Upcoming Event:
Date: Saturday, April 20, 2019
Time: 3 pm
Location: Omnivore Books (Noe Valley)
Address: 3885 Cesar Chavez St., SF, CA 94131
Phone: (415) 282-4712
Speaker: Marlena Spieler, author of A Taste of Naples: Neapolitan Culture, Cuisine, and Cooking (2018). With its looming volcano of Vesuvius, overcrowding, and history of organized crime, the city of Naples is often overlooked. In her new book, Spieler reveals the tastes, sights, and sounds of the city and surrounding area (including its islands) in gorgeous detail. She offers us the rich history of this unique culture and cuisine, especially the special dishes and celebrations that follow every Neapolitan throughout the year. She begins with an early history of the city, from the Greeks in the seventh century BCE (who named the city Neapolis, or new city) to Italy’s unification in 1860 under Giuseppe Garibaldi (many of his soldiers from the north had never tasted pasta). Spieler includes chapters on pasta and pizza, festivals and celebrations, the fruit and vegetables that flourish in volcanic soil, and "how to eat like a Neapolitan."
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Unless otherwise noted, all CHoNC events are free and open to the public.
Past Events
28 March 2019
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Katie Parla, author of Food of the Italian South; Recipes for Classic, Disappearing, and Lost Dishes (2019).
2 February 2019
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Alison Pearlman, author of May We Suggest: Restaurant Menus and the Art of Persuasion (2018).
25 January 2019
Treasure Island Museum
Event: "Enjoying and Exploring Food at the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939," with Pam Elder and Erica J. Peters of the Culinary Historians of Northern California.
2018
6 December 2018
Cafe Ohlone (Berkeley)
Tasting menu of foraged delicacies composed into Ohlone dishes.
27 November 2018
Old U.S. Mint
"Historic Libations 2018: "Back to the Future, A History of Bay Area Food and Drink Innovation," hosted by the California Historical Society and featuring Susan Coss of Mezcalistas; Gary and Amy Guittard of Guittard Chocolates; Bob Klein of Oliveto and Community Grains; Erica J. Peters of the Culinary Historians of Northern California; and Lance Winters, of St. George Spirit.
24 October 2018
California Historical Society
Panel: Laura Smith Borrman, author of Iconic San Francisco Dishes, Drinks, and Desserts (2018); Cathy Goldsmith of the Cheese Board Collective; Erica J. Peters of CHoNC; and John Burton of the Santa Rosa Bartending School.
15 September 2018
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Bill Esparza, author of L.A. Mexicano (2017).
9 August 2018
American Bookbinders Museum
Speaker: Kate Helfrich on "Foodways and Community Cookbooks at the Turn of the 20th Century."
18 July 2018
California Historical Society
Event: "A Night of Tar, Feathers, and Terror: Anti-labor Vigilantism in Sonoma," with historian Ken Kann and Barry Nitzberg, grandson of Sol Nitzberg, the chicken farmer & labor organizer who was attacked in 1935.
3 June 2018
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Sara Franklin, editor of the collection Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original (2018).
16 May 2018
UC Davis
Event: "Eating for Change: Global and Local Perspectives on Food and Transformation," sponsored by the UC Davis Sociology Dept.; Jewish Studies Program & the Israel Institute.
25 April 2018
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Adam Federman, author of Fasting and Feasting: The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray (2017).
8 March 2018
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Kristy Leissle, author of Cocoa (Polity Press, 2018), speaking about her research into the politics and economics of cocoa in West Africa.
1 March 2018
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Ken Albala, professor of history and food studies at the Univ. of the Pacific and author of 25 books, most recently Noodle Soup: Recipes, Techniques, Obsession (2018).
19 February 2018
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Letizia Mattiacci, author of A Kitchen With a View: Seasonal Recipes from Alla Madonna del Piatto Cooking School in Umbria, Italy (2017).
13 February 2018
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Carolyn Tillie, author of Oysters: A Global History (2017).
25 January 2018
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Jonathan Kauffman, author of Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat (2018).
2017
5 December 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Justin Spring, author of The Gourmands' Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy (2017).
14 November 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Sri Rao, author of Bollywood Kitchen: Home-Cooked Indian Meals Paired with Unforgettable Bollywood Films (2017).
20 October 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance and author of The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South (2017).
28 September 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Shanna Farrell, author of Bay Area Cocktails: A History of Culture, Community, and Craft (2017).
30 August 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Michael W. Twitty, author of The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South (2017).
30 July 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Shanta Nimbark Sacharoff, author of Other Avenues Are Possible: Legacy of the People's Food System of the San Francisco Bay Area (2016).
12 June 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Jamie Purviance, author of Weber's Greatest Hits (2017) and Weber's Smoke: A Guide to Smoke Cooking for Everyone and Any Grill (2012) spoke about the history of barbecue.
2 May 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Peter Gethers, author of My Mother's Kitchen: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and the Meaning of Life (2017).
6 April 2017
CSU-East Bay, Oakland Center
Speaker: Peter Hertzmann on the rise of the electric refrigerator in US households in the first half of the twentieth century.
16 March 2017
California Historical Society
Speaker: Carla De Luca Worfolk introduced her award-winning film "America's Wine: The Legacy of Prohibition."
23 February 2017
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Andrew Coe, co-author with Jane Ziegelman of A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression (2016).
29 January 2017
Jewish Community Library
Speaker: Bob Kann, author of A Recipe for Success, about Lizzie Kander and the many editions of her Settlement Cookbooks.
2016
8 December 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Elaine Khosrova, author of Butter: A Rich History (2016).
3 November 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: George Geary, author of L.A.'s Legendary Restaurants: Celebrating the Famous Places Where Hollywood Ate, Drank, and Played (2016).
20 October 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Naomi Duguid, author of Taste of Persia: A Cook's Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan (2016).
29 September 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Steven Grasse, author of Colonial Spirits: A Toast to our Drunken History (2016).
18 August 2016
Swedish American Hall
Event: "Twentieth-Century Restaurant Culture in San Francisco," with speaker Erica J. Peters.
22 July 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Ursula Heinzelmann, author of Beyond Bratwurst: A History of Food in Germany (2014).
16 June 2016
Omnivore Books
Speakers: Shanna Farrell (of Berkeley's Oral History Center) in a conversation with Arthur Hartunian and Arne Hillesland, two of the distillers featured in Distilled Stories: California Artisans Behind the Spirits (2016).
19 May 2016
Mechanics' Institute of San Francisco
Speaker: Taryn Edwards spoke on wines and spirits featured at the nineteenth-century Mechanics' Institute's Industrial Expositions.
12 May 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Adrian Miller, author of the James Beard award-winning Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time (2013).
28 April 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Katie Parla, author of Tasting Rome: Fresh Flavors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City (2016).
19 March 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Thomas Parker (Vassar College), author of Tasting French Terroir: The History of an Idea (2015).
13 February 2016
University of the Pacific, San Francisco
Speaker: Adrienne Rose Johnson (Ph.D. candidate at Stanford and Visiting Scholar in NYU's Dept. of Food Studies, Nutrition and Public Health) spoke on the history of food fads and dieting culture.
20 January 2016
Omnivore Books
Speaker: Bee Wilson, author of First Bite: How We Learn to Eat (Basic Books, 2015).
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.
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