CHEW: Remembering "Meals and Memories," December 2nd

Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW)

Remembering “Meals and Memories”

Dec 2 , 2009 at 7:15pm

In the summer of 2009 a local writing instructor, Sarah White, aided by Traci Nathans-Kelly, lead a writing workshop that used the theme of “meals and memories” to guide its participants in producing both memoirs and recipes. Workshop participants all hailed from the UW-Madison Odyssey Program. The Odyssey participants are some of the most compelling, fun, and enthralling people in the Madison community, and we want to share the journey of this workshop. For this talk, Traci Nathans-Kelly will discuss this project, its impact for the participants and the instructors, and the power of using food and cooking, or the memories thereof, for self-discovery, family storytelling, and building of positive communities. Traci will have on hand examples of the fantastic cookbook/memoir that the participants produced for perusal, and attendees can order a copy of the cookbook, too. It is also our hope to have a few of the participants on hand to read their stories to the CHEW audience.

The goal of the workshop was to keep the academic juices flowing during summer break, to provide an environment for writing and discovery, and to allow participants to produce two very public pieces (a cookbook and a public talk at the South Madison Library Branch).

“Meals and Memories” was funded in part by the Wisconsin Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, the Willy Street Coop Community Reinvestment Fund, and the South Madison Library Branch. Several CHEW members served as recipe testers for the “Meals and Memories” project. The Wisconsin State Journal covered the workshop in August, 2009: http://host.madison.com/news/local/arti ... 01a1f.html

Meeting Venue:
Goodman Atwood Community Center, Bolz Room A; 149 Waubesa Street, Madison 53704; 608-241-1574. More info: http://www.goodmancenter.org/contact-us

To get on the mailing list, or for more information, e-mail joan@eatsmartguides.com, or call Joan Peterson at 608-233-5488. Alternatively, email Paul Lyne at pwlyne@gmail.com or call Paul Lyne at 608-231-3674.