"Is There a Midwestern Cuisine? Culinary Identities of the American Heartland"

Culinary Historians of New York
  

“Is There a Midwestern Cuisine?

Culinary Identities of the American Heartland: Fish Boils, Fish Fries, the Cudighi and Runza, Ohio Mango, the Coney and Big Baby”

 
Bruce Kraig, PhD.
 
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: Park Avenue Methodist Church
Street: 106 East 86th Street
City/Town: New York, NY 
 
At a food conference not long ago, a wit was heard to quip, “Midwestern food? Why, nothing but casseroles.” And white ones at that, she should have added. A history stickler might have replied that essential casserole ingredients, such as Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, hail not from the Midwest but from New Jersey. But why quibble? The remark was intended to say that Midwesterners, unlike Southerners or New Englanders, have no distinctive culinary sensibilities.

 
Bruce Kraig is a vivacious speaker and will tease apart the many threads that form the fabric of Midwestern cuisine and will argue that, contrary to popular belief, Midwestern foodways express a rich cuisine that defines cultural identity as much as Southern fried chicken or a New England clambake. (Yes, pie will play an important role).

Bruce Kraig is the founding President of Culinary Historians of Chicago. With a Ph.D. in History and Archaeology, Dr. Kraig is Professor Emeritus in History and Humanities at Roosevelt University, Chicago. An internationally recognized food historian, he has been host and writer for a series of award-winning food documentaries for PBS, is a regular speaker at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, and has written several cookbooks.
 
Midwestern treats will be served!
 
Location:
Park Avenue United Methodist Church
106 East 86th Street (b/w Park and Lex)
 
Time: 6:30 pm Check-In and Reception | 7:00 pm Lecture
 
Fee: $40 Non-Members and Guests | $25 CHNY Members |$22 CHNY Student & Senior Members
 
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