Events

How Gourmet Won WWII, and Have Tea With Mrs. Palmer

“Put down that crumpet, young man, until I’m finished speaking.”

Chicago Foodways Roundtable and the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance are two allied organizations which present consistently interesting programs about food history and culture throughout the year. (We’ve been among the presenters a couple of times, though there have been much more interesting ones than ourselves.) You can listen to most of their programs thanks to WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified program— but what you can’t do is taste the food they pass around at their talks. So check out the two tasty programs being offered this weekend.

Beating the Nazis with Truffles and Tripe: The Early Years of Gourmet, The Magazine of Good Living features historian David Strauss, who will talk about how a magazine founded in the Depression and on the cusp of WWII, and devoted to a moneyed view of the good life, managed to prosper and even make a stand for better food grown by the eater over packaged foods subject to rationing and shortages. In a time when so many again rebel against industrial food, it’s a timely tale worth rediscovering. 10 am Saturday, October 22nd, at Kendall College, 900 N. Branch Street, Chicago; $3 admission, free parking.

Tea with Bertha Honoré Palmer is a complete high tea service— which is a full meal, not just tea and biscuits, as you’ll see from the menu below— hosted by Bertha Honoré Palmer, the leading hostess of Chicago society in the late 19th century (and wife of Potter Palmer of Palmer House fame, of course), as played by actress and historian Leslie Goddard. The high tea is served by High Tea by Gerri and the doors open at 12:30 pm Sunday, October 23rd at the Highland Park Community House, 1991 Sheridan Road, Highland Park. Tickets are $50 in advance, $60 at the door, and reservations are required at 847-432-8255 or buy your ticket here.

High Tea Menu

First Course
Scottish Smoked Salmon Pinwheels
Beef Tenderloin Triangles
Roast Turkey Triangles
Cucumber & Watercress Leaves
Egg Salad Rounds
Creamed Avocado & Crab Flowers
Open-Faced Ham & Asparagus Rounds
Open-Faced Roquefort & Pear Slices

Second Course
Homemade Raisin Scones w/ fresh lemon curd,
Strawberry preserves & Devonshire cream

Third Course
Homemade Rhubarb & Apple Pie w/fresh cream

Fourth Course
An assortment of Elegant Petit Fours & Pastries

Tea is poured all afternoon.

How Gourmet Won WWII, and Have Tea With Mrs. Palmer