Chicago Culinary and Cultural History

After visiting European sustainable farmer’s markets in 1998, Abby Mandel, chef, author and entrepreneur, returned to Chicago determined to create a similar market in her own city. Green City Market was her brainchild and began as a small startup with nine local farmers in the crosswalk next to the Chicago Theatre with a handful of farmers and only a few more shoppers. The Market quickly outgrew the location and moved to the south end of Lincoln Park, where it currently operates May-October, drawing thousands of visitors and featuring locally grown food and many of Chicago’s most renowned chefs. Four years ago, the Market continued to remain open November-December, first in Lincoln Park Zoo, and later moving to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Abby Mandel passed away in 2008, but her legacy lives on, spelled out abundantly with the Green City Market Cookbook. The book is a collection of recipes gathered from the Market’s customers, volunteers, farmers and Chicago chefs. (Rick Bayless wrote the foreward.)

Come join us as our trio of culinary leaders give the background of farmers markets in Chicago, the founding and importance of The Green City Market, their passion for the market, and how the cookbook came about including recipe sources and the testing sources. Copies of the cookbook will be on sale. (Approx. $25.)

Bios:
Elizabeth Richter serves on the board of the Green City Market and is co-editor of the cookbook. She is president of The Richter Group, a strategic communications consulting firm serving nonprofits. Elizabeth held executive positions at WTTW/Channel 11, and as an Emmy award-winning executive producer at WLS-TV, she recruited Oprah Winfrey to Chicago.

Sarah Stegner is the two-time James Beard award-winning chef who drew great acclaim to the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago before leaving to open Prairie Grass Café in Northbrook, where she shows her love for, fresh ingredients from her community of local farmers.

Tracy Vowell is one of Sarah’s favorite farmers. A former chef at Frontera Grill, Tracy left to open Three Sisters Garden, a nine-acre farm in Kankakaee, where she and her partner, Kathe Roybal, focus on specialty foods like microgreens, pea shoots heirloom tomatoes and fresh beans.

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Presented by
Elizabeth Richter, co-editor, “The Green City Market Cookbook”
Sarah Stegner, chef/co-owner, Prairie Grass Café, Northbrook
Tracy Vowell, farmer, Three Sisters Garden, Kankakee

Recorded Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at Kendall College, School of Culinary Arts

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Greening of Green City Market: The past, present and future of a Chicago Treasure

Come on down to our tasty talk to hear one of Chicago’s rising pit masters give us the skinny on ribs. Jared Leonard will regale us with his rub on different aspects of BBQ history: its historical significance to American culture, its regional differences, and how BBQ has evolved in our toddlin’ town over the past 100 years.

Quoth Leonard: “Until the past decade, Chicago had 2 distinct styles of BBQ: Southside Chicago BBQ and Northside Tavern Style BBQ. The latter is a far cry from traditional BBQ rules, and is being ushered out of the city by a wave of new Southern-style REAL BBQ restaurants.”

He continues: “This new wave of BBQ to hit the Northside of Chicago is full of southern authenticity, and has people scratching their heads at the old sauced-up, boiled, fall-off-the-bone ribs served in old-time Chicago taverns.”

We’ve just given you the tip of Leonard’s talk. For a full slab of savory history (and to-die-for rib samples and a cornbread demo and tasting), come share the passion.

Speaker bio:
Co-founder of the Windy City BBQ Classic, Chicago’s only BBQ Pitmaster competition, Jared Leonard is the owner of Rub BBQ Company, at Lunt and Western, (rubbbqcompany.com) ‎where he dishes out authentic wood-fired BBQ. Leonard also teaches the art of BBQ at his 3-year-old establishment, and so far has taught more than 4,000 aficionados. “Teaching people about the history of BBQ and its many styles, that’s what keeps me going. This is what I was put on earth to do!”

Recorded live on July 13, 2013 at Kendall College.

www.CulinaryHistorians.com


Chicago's Bold BBQ History

Presented by
Paula Haney, Author, Chef/Owner
Hoosier Mama Pie Company, Chicago

We’re going to be rolling in dough as one of Chicago’s most renowned pie mavens gives us a hearty slice of Chicago’s sweet and savory pie history.

But wait, there’s more! Our pie mistress will also delve into the myriad pies of ancient times. She’ll then dish out her perspective on modern American versus British pie, and talk about the decline of pie companies and the rise of her tiny pie shop on West Chicago Avenue.

And for those who find pie making intimidating, Paula will share her secrets and show how she makes her perfect pie dough. (We’ll all be pie-eyed!)

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Paula Haney is the chef/owner of Hoosier Mama Pie Company and author of the just-released Hoosier Mama Book of Pie. Making apple pies for her father was Paula’s first foray into pastry. Years later, working as a fine dining pastry chef, Paula became concerned that Americans were not honoring our own pastry traditions. She has dedicated Hoosier Mama Pie Company to the promotion of pie consumption and the preservation of our pie making heritage. Prior to creating HMPC, Paula was pastry chef of Trio in Evanston where she worked with renowned chefs Grant Achatz and Shaun McClain.

Recorded live on September 28, 2013 at Kendall College School of Culinary Arts.

www.CulinaryHistorians.com

The Life of Pie: Chicago's Crusty History

Join us as Kari Underly, a third-generation master butcher, and author of the “The Art of Beef Cutting,” as she talks about: 

. The rich history of the Chicago stockyards and the influence and importance of our city to the world of meat processing;

. The evolution of the trade, where it started and where it's going;

. The changing face of the butcher, including the role of women in the meat business;

. The trend to whole animal butchery and the challenges it brings to both merchants and consumers.

Kari will also give insight into the evolution of new cuts to the industry and the role she played in developing them. And, she will introduce us to some cuts we may not be familiar with—we’ll have a chance to taste some of her favorites.

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Kari Underly’s book, “The Art of Beef Cutting”, was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award and International Association of Culinary Professional’s Award in 2012. She is the Principal of Range, Inc., a Chicago-based meat marketing and education firm. Kari was instrumental in developing and introducing several popular cuts to the industry, including the flat iron steak, and chuck eye country style ribs. She travels the country conducting meat training seminars for corporations, associations, butchers, farmers, and students. Kari will open Muscolo Meat Academy in September. The school will provide butcher certification and train students in meat cutting, preparation, and merchandising.

Recorded live on March 21, 2015 at Kendall College School of Culinary Arts

www.CulinaryHistorians.com

Chicago Has Something to Beef About: Cutting Remarks from a Woman Butcher

The Legacy and Impact of the Farm-to-Table Movement in Chicago
Chef Jason Hammel


Come join us as one of Chicago’s most iconic chefs, Jason Hammel, takes us back to the 1990s, tracing his journey from East Coast outsider to one of the Midwest’s most passionate advocates for hyper-local sourcing. He’ll recount the early days of the farm-to-table movement, the founding of Green City Market, and the rise of restaurants dedicated to local ingredients. Lula Café, his restaurant of 25 years, has grown in parallel step to this movement, and through stories from its early days, he’ll highlight the challenges and resistance that once stood in its way.

But this conversation isn’t just about the past—it’s about the economic and ethical decisions chefs face when choosing where and how to source their ingredients. As Hammel enters his third decade in the industry, he’ll reflect on the movement’s impact: What has changed in the restaurant world and beyond? What progress has been made for local, organic producers? And what does the future hold for Lula, for chefs across the Midwest, and for the next evolution of farm-to-table dining?

BIOGRAPHY: Jason Hammel is the executive chef and owner of Lula Cafe in Chicago, the Logan Square eatery known for its seasonal cuisine. His debut cookbook, The Lula Cafe Cookbook: Collected Recipes and Stories, was published by Phaidon in 2024.

Growing up in New Haven, Connecticut, Hammel aspired to be a writer, not a chef. After graduating in 1994 with a degree in English, he traveled to Italy, where an accidental stay across the street from Florence’s central market foresaw his career as a chef dedicated to seasonality.

In 2017 the Museum of Contemporary Art named Chef Hammel as executive chef/culinary curator for the museum’s new restaurant, Marisol, Hammel himself was named the Jean Banchet 2019 Chef of the Year, and in 2024 Lula Cafe was awarded for Outstanding Hospitality by the James Beard Foundation. 

Today Hammel splits his time between Lula, Marisol, and the non-profit food education group Pilot Light, which he co-founded in 2010.

jasonhammel@lulacafe.com / instagram

Recorded via Zoom on April 16, 2025

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The Legacy and Impact of the Farm-to-Table Movement in Chicago

Presented by Mindy Segal, Cookie guru, Restaurateur, Author

Join us as James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Mindy Segal discusses the evolution of the modern cookie. Mindy will take us from the invention of Toll House chocolate chip cookies in the 1930s, to the innovations happening currently in her kitchen at Hot Chocolate in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. She will also discuss how her Jewish roots have influenced her baking, as evidenced by the chapter that’s devoted to rugelach and kolachkes in her just-published “Cookie Love!”

Mindy will also talk about what inspired her to open Hot Chocolate, her popular eatery that encompasses a dessert bar and full restaurant. But wait, there’s more: Mindy will include a cookie-making demo to keep us all crisp with our baking skills. And of course, she will share samples.

Biography: Pastry chef Mindy Segal specializes in American cuisine, where she adds a contemporary twist on classic desserts. She was awarded the James Beard Foundation award for Outstanding Pastry Chef in the Country in 2012 and was nominated for the category the previous five years in a row. She has been featured in The New York Times, GQ, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Mindy has made television appearances on Today, The Martha Stewart Show and The Food Network.

Recorded live at Kendall College on Saturday, July 18, 2015.

One Smart Cookie Shares Crumbs of History

Culinary Historians of Chicago studies the history of food and drink in human cultures. Why we procure, prepare and serve the food we do has cultural, sociological, geographical, financial and political influences. We encourage participation from all walks of life: from academics to home cooks, chefs to grill masters, farmers to heirloom gardeners, food scientists to students. Our programs, and those of our sister organization Chicago Foodways Roundtable, are supported by research, fieldwork and scholarship, though geared to an informed popular audience. We welcome everyone to gather at our table to share food, drink and their life’s culinary experiences.

If you would like to contact us, please e-mail us at CulinaryHistorians@gmail.com

The Legacy and Impact of the Farm-to-Table Movement in Chicago

CulinaryHistory