FREE Workshop: Preserving your Family recipes. When you dip your madeleine in your Proustian tea, make it more than a memory. This workshop, in partnership with Society life member the First Bank of Highland Park, will provide the tools to preserve your family’s culinary history whether the original format is digital, oral or on a file card! Limited seating, please reserve. Continue reading
Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History: Cooking to the President’s Taste
Podcast
Come join us to hear about the virtually unknown history of the many Asian heritage chefs who have prepared meals for U.S. presidents extending back more than a century and continuing to the present day. Yet many of their names are largely unknown.
Our speakers, Adrian Miller, a two-time James Beard Award-winning author, and culinary authority Deborah Chang, will present stories from their just-published book, Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History: Cooking to the President’s Taste. Continue reading
A Culinary Journey Through India: The Cuisine of Kerala
Presented by Colleen Taylor Sen
Mintza Restaurant, 2245 West Devon Avenue | Chicago, IL 60659
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Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at 6 PM Central Time
This series of dinners curated specially for members of the Culinary Historians of Chicago and Rogers Park West Ridge Historical Society features the cuisines of different regions of India.
At the first dinner we enjoyed the delicious cuisine of Hyderabad. This time we’ll savor the cuisine of Kerala, a small state on the southwest corner of India famous for its beautiful scenery, diverse communities, and delicious cuisine, prepared with aromatic spices (but not hot!) and coconut in various forms. Continue reading
The Legacy and Impact of the Farm-to-Table Movement in Chicago
Chef Jason Hammel
Come join us as one of Chicago’s most iconic chefs, Jason Hammel, takes us back to the 1990s, tracing his journey from East Coast outsider to one of the Midwest’s most passionate advocates for hyper-local sourcing. He’ll recount the early days of the farm-to-table movement, the founding of Green City Market, and the rise of restaurants dedicated to local ingredients. Lula Café, his restaurant of 25 years, has grown in parallel step to this movement, and through stories from its early days, he’ll highlight the challenges and resistance that once stood in its way. Continue reading
Preserving Family Heirloom Recipes
Presented by Valerie J. Frey
Sock It To Me Cake
Heirloom dishes and family food traditions are rich sources of nostalgia and provide vivid ways to learn about our families’ past, yet they can be problematic. Many family recipes and food traditions are never documented in written or photographic form, existing only as unwritten know-how and lore that vanishes when a cook dies. Even when recipes are written down, they often fail to give the tricks and tips that would allow another cook to accurately replicate the dish. Continue reading