Category Archives: Podcast

Exploring the Culinary Collections at the Newberry Library

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Presented by
Riva Feshbach,
Exhibits Manager

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

Handout from the lecture

What happens when you search the Newberry Library catalog using terms such as “cookery,” “menu,” “chocolate” “tea” and “foodways”? You discover an unexpected trove related to the history of food, from classical works such as De honesta voluptate [et] valetudine (On Right Pleasure and Good Health, 1494), to items of more local interest, such as John Drury’s Dining in Chicago (1931).  Other highlights include early texts on chocolate, Gouffé’s heavily illustrated Le Livre de cuisine, and an array of books on “domestic economy and husbandry.”  With a backdrop of illustrations from the Library’s eclectic collections, Riva Feshbach will discuss some of her favorite food-related finds, review tips for accessing these intriguing materials, and offer ideas for how to use the Newberry’s non-food-related collections to aid in your research.
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The History of Greektown’s Parthenon

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Presented by
Yanna Liakouras, partner, The Parthenon restaurant, and
Camille Stagg, author, “The Parthenon Cookbook”

“Long may its fine traditions flourish, and long may its saganaki flame to the ebullient cries of ‘Oooppa!’”–Harry Mark Petrakis

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

Don’t try this at home,” cautions Yanna Liakouras as she ignites a platter of Saganaki, traditionally melted cheese over which she has poured Metaxa. “The flaming doesn’t affect the taste of the cheese–it’s just for show” she says of the searing tradition started by her father, Chris, who co-founded the beloved Parthenon in 1968.  Continue reading →

Grain-fed VS. Grass-fed: What’s the Beef?

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Presented by
Bill Kurtis
Documentary host, producer, conservationist, cattle rancher
and author, “The Prairie Table Cookbook”

Podcast recorded by WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

For the last 60 years Americans have been dining divinely on succulent, juicy, well-marbled grain-fed beef. But not only has the grain-fed diet been unhealthy for the cattle, it’s had a bad impact on the herd known as the human race, according to Bill Kurtis. Continue reading →

Chef Louis Szathmáry and “The Bakery” Restaurant

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Presented by
Barbara Kuck

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

Hungarian immigrant Lajos Istvan Szathmáry II Ph.D., better known to gourmets the world over as “Chef Louis” immigrated to the United States with $1.10 cents and five words of English. Educated as a journalist and psychologist in his native Hungary in a much-traveled life, he was an actor, newspaperman, soldier, marriage counselor, spy, prisoner of war, lecturer, author, TV & radio personality, adventurer and chef. Continue reading →