Beholding a Grainy History: A Woman Named King is a Queen of Our Local Bread Scene

Presented by Ellen King, Hewn Bakery
Historian/Baker/Author

 “The future of food actually lies in the past,” says Ellen King, co-owner and head baker of the nationally acclaimed Hewn Bakery in Evanston, where she creates hand-forged artisan bread. (www.hewnbread.com).There’s more than a grain of truth to everything Ellen believes in. A historian by training, Ellen joins us to share the history of heirloom grains, and her company’s commitment to furthering the local grain economies in the Midwest.  Continue reading →

Currying Interest in Indian Cuisine From its Arrival in America to its Rise in Chicago

Presented by Colleen Sen, PhD
Author, Culinary Historian

“The history of Indian food in America has been largely neglected, even though it is much older than Chinese American cuisine,” says Colleen Sen, PhD, one of our nation’s foremost authorities on South Asian food.

Please join us as Colleen regales us with a buffet of flavorful facts about one of the world’s greatest cuisines, and its long-simmering impact on our nation and our city. Continue reading →

Community Cookbooks: Inspiring Twain Restaurant’s Midwestern Menu

Recipes served:
German Sausage Salad
Granny’s Orange Cake
Mom’s Gingerbread
Lily Salad

Join husband and wife team Chef Tim Graham and Sommelier Rebekah Graham’s of Twain (2445 N. Milwaukee Ave.). Logan Square’s new Midwestern-inspired restaurant, as they discuss community cookbooks with Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance. Influenced by the couple’s extensive collection of spiral-bound women’s club cookbooks from the 1940s through the present as well as Tim’s central Missouri upbringing, Twain marks passage from the past to the present with family recipes passed down through generations focusing on delicious, approachable dishes with modern twists and fun presentations. Named after prolific author Samuel Clemens’ famous pen name, Mark Twain. Continue reading →

Family Heirloom Recipes from the Illinois State Fair, An Illinois Bicentennial Project

Presented by Catherine Lambrecht
Vice-President, Culinary Historians of Chicago

Come join us as the Culinary Historians’ own Catherine Lambrecht dishes on her upcoming book, Family Heirloom Recipes, an Illinois Bicentennial Project..
The book is based on Cathy’s work through the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance, and was also inspired by her own family’s heirloom recipes. Continue reading →