring afternoon tea

What was life really like for the servants who worked below stairs in the era of Downton Abbey?  While we enjoy an ‘upstairs’ tea, literary dramatist Leslie Goddard will take us ‘downstairs’ to experience life below stairs in the stately homes of early 20th century England.  Goddard will portray British domestic servant Margaret Powell whose 1968 book Below Stairs was among the inspirations for the popular television series Downtown Abbey and directly inspired the 1970s series Upstairs, Downstairs. Continue reading →

Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art

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Presented by

Stephanie Smith, Deputy Director and Chief Curator

 Limit: 30 people, Reservations expected. 

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified
This recording from April 29, 2012

Since the 1930s, numerous artists have used the simple act of sharing food and drink to advance aesthetic goals and to foster critical engagement with the culture of their moment. These artist-orchestrated meals can offer a radical form of hospitality that punctures everyday experience, using the meal as a means to shift perceptions and spark encounters that aren’t always possible in a fast-moving and segmented society.

Feast surveys this practice for the first time, presenting the work of more than thirty artists and artist groups who have transformed the shared meal into a compelling artistic medium. The exhibition examines the history of the artist-orchestrated meal, assessing its roots in early-twentieth century European avant-garde art, its development over the past decades within Western art, and its current global ubiquity. Through a presentation within the Smart Museum and new commissions in public spaces, the exhibition will introduce new artists and contextualize their work in relation to other influential artists, from the Italian Futurists and Gordon Matta-Clark to Marina Abramović and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Feast addresses the radical hospitality embodied by these artists and the social, commercial, and political structures that surround the experience of eating together.

Stephanie Smith joined the Smart Museum as associate curator in 1999 and was named deputy director and chief curator in 2010. She is an affiliate member of the University of Chicago’s Department of Visual Arts and a contributing editor to the journal Afterall. She has held curatorial positions at Rice University, where she earned her MA in art history, and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. For her ambitious contemporary exhibitions such as Beyond Green (2005) and Heartland (2009), Smith has been named one of the most visionary curators in Chicago. Smith is curator of Feast.

This program is hosted by the Chicago Foodways Roundtable.

Saturday, April 7, 2012
Please arrive early, program begins promptly 11:30 AM
Smart Museum of Art of the University of Chicago

5550 S. Greenwood Ave
Chicago, Illinois
Street Parking