Upcoming Meeting:
Date: Thursday, September 2, 2010Time: 7:30 pm
Location: JCC-East Bay (Berkeley)
Address: 1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley, CA 94709
Phone: (510) 848-0237
Tickets: $15; buy tickets here!
The Foods of Shanghai's Jewish Communities
Panel co-sponsored with the JCC-East Bay and the Asian Culinary Forum
Panelists Inna Mink and Dianne Jacob will share evocative stories about how Jewish people recreated familiar foods under very trying circumstances during the first half of the twentieth century. We will also hear about Jews trying new tastes in China, and about the culinary repercussions for Jewish families after their sojourn in Shanghai ended. Inna Mink will speak about her experiences as a child in an Ashkenazi family living in Shanghai and Dianne Jacob will speak about her observant Iraqi-Jewish family's culinary traditions, which included Indian-Jewish, British and Chinese food. Linda Frank will moderate, and a question and answer session will follow the discussion. Small samples of Shanghai street foods will be available for tasting.
Inna Mink was born in Harbin, China and lived in Shanghai through World War II. She appeared in Exit Shanghai, a film directed by Ulrike Ottinger.Dianne Jacob is an Oakland-based food-writing instructor and writing coach. She is the author of Will Write For Food and the coauthor of Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas. Her blog, also called Will Write For Food, is at http://diannej.com/blog.
Linda Frank, a board member of the American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office, recently published her first novel, After the Auction, a historical mystery.
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:
2010
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, Department of History, San Francisco State University
Erica J. Peters, Independent Scholar
Email <ejpeters@chonc.com>