NEWSLETTER OF THE Culinary Historians of Chicago

SUMMER 2005

PRESIDENT'S LETTER I know that you have been waiting impatiently for the latest tales from the "other Illinois," the part of our state that lies outside Chicago and its region. These days the region radiates many miles south, from just about to Kankakee, to De Kalb and southern Wisconsin. Any of you who have been out west, say down Route 59 south of Aurora, have seen exactly what that means: row upon row of housing developments sitting upon some of the world's best farmland. Well, wasn't Chicago's Lakeview once the celery capital of the Midwest, and Oak Park a farming community? Still, for those interested in traditional farming, it's a disheartening vision. This is hardly a picture of most of the areas well south and west of the Chicago conurbation. There small town America still exists, decaying maybe, but still there. And so are its foodways. Here's an example. A while ago, I met people from the White Country Museum in Carmi to talk about the Key Ingredients program to be held there at the end of November. That's the Smithsonian and Illinois Humanities Council's display on America's food history for which I and several CHCers (Catherine Lambrecht, Penelope Bingham and Scott Warner among them) have done programs. We decided to meet in Marion, at a well-known lunch and dinner restaurant called Honeybaker's. It's a cheerfully appointed little place located in a small strip mall just outside well known for its home-baked breads, cakes, pies, and especially large slightly sweet popovers served with every lunch and dinner. Many of the museums in these small towns are run by volunteers, often mostly women of certain -- meaning my -- age. This day Marge Fechting and several of her colleagues arrived, enthusiastic to talk about food history and the upcoming event. We sat chatting about old-time foodways in southeastern Illinois until the sole waitress came to take our orders. Not the college student or aspiring actor of Chicago's restaurant scene, she was the kind of waitress one might have found in a diner of an era past. "Have you seen our specials," she drawled? No, we replied, abashed that we hadn't looked at the chalk-boarding front. "Oh, well then, I'll have to tell you. You'll like them, all homemade, you know. We have a fried baloney sandwich, that's real good." One of our number said that she hadn't eaten one of those in many a year, but back in the war years and before that was a household staple. No, none of us would eat that. "Well," our waitress waxed enthusiastically, "how about barbecue parfait?" What could this be, a sweet made with barbecue sauce? "No," she laughed, "it's barbecued beans put at the bottom of a parfait glass, then there's a layer of barbecue meat, and that's topped with another layer of shredded cheese. Looks real good. You know, our chef is always coming up with something new." We all laughed with delight, marveling at such culinary invention, and how real down home American it can be. And who knows, maybe a new food trend will be born. If you are interested in the atmosphere and tastes of small town Illinois, including wines that are now becoming a larger feature of southern Illinois, then do sign up for the tour Leah Axelrod is arranging. Carmi, as native Don Newcomb will tell you, is a lot more interesting than one might think. Meanwhile, it is good to have our newsletter up and running. Many thanks to Kantha Shelke, Wanda Bain and John Ryan for their time and effort. Cheers, Bruce Kraig Summer 2005 Newsletter Continued