Upcoming Meeting:
Date: TUESDAY, June 18, 2013Time: 6 - 7 pm
Location: Omnivore Books (Noe Valley)
Address: 3885 Cesar Chavez St San Francisco, CA 94131
Phone: (415) 282-4712
Speaker: William Sitwell, culinary expert on BBC2's 'A Question of Taste' and author of The History of Food in 100 Recipes (Collins, 2012).
Interested parties can join our mailing list by signing up at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CHoNC/
Unless otherwise noted, all CHoNC events are free and open to the public.
Past CHoNC Events:
2013
23 May 2013
Museum of American Heritage, Palo Alto
Speaker: Peter Hertzmann, author of Knife Skills Illustrated: A User's Manual (2007)
Topic: The History of Kitchen Gadgets
24 April 2013
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Toby Sonneman, author of Lemon: A Global History (Reaktion, 2013)
10 March 2013
Kanbar Hall, JCCSF
Speaker: Mark Russ Federman, owner of Russ & Daughters and author of Russ & Daughters: The House That Herring Built (2013)
13 February 2013
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Simone Cinotto (University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo, Italy), author of Soft Soil, Black Grapes: The Birth of Italian Winemaking in California (NYU, 2012)
10 January 2013
CSU
East Bay, Oakland Center
Speaker: Dr. Leonard Schmieding, University of Leipzig/Stanford University
Topic: German-American Food Cultures in Northern California
2012
29 November 2012
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Hubert Keller, chef and author of Souvenirs: Stories and Recipes from My Life (2012)
9 November 2012
San Francisco Film Society
Film: Trattoria (2012)
4 October 2012
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Jeffrey Pilcher, author of Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food (2012)
23 September 2012
Women's Building, SF Mission District
Speakers: Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik (Kearny Street Workshop), Lok Siu (UC Berkeley) and Karen Tei Yamashita (UC Santa Cruz)
Topic: Asian + Latin American Cross-Cultural Cooking (Asian Culinary Forum event)
12 August 2012
Vacaville, CA
Speakers: Megan Mahoney of Honey Bee Genetics & Clay Ford of Pleasants Valley Honey Co.
12 July 2012
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Richard Foss, author of Rum: A Global History (2012)
2 June 2012
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Anne Willan, co-author with her husband Mark Cherniavsky of The Cookbook Library: Four Centuries of the Cooks, Writers, and Recipes That Made the Modern Cookbook (2012)
19 May 2012
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Thomas McNamee, author of The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance (2012)
21 April 2012
Montclair District, Oakland
Topic: Wokapalooza cooking party
14 March 2012
Marian Koshland Bioscience and Natural Resources Library, UC Berkeley
Speaker: Norma Kobzina, Head, Information Services
Topic: The Culinary Collection at the Koshland Library
9 February 2012
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Pam Peirce, author of Golden Gate Gardening (3rd edition, 2010) and "A Personal History of the San Francisco People's Food System," in Ten Years that Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-1979, ed. Chris Carlsson (2011).
26 January 2012
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Erica J. Peters, author of Appetites and Aspirations in Vietnam: Food and Drink in the Long Nineteenth Century (AltaMira Studies in Food and Gastronomy, 2012)
12 January 2012
Omnivore Books
Speaker: William Rubel, author of Bread: A Global History (2011)
2011
7 November 2011
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Fabrizia Lanza, author of Olive: A Global History (2011)
27 October 2011
Omnivore Books
Topic: Hawaiian Night
Speakers: Alan Wong and Arnold Hiura, authors of The Blue Tomato (2010)
1 September 2011
Napa, in Betty's outdoor kitchen
Topic: Dishes with Stories (and things in jars...)
22 August 2011
San Francisco Ferry Building
Speakers: Sarah Dey, Dennis Lee, Richie Nakano, and Wilfred Pacio
Topic: Chefs Re-inventing Asian Cuisine (Asian Culinary Forum event)
19 July 2011
Omnivore Books
Speaker: John Jung, author of Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants (2010)
9 June 2011
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Cecilia Chiang, founder of the Mandarin Restaurant and author, with Lisa Weiss, of The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco (2007)
19 April 2011
San Francisco Ferry Building
Speakers: Nancy Chen, John Garrone, Vinita Jacinto, Jane Lin, Michelle Warner
Topic: Food as Medicine: Cuisine, Curatives & Culture (Asian Culinary Forum event)
10 March 2011
CSU
East Bay, Oakland Center
Speaker: India Mandelkern (UC Berkeley Ph.D. candidate in history)
Topic: Homo Gastronomicus: Fashioning the English Palate in the Century of Taste
10 February 2011
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Grace Young, author of Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
13 January 2011
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Carolyn de la Peña, author of Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda
2010
9 December 2010
BJE Jewish Community Library
Speaker: Sue Fishkoff, author of Kosher Nation
9 November 2010
CSU
East Bay, Oakland Center
Speaker: Chef Yara Castro Roberts, author of The Brazilian Table
22 October 2010
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Mark Bitterman, author of Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes (2010), selmelier at The Meadow
2 September 2010
JCC East Bay (Berkeley); co-sponsored with the Asian Culinary Forum
Panel: The Foods of Shanghai's Jewish Communities
Speakers: Inna Mink, Dianne Jacob; Moderator: Linda Frank
20 August 2010
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Jane Ziegelman, author of 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement (Smithsonian, 2010)
8 July 2010
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Andrew Beahrs, author of Twain's Feast: Searching for America's Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens (Penguin Press, 2010)
15 May 2010
International Culinary
School at the Art Institute of SF
Panel Topic: Cultural and Culinary Encounters in the Philippines and its
Diaspora
Panelists: Professors Jay
Gonzalez, Dawn Mabalon, Benito Vergara, and Catherine Ceniza Choy, and
doctoral candidate Alex Orquiza
Part
of the Asian Culinary Forum Symposium on Filipino Flavors: Tradition and
Innovation
8 April 2010
CSU
East Bay, Oakland Center
Speaker: Ariane
Helou (UC Santa Cruz doctoral program in literature)
Topic: Performing the Renaissance Banquet: Feasting at the Este Court
12 March 2010
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Andrew F. Smith
Topic: Eating History: Thirty
Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine (2009)
11 February 2010
CSU East Bay, Oakland Center
Speaker: William Rubel, author of The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking
Topic: The Samburu of Northern Kenya and their Smoke-Flavored Milk
2009
10 December 2009Omnivore Books
Speaker: Daniela Soleri (Geography, UCSB)
Topic: Mexican Migration, Maize Diversity, and How to Make Tejate
13 October 2009
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Darra Goldstein (Williams College; Editor-in-Chief, Gastronomica)
8 October 2009
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States (2009)
10 September 2009
CSU East Bay, Oakland Center
Speaker: Barbara H.J. Gordon (Professor Emerita, San Jose State Univ.)
Topic: The Past and Present of Urban Gardening
27 August 2009
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Jean Johnson, author of Cooking Beyond Measure (2008)
23 July 2009
Omnivore Books (SF)
Speaker: Polly Adema, author of Garlic Capital of the World: Gilroy, Garlic, and the Making of a Festive Foodscape (2009)
24 June 2009
San Francisco Ferry Building
Speakers: George Solt (History, NYU); Andy Raskin, author of The Ramen King and I (2009)
Topic: "For the Love of Ramen" / Asian Culinary Forum panel
14 May 2009
Cal State East Bay, Oakland campus
Speaker: Thy Tran (Director, Asian Culinary Forum)
Topic: "South by Southeast Asia: Tamales of the Philippines and Guam"
23 April 2009
Omnivore Books (SF)
Speaker: Michelle Branch (UC Berkeley Ph.D. student in history)
Topic: Urban Food Cultures and the "Free Produce" Movement in the Antebellum North
12 March 2009
Omnivore Books (SF)
Speaker: Bertie Mandelblatt (University of Montreal / SSHRC postdoc)
Topic: "Salt Beef or Manioc? Crises of Food Provisioning in the French Antilles"
12 February 2009
Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley
Speaker: Joe Bohling (UC Berkeley)
Topic: "Wine and the Anti-Alcoholism Campaign in France in the 1950s"
15 January 2009
Omnivore Books (SF)
Speaker: Sally Scully (Emerita in History, SFSU)
Topic: "Policing Desire: Food Consumption and its Constraints in Renaissance Venice"
2008
11 December 2008
Cafe Eritrea in North Oakland
Speakers: Mical Asefaw and Tsegai Reda
Topic: Eritrean culinary history
13 November 2008
Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis
Speaker: Hildegarde Heymann (UC Davis)
Topic: The history of Sensory Science
11 October 2008
San Francisco Ferry Building
Panel Topic: "Meals, Meaning and Memory in Asian Diasporas"
Part of inaugural Asian Culinary Forum weekend on "Asian Food Beyond Borders."
Speakers: Wendy Ho and Parama Roy (UC Davis), Ashwini Wagle (SJSU) and Martin Manalansan (UIUC).
11 September 2008
Cal State East Bay, Oakland campus
Speaker: Jessica Theroux, Culinary Curator at the Montalvo Arts Center
Topic: Jessica presented "Rabbits and Wrinkles," her mixed-media collection of food stories from the year she spent traveling through Italy, talking and cooking with local women.
14 August 2008
Napa
Speaker: Maria Binchet, food and wine writer and culinary consultant
Topic: Figs in history, from ancient tales to modern recipes
10 July 2008
Sausalito
Event: Dinner at Avatar's (Mexican-Punjabi cuisine)
12 June 2008
Magnes Museum in Berkeley
Topic: "Of Chocolate and Change"
Panelists: Bert Gordon, History Dept., Mills College; Fran Gage, patissier and author of Bread and Chocolate; Thalia Hohenthal, Guittard Chocolate Co; Alice Medrich, chocolatier and author of Pure Dessert and A Year in Chocolate; Frankie Whitman, Fullbloom Baking Co. (formerly at Scharffen Berger)
Magnes Museum in Berkeley
Speaker: Jeannette Ferrary, author of M. F. K. Fisher and Me
Topic: A Centenary Celebration of M. F. K. Fisher: 'Nothing is in the Books'
15 April 2008
Vacaville Performing Arts Theater
Field Trip to see the Kitchen Sisters (NPR's Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva)
Topic: Hidden Kitchens across the United States
13 March 2008
Magnes Museum in Berkeley
Speaker: Andrew Griffin of Mariquita Farm
Topic: The early days of the California mesclun salad industry
21 February 2008
Burlingame
Event: Dinner at Yaya Cuisine (Mesopotamian restaurant)
Reading: The Restaurants Book: Ethnographies of Where We Eat (Berg, 2007).
17 January 2008
Chancellor Hotel, San Francisco
Speaker: Andrew F. Smith, editor of The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink (2007)
Topic: "Eating History: 25 Historical Events that Shape What Americans Eat Today"
2007
13 December 2007
Field trip to the JCC East Bay, for the U.S. premiere of "Chez Schwartz" (2006)
Discussion afterwards with Peter Levitt and Karen Adelman, co-owners of Saul's Deli in Berkeley
8 November 2007
Speaker: Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write For Food (2005) and the forthcoming Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas (Spring 2008)
Topic: Iraqi Jewish cuisine in 1930s Shanghai
11 October 2007
Speaker: Thy Tran <www.wanderingspoon.com>
Topic: Sikh Temples and Communal Meals in California's Central Valley
20 September 2007
Speaker: Victor Geraci, Food and Wine Historian at Berkeley's Regional Oral History Office
Topic: Cultural Terroir: Defining Self and the Bay Area Region with Food and Wine
12 July 2007
Event: Viewing Ratatouille (Disney-Pixar movie)
Discussion afterwards at Bistro Liaison (Berkeley)
14 June 2007
Speaker: Robert Brower
Topic: Solving a Culinary History Mystery: Tracing Abby Fisher's Roots to South Carolina
10 May 2007
Speaker: William Rubel, author of The Magic of Fire
Topic: Heritage breads in Europe
23 April 2007
Speaker: Laura Shapiro, author of Perfection Salad, Something from the Oven and Julia Child
Topic: Julia Child
19 April 2007
Speakers: Melissa Salazar and Patrice Savery
Topic: Children and Food in the Public School System: Culture and Curricula
8 March 2007
Speaker: Sandra Oliver, editor of Food History News, author of Food in Colonial and Federal America (Greenwood, 2005) and co-author of Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History, from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie (Clarkson Potter, 2005).
Topic: Rethinking regionalism's role in American culinary history.
8 February 2007
Michele Simon spoke about her new book, Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines our Health and How to Fight Back (Nation Books, 2006).
11 January 2007
Speaker: Lynette Hunter (UC Davis)
Topic: Food, Culture, and Community (2006 collected volume honoring Alan Davidson)
2006
7 December 2006Andrea Nguyen spoke about the role of family history in her new cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors (Ten Speed, 2006).
14 November 2006
Field Trip to hear Professor Carole Counihan speak at a UC Davis event sponsored by Critical Studies in Food and Culture and the UC Davis Women's Center.
Topic: "Speaking Food and Making Place in the San Luis Valley of Colorado"
12 October 2006
Speaker: Ken Albala (University of the Pacific)
Topic: A Hill of Beans: A History of the World's Most Ubiquitous Peasant Food
21 September 2006
Speaker: Mary Margaret Pack (Foodways of Austin)
Topic: "Paradise Gardens and Mediterranean Gastronomy"
10 August 2006
Topic: "Curries, Chilies, and Colonial Cuisines"
Resources: Lizzie Collingham's Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors (2006); David Thompson's Thai Food (2002); and Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid's Mangoes and Curry leaves (2005). Also discussed Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible (2003).
20 July 2006
Topic: History of Children's Food
22 June 2006
Topic: Taste, Terroir, and the Wine Industry
Wine expert Ann Littlefield guided our "Judgment at Betty's" in Napa
18 May 2006
Speaker: Erica J. Peters
Topic: "Chopsticks, Forks, and Fingers, or How to Eat in Nineteenth-Century Vietnam"
27 April 2006
Speaker: Samantha Barbas
Topic: The history of women and dieting in the United States.
9 March 2006
Speaker: Jessica Weiss, CSU East Bay
Topic: Kay Wahl's "She
Also Cooks" Column (1950s and 60s).
7 February 2006
Speaker: Marion Nestle (NYU)
Topic: Navigating the Supermarket
19 January 2006
Speaker: Charlotte Biltekoff, UC Davis
Topic: “Courage, Cooperativeness, and Character: The Meaning of Dietary
Health on the World War II Home front”
Resource: Amy
Bentley, Eating for Victory: Food Rationing and the Politics of Domesticity.
2005
8 December 2005 - Holiday Dinner
10 November 2005
Topic: "Food Porn"
Resources:
-- Molly O'Neill, "Food Porn," Columbia Journalism Review,
Sept/Oct 2003.
-- Frederick Kaufman, "Debbie Does Salad: The Food Network at the
Frontiers of Pornography," Harper's Magazine, October, 2005.
-- Roland Barthes' 1957 essay on "ornamental cookery" in Mythologies
-- Nigella Lawson's cookbooks, Marcel Desaulniers' Death by Chocolate
19 October 2005
Topic: "Holiday Foods, Past and
Present."
Resource: 1979 Ruth Reichl interview with Ian Dengler, entitled "Food Sleuth."
20 September 2006
Topic: Food Writing and Autobiography. Jeannette Ferrary, author of M.F.K.
Fisher and Me and Out of the Kitchen: Adventures of a Food Writer,
will help us think about the genre.
11 August 2005
Topic: The Dangers and Delights of Culinary Tourism
1) ICTA white paper on Culinary Tourism as a "Tasty Economic
Proposition"
2) Heather Schell's "Gendered Feasts: A Feminist Reflects on Dining in New
Orleans" in Pilaf, Pozole, and Pad Thai (Sherrie Inness, ed.)
12 July 2006
Topic: Food in Film History.
2 June 2005
COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts (Napa)
Topic: "What is American Food?"
13 May 2005
Ann Arbor, MI
Formation of National Association of Culinary History Organizations (NACHO)
26 April 2005
Deanna Pucciarelli and Professor Louis Grivetti (UC Davis)
Topic: The Chocolate History Project
3 March 2005
Alice Arndt presenting on her biographical dictionary, Culinary Biographies.
Discussion of Brillat-Savarin's The Physiology of Taste.
27 January 2005
Bert Gordon (Mills College) presenting on Gourmet Magazine
Discussion of
1) Accounting for Taste: The Triumph of French Cuisine
by Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson (U. of Chicago, 2004), 272 pages
2) Something From the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America
by Laura Shapiro (Viking Books, 2004), 306 pages
2004
22 October 2004 --
Organizational Meeting
The
Culinary Historians of Northern California is a non-profit educational
organization focused on the role of food and drink in human history. The
purpose of this group is to encourage informal exchanges and conversations
among people living in Northern California who work on and/or like to talk
about culinary history.
Sally Scully, Professor Emerita, Department of History, San Francisco State University
Erica J. Peters, Director of the Culinary Historians of Northern California
Email ejpeters@chonc.com