CHC Chicago Foodways Roundtable presents:

Miscellaneous Notes

WTTW pledge night finally has a food-oriented program. Foods of Chicago will be broadcast on:

- Tuesday November 27 - 6:30-10
- Monday December 3 - 6:30-10
- December 9 - 5-10:45 PM
The Lore of the Latke
Presented by
Leah Zeldes
Saturday, December 1, 2007
10 AM
Kendall College
900 North Branch Street, Chicago
(West of Halsted Street, North of Chicago Avenue)
Free Parking

Cost: $3 per person, free to Kendall students and faculty with ID.

In the pantheon of Jewish festival foods, the Hanukkah latke may be the tastiest. The Jewish festival of Hanukkah began about 164 B.C.E., after a small tribe of Jews triumphed over the Syrian-Greek rulers of Jerusalem and the rededicated their Temple. So how did this potato pancake become such an integral part of the celebration? What gave a New World vegetable such a starring role in the commemoration of an ancient Jewish victory?

Food writer and culinary historian Leah Zeldes offers a colorful talk on the history of the potato latke and its integration into the Hanukkah festivities.

After beginning as a news reporter, Zeldes, a Chicago journalist, spent 15 years as food and entertainment editor of the city's erstwhile Lerner Newspapers chain. Today, she writes regularly about food and all kinds of other subjects for a variety of media, including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Herald and Plate magazine. You can also hear her in podcasts on ChicagoScope.com.

Latkes will be served after the program.

This program is hosted by the Chicago Foodways Roundtable. To reserve, please call 847/432-8255, then leave your name, telephone number and how many people in your party or e-mail: CLICK HERE.

The Berghoff Conversations, featuring Carlyn Berghoff and Nancy Ross Ryan aired this Sunday at 3:30pm on Chicago cable networks (Comcast, RCN and Wide Open West) on channel 25.

Conversations With...

Beginning Oct. 29 it will air Mondays - Thursdays at 2pm, Thursdays at 9pm, and again on Sundays at 3:30pm. It will run for a month.

If you live within 50 miles of the Great Lakes Navy Base and are interested in hosting a sailor or recruit at Thanksgiving this year, then please contact:

Adopt-a-Sailor Program Coordinator
Public Affairs
Naval Service Training Command/Navy Region Midwest
2201A Paul Jones Street
Great Lakes, IL 60088

E-mail: CLICK HERE
Phone: 847/688-2201
Fax: 847/688-4945
There are some rules the sailors have to observe:

- No alcohol served to the sailors.
- No changing of clothes to civilian attire
- No driving
- They are expected to be hosted at the address you provided.
- They need to return around 7 PM to the base.

The sailors we have hosted are almost always from basic training. They are hungry for news. They have no idea who was in the World Series nor who won. They are totally thrilled to get a home cooked meal. We let them phone their family, whom they haven't been in contact with since training began (or possibly for very limited time).

They are by far the happiest guests at your Thanksgiving table because the alternative was the mess hall.