Fieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir

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Presented by Chef Iliana Regan
Podcast

As Regan explores the ancient landscape of Michigan’s boreal forest, her stories of the land, its creatures, and its dazzling profusion of plant and vegetable life are interspersed with efforts to make a home and a business of an inn that’s suddenly, as of their first full season there in 2020, empty of guests due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She discovers where the wild blueberry bushes bear tiny fruit, where to gather wood sorrel, and where and when the land’s different mushroom species appear—even as surrounding parcels of land are suddenly and violently decimated by logging crews that obliterate plant life and drive away the area’s birds. Continue reading →

Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites

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Presented by Monica Eng and David Hammond

Podcast

Chicago food shows its true depth in classic dishes conceived in the kitchens of immigrant innovators, neighborhood entrepreneurs, and mom-and-pop visionaries.

Monica Eng and David Hammond draw on decades of exploring the city’s food landscape to serve up thirty can’t-miss eats found in all corners of Chicago.

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The Multiple Heritages of Irish Soda Bread

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Presented by Lucy Long, PhD

Podcast

Links to Recipes:
Ballymaloe Traditional Brown Soda Bread
Ballymaloe White Soda Bread

Soda bread, a quick bread using baking soda as the primary rising agent, is closely associated in the U.S. with Ireland. Its history and meanings, however, are much more complicated—and tasty—than the sweet loaf with raisins that is usually found around St Patrick’s Day in March. Continue reading →

History of American Pies … and Illinois is well represented!

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Presented by Catherine Lambrecht (Image by Catherine Lambrecht, too!)

Podcast

Pies are as American as pizza is American: we took a great idea, adapted it to our needs and ran with it. Our ancestors used what they had available locally and made the most from it. You might be thinking that pies are just for dessert, but for our American ancestors, they were often considered survival food. Sometimes, they ate pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner for months at a time. Continue reading →