The story of China’s chaotic Cultural Revolution (1966-76) through its cuisine. During that period, approximately 17 million city youth were “sent down” to the countryside to “learn from the peasants” and they discovered that toil in the communes was arduous and food was scarce. Continue reading
Podcast
Links to Recipes
Garlic Dinner Pampushky
Grandma’s Roasted Duck
Rhubarb Strawberry Kisel
Vegetarian Borscht with Chanterelle Mushrooms
Come join us as Anna Volyshyna, author of “Budmo, Recipes from a Ukranian Kitchen,” gives us a poignant and luscious tale of her homeland’s culture and cuisine.
Anna will provide a buffet of topics, including Ukraine’s geographical location and how it shaped Ukrainian culture; the role of religious holidays in Ukrainian cooking; and modern versions of traditional Ukranian dishes. Continue reading
Rangana Bhargava
Mention the words street food and most of us Chicagoans think of food trucks parked downtown at lunchtime with vendors selling a variety of freshly prepared ethnic foods. Our program today takes us to India where street food has abounded for years, but with a different twist — no trucks. Continue reading
Podcast
Historical Cooking Show
Feeding Fascism explores how women negotiated the politics of Italy’s Fascist regime (1922-1943) in their daily lives and how they fed their families through agricultural and industrial labour. Darvin looks at women’s experiences of Fascism by examining the material world in which they lived in relation to their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Continue reading
Back in March, 2021, there was a talk by Priya Mani on gathered, edible lichens from the Indian subcontinent. It is hardly imaginable that a lichen scraped off tree barks in the sub-Himalayan forests is the decisive and defining ingredient of what we know and imagine as “spicy-Indian.” Knowledge and use of stone flower that was for generations hidden in regional kitchens have suddenly found a nationwide use, albeit as a secret ingredient in readymade spice blends. Continue reading