Speaker meetings take place monthly, on a weeknight.
All speaker meetings are open to the public.
Our program for 2011 - 2012 season is now underway.

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library
Ina Lipkowitz, professor of English at MIT will explore
the stories behind 5 of our most basic food words

Ina Lipkowitz, professor of English at MIT where she leads classes on fiction and the Bible, will be our February speaker. Her book, Words to Eat by, explores the stories behind 5 of our most basic food words, words that reveal our powerful associations with certain foods. The book tells a remarkable story about the evolution of our language and culinary history. Using sources that range from Roman histories to Julia Childs’ recipes, lyrical which shows how saturated with French and Italian names the English culinary vocabulary is. But the words for our most basic foodstuffs-bread, milk, leek, meat, and Apple-are still rooted in Old English. The Wall Street Journal review called the book “a hymn into the comforting, honest pleasures of food and at the same time a perceptive account of the ways in which many of our tastes were determined hundreds and indeed thousands of years ago.”

Monday, March 12th, 2012, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library
Susanne E. Freiberg on Freshness.

That rosy tomato perched on your plate in December is at the end of a great journey—not just over land and sea, but across a vast and varied cultural history. This is the territory charted in Fresh. Opening the door of an ordinary refrigerator, Susanne E. Freidberg tells the curious story of the quality stored inside: freshness.

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library
Lobster: A Global History

Summer Shack’s Jasper White, writing for The Wall Street Journal, had this to say about CHB member Elisabeth Townsend’s book on lobsters. “Elisabeth Townsend’s concise but rich Lobster: A Global History offers a journey through lobster’s prehistoric and recorded history, exploring scientific, environmental and culinary matters. . . . She also does an outstanding job of documenting and explaining the modern controversy over the treatment of lobster: Is boiling alive inhumane, for instance, and if so what method might be better? . . . Most of all, [this books reminds] us that our long relationship with lobsters is tied up with our relationships with one another.”J. Elizabeth Towsend will give a talk on her book.

Culinary Historians of Boston Oct2011 - Jan 2012 Schedule:

Nancy Harmon Jenkins invites you to: AMOROLIO/FOR LOVE OF OLIVE OIL An Extra-Virgin Intensive for Food Writers, Chefs, and Others Interested in Deepening Their Experience of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil When: October 15 to 21, 2011 Where: Villa Campestri Olive Oil Resort in the green rolling hills of the Mugello northeast of Florence What: An unusual opportunity to expand and deepen your knowledge of extra-virgin olive oil. Read More

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library
Champagne: A Global History

Author and CHB member Becky Sue Epstein will discuss her new book, Champagne: A Global History. In the book, she discusses Champagne’s history and the celebrities who made it famous - from Dom Perignon to the widow Veuve Cliquot. She also discusses the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine. And she answers questions such as – Is French Champagne really better than other sparkling wines? How does the wine get fizzy? And why does it stay that way? Ms. Epstein is also the author of The American Lighthouse Cookbook (Sourcebooks/Cumberland, co-written with Chef Ed Jackson).

Monday, November 14th, 2011, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library
Catching fire & the impact of cooking for households

Richard W. Wrangham, the Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. His talk is titled “Cooking and the shaping of the household.” Cooking is a cultural universal, and in all but the most exceptional circumstances cooked food is an obligatory component of the human diet. Cross-culturally cooking is also the most female-gendered of all domestic activities, since the responsibility to produce an evening meal normally falls on wives. I argue that the gendered structure of the human household arose largely as a result of the biological requirement for cooked food, because this system both allowed wives’ resources to be socially protected from petty theft, and also gave husbands predictable evening nourishment. Historical changes in gender roles within urban households show that this system is not biologically embedded. Recent developments in food practices in the urban industrialized world, including cheap restaurant meals and pre-cooked meals, may be particularly important influences on the breakdown of traditional domestic gender roles.

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library
Northern Hospitality: cooking by the book in New England

Longtime CHB members Kathleen Fitzgerald and Keith Stavely will discuss their latest book, Northern Hospitality: cooking by the book in New England. The book includes nearly 400 annotated recipes dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The authors explore the methods and meanings of the recipes for everything from pottage to pie crust, from caudle to calf's head. Robert S. Cox, author of Body and Soul: A Sympathetic History of American Spiritualism, called Northern Hospitality “elegantly written, well-conceived, and compelling…a delight to read.”

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library
Tea master Allan Palmer will demonstrate and discuss “chanoyu.”

Tea master Allan Palmer will demonstrate and discuss the 400-year-old Japanese tea ceremony, “chanoyu.” He will describe the symbolic importance of the various implements used in the ceremony and share some details about the highly structured meal that is served before tea called kaiseki. Mr. Palmer says of the tea cermony, “Although Chanoyu is primarily a social act, it is filled with deep spiritual significance and symbolism.” (image taken from Wikipedia: Japanese Tea Ceremony)

Culinary Historians of Boston Spring 2010 Schedule:

Tuesday, April 5th, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library
Marylene Altieri will give a talk on the “Schlesinger Library's Culinary Collection and the current state of culinary studies at Harvard.”

Monday, March 21, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library

Andy Smith will talk on “Starving the South: How the North won." See: http://andrewfsmith.com/

Tuesday, February 15, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library

Anna Tourkakis, author of the recent book “Delicious Simplicity” , will talk about modifying recipes and how she applied those principles of recipe modification to develop many of the recipes in her cookbook. “Delicious Simplicity” boasts many delicious good for you recipes that are quick and easy to prepare and especially suitable for today's busy life.

Culinary Historians of Boston Fall 2011 Schedule:

Saturday, September 17, 2011
Les Dames d'Escoffier have invited us to their annual fundraiser Feast on a Farm, with a charity auction.
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Verrill Farm 11 Wheeler Road
Concord, MA 01742
978.369.4494

Les Dames d'Escoffier, Boston Chapter is sponsoring a Green Tables event to promote foods grown on local farms. Green Tables is an initiative of Les Dames d'Escoffier International which showcases the work of LDEI chapters engaged in linking urban and rural farms and gardens to school, restaurant and kitchen tables. Please explore the resources and tools they offer to further this initiative in your community, and join us as we celebrate the work underway. Dinner includes locally raised beef from Open Meadow Farm, pork from Blood Farm and Verrill Farm produce, all paired with wines from Gordon’s Fine Wines and M. S. Walker, Harpoon Beers, Sangria and soft drinks. Why go to the supermarket for foods shipped from distant factory farms when you can feed your family nutritious, locally grown food? You can purchase meats that come from humanely-raised, pasture-fed animals which is important to their health and yours. Come and see why it benefits you to support your local farms, and have fun at the same time! See Feast on a Farm for more info.

Monday, September 19th, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library

Architectural historian Elizabeth Cromley will speak about her new book The Food Axis: Cooking, Eating, and the Architecture of American Houses. Blending architectural and social history with the necessity—and the passion—for food, Ms. Cromley examines the development of the American house by viewing it through one very specific lens: the food axis. She traces changes in food spaces through the years and explores the habits surrounding all aspects of food in the home. Professor of Architectural History at Northeastern University, Ms. Cromley is the author of Alone Together: A History of New York’s Early Apartments and coauthor, with Thomas Carter, of Invitation to Vernacular Architecture: A Guide to the Study of Ordinary Buildings and Landscapes.

Culinary Historians of Boston Fall 2010 Schedule:

Monday, September 20, 6 p.m., Schlesinger Library

Sandra Sherman's book Invention of the Modern Cookbook is the first study to examine the question of how cookbooks came about, discussing the roots of these collections in 17th-century England and illuminating the cookbook's role as it has evolved over time. In this discussion, she will explore this topic and provide graphic examples of the modern cookbook's development.

Saturday October 23, 2010 10:00am-2:00pm
Walking Tour of Boston’s “Latin Quarter”
with Culinary Historians of Boston member Madonna Berry
Join culinary arts instructor and food historian Madonna Berry on this guided food tour of Boston’s “Latin Quarter” located in the Hyde Square neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. Within Boston’s “Latin Quarter” is a rich mix of Latino cultures including Dominican, Mexican, Salvadorian, and Guatemalan. An estimated 85% of the businesses located here are Latino owned. As we walk through the neighborhood Madonna will introduce you to her favorite grocery stores, bodegas, specialty markets, bakeries and ethnic restaurants. During the tour enjoy progressive sampling of foods.

Meet at El Oriental de Cuba Restaurant,416 Centre St. (corner of Paul Gore) Jamaica Plain, MA. Members $40.00 Non-members $45.00
All proceeds support the Culinary Historians of Boston

Please reserve by email at historian@culinaryhistoriansboston.com and send payments to Culinary Historians of Boston POB 381926 Cambridge MA 02238.

Tuesday, October 26th
Joe Carlin, member of our Board of Directors, will give a talk on “Clams”

Tuesday, November 9th

Lynne C. Anderson will give a talk on her new book “Breaking Bread: Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens” Through stories of hand-rolled pasta and homemade chutney, local markets and backyard gardens, and wild mushrooms and foraged grape leaves—this book recounts in loving detail the memories, recipes, and culinary traditions of people who have come to the United States from around the world. Chef and teacher Lynne Anderson has gone into immigrant kitchens and discovered the power of food to recall a lost world for those who have left much behind. The enticing, easy-to-prepare recipes feature specialties like Greek dolmades, Filipino adobo, Brazilian peixada, and Sudanese mulukhiyah. Together with Robin Radin’s beautiful photographs, these stories and recipes will inspire cooks of all levels to explore new traditions while perhaps rediscovering their own culinary roots.

Note:

At this meeting we were told about the Food News Journal by Marylène Altieri and promised a link. Here it is: Food News Journal Home Page

Culinary Historians of Boston Spring 2011 Schedule:

Wednesday, March 2nd
Andy Smith will talk on “Starving the South: How the North won."

Tuesday, April 5th
Marylene Altieri will give a talk on the “Schlesinger Library's Culinary Collection and the current state of culinary studies at Harvard.”

Other Events

Fall of 2010
Harvard University Science & Cooking Public Lectures
The Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (“SEAS”) and the Alícia Foundation have developed a new General Education science course, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter.” The course will use food and cooking to explicate fundamental principles in applied physics and engineering. Limited to currently enrolled Harvard undergraduates, the class will bring together eminent Harvard researchers and world-class chefs, including Wylie Dufresne of wd-50 and Dan Barber of Blue Hill, as well as food scholar and writer Harold McGee, one of the leading authorities on kitchen science. See:

Also: Public talks by world-class chefs
All of the future talks will be streamed LIVE. We will post videos of the talks online in the coming weeks. We are very pleased to offer these talks free to the community and are sorry that we cannot accommodate everyone who wants to attend.

September 5, 2010-January 20, 2011

CABINET OF CULINARY CURIOSITIES Neilson Library, Smith College, Northampton MA Morgan Gallery (1st floor) and Book Arts Gallery (3rd floor).

Six recipes for puff pastry from 1669 to 1970. Eating ice cream in France in the late 19th century. Dining with gladiatorial entertainment. These are just three of the offerings in Cabinet of Culinary Curiosities: Books & Manuscripts from the Mortimer Rare Book Room. Other items on display feature: a tribute to Julia Child and her fellow Smith College classmate, cooking teacher, and writer, Charlotte Turgeon; Jack Sprat and the space race; cooking and dining for kings, queens, and mice; and French opinions about Chinese food and table manners. Cabinet of Curiosities is on view in Neilson Library, Smith College, until January 20, 2011. This array of more than fifty culinary curiosities from books and manuscripts features images and descriptions of food and eating from the 16th through the 21st centuries. A cabinet of curiosities is a private collection of esoterica from the realms of natural history, geology, archaeology, religious relics, artwork, and antiquity. The classic style of these cabinets emerged in the 16th century as one or more rooms overflowing with fascinating objects.

Cabinet of Culinary Curiosities was created as a component of Table for Ten: The Art, History and Science of Food, a series of exhibitions and events organized for the fall of 2010 by Museums10, a group of museum and historical sites here in the Pioneer Valley. Most of the items in the exhibition are from the Mortimer Rare Book Room; a few gems have been borrowed from the Smith College Archives and the curator’s own culinary collection.

For more information on Cabinet of Culinary Curiosities: Barbara Blumenthal, Mortimer Rare Book Room (x2906; bblument@smith.edu)

For more information about Museums10 or Table for Ten: www.museums10.org

Monday, November 1st at the Hotel Northampton in Northampton, MA."The French Connection: A Gala Tribute to Julia Child & Charlotte Turgeon"
This event, featuring panelists, food, videos, and more, is part of "Table for Ten: The Art, History and Science of Food," a series of exhibitions and events this fall in western Mass. "Table for Ten" has been organized by Museums10, a consortium of western Mass. museums and historic sites.

More information is available on WGBY's (Springfield, MA public tv) website: http://www.wgby.org/events/frenchconnection.html

October 28–29, 2010
"Why Books?," at Radcliffe probes the form and function of the book in a rapidly changing media ecology. Speakers will examine the public-policy implications of new media forms and explore some of the major functions that we identify with books today. The Friday conference will be preceded by a series of Thursday afternoon workshops which will take speakers and preregistered participants on “site visits” to various local institutions, including a printing press, a conservation lab, a digital humanities center, and special collections of books and manuscripts. Barbara Wheaton and Marylène Altieri are offering a workshop titled “A Taste of History.” Registration is required by October 15. To learn more and to register, go to -- www.radcliffe.edu.

Through February 28, 2011
“Dinner is Served! Dining and the Decorative Arts” At Historic Deerfield. Explores the social, cultural and artistic importance of dining in early America. To learn more, go to -- www.historic-deerfield.org

Through March 20, 2011
“A Feast for the Eyes” At The Eric Carle Museum, Amherst. An exhibit exploring the role food plays throughout children’s literature.

For information on other events in the Five Colleges area, go to --www.paradisecityarts.com

Fall 2009 Schedule:

Jennifer Pustz, who is one of the authors of America's Kitchens, published
by the Historic New England. will discuss the history of American's kitchens from the Colonial period to the present. Schlesinger library, Thursday Sept. 10, 6-8 p.m.

Betty Fussell, award winning author will discuss her book Raising Steaks:
The life and Times of American Beef. The book is promoted as a red-blooded answer to Michael Pollan. Schlesinger library, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6-8 p.m.

Andy Smith, a frequent speaker and prolific and encyclopedic author of food history books will discuss his latest work: Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine. Schlesinger library, Thursday, Nov. 5, 6-8 p.m.

Weslie Janeway, co-author of Mrs Charles Darwin's Recipe Book will discuss the cuisine and life of one of Victorian England's most prominent families.

Schlesinger library, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6-8 p.m.

Spring 2010 Schedule:

Tuesday, February 23, 6-8 p.m.
Andrew Coe, will trace the intriguing story of chop suey and America's centuries-long encounter with Chinese food. In his book: Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States, Mr. Coe tells how Americans went from believing that Chinese meals contained dogs and rats to making regular pilgrimages to the neighborhood chop suey parlor.
Along this journey, Mr. Coe shows how the peasant food of an obscure part of China came to dominate Chinese-American restaurants, unravels the truth of chop suey's origin, and shows how Nixon's 1972 trip to China opened our palates to a new world of cuisine. He also explains why we still can't get dishes like the ones restaurants serve in China. Most important, the book shows how larger historical forces - the belief in Manifest Destiny, the American assertion of military might in the Pacific, and the country's postWWII rise to superpower status - shape our tastes.
Schlesinger library, Tuesday, Feb 23, 6-8 p.m.

Tuesday, March 23, 6-8 p.m.
Merry White, Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, will discuss coffee and cafes in Japan, the topic of her forthcoming book. Ms. White writes frequently as a journalist in several fields, including culinary studies.
She also works with Cambodian coffee farmers to help produce and sell their coffee
beans, particularly in Japan, as a project in community development. She presently is
engaged in research on urban social spaces and social change in Japan, particularly on the history of the cafe.
Her publications include Perfectly Japanese: Making Families in an Era of Upheaval;
The Material Child: Coming of Age in Japan and America; The Japanese Educational
Challenge and The Japanese Overseas.

Schlesinger library, Tuesday, Mar 23, 6-8 p.m.

Wednesday, April 21, 6-8 p.m.
Stephen Cole and Lindy Gifford, Transformed from a wild fruit to a cultivated commodity, the American cranberry contains equal amounts of holiday symbolism and antioxidants. Its evolution over the past century is a surprising story of risk, enterprise, conflict, and the tension between tradition and innovation. In their book, The Cranberry: Hard Work and Holiday Sauce, Mr. Cole and Ms. Gifford harvest stories, images, and observations to tell the unusual tale of an American subculture dominated by this tart little red fruit.
Stephen A. Cole directs the natural resources and sustainable communities programs at Coastal Enterprises, Inc., a community-development corporation. He is co-author of I Was Content and Not Content: The Story of Linda Lord and the Closing of Penobscot Poultry and The Rangeley and Its Region: The Famous Boat and Lakes of Western Maine.
Lindy Gifford is an independent graphic designer and photographer. In addition to the book design for The Cranberry, she did much of the photography and historical research. She has also designed books for Tilbury House, Down East Books, WoodenBoat, and other publishers.

Schlesinger library, Wednesday, Apr 21, 6-8 p.m.

Monday, May 3, 6-8 p.m.
Gillian Riley, is a critically acclaimed food historian and a former typographer, who has written many books on food in art, including Renaissance Recipes and Impressionistic Picnics. She is the author of A Feast for the Eyes, the National Gallery Cookbook, and of The Oxford Companion to Italian Food.

Ms. Riley will discuss the still life paintings of Luis Meléndez and what they tell us about the foods of 18th century Spain. A London resident, she contributes regularly to the Oxford Food Symposium.

Schlesinger library, Monday, May 3, 6-8 p.m.

Sunday, May 23, noon-3 p.m.
Culinary Historians of Boston 2010 Banquet

This year, the annual banquet will continue our three-year-long theme of tracing the foods of the Triangular Trade. Last year’s banquet featured foods appropriate to a New England tavern in the 18th century. This year, the focus will be on the foods of the British Empire from 1650-1775. The banquet will take place in Mitton House at Newbury College on Sunday May 23, 2010, from noon until 3:00 pm. To learn more about the foods of this era or to share your knowledge, join the committee and get involved with the research, menu planning, and cooking that makes for a successful and lively event. More details will be announced at upcoming meetings and on the website. Meanwhile, mark your calendars and look forward to another fascinating banquet.

Milton House at Newbury College, Sunday, May 23, noon-3 p.m.

The Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute is just west of Harvard Square. Their website has a useful map and directions.

Monday, May 3, 6-8 p.m.
Gillian Riley, is a critically acclaimed food historian and a former typographer, who has written many books on food in art, including Renaissance Recipes and Impressionistic Picnics. She is the author of A Feast for the Eyes, the National Gallery Cookbook, and of The Oxford Companion to Italian Food.

Ms. Riley will discuss the still life paintings of Luis Meléndez and what they tell us about the foods of 18th century Spain. A London resident, she contributes regularly to the Oxford Food Symposium.

Schlesinger library, Monday, May 3, 6-8 p.m.