Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. December 2016 - January 2017 Volume XXI, Number 4

Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. (CHoW/DC)founded in 1996, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to the study of the history of foodstuffs, cuisines, and culi-nary customs, both historical and contemporary, from all parts of the world. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

www.chowdc.org

Speaker: Libby O’Connell, Ph.D.Sunday, December 11

NOTE! NEW MEETING TIME 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center

4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814

From Caviar to Leek Pie: Food and Society in America’s Gilded Age

See page 2 for theJanuary 8 Meeting

Information.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! See you in January. Look for the next CHoW Line in

February 2017.

Inclement Weather Advisory

If there’s a question about whether the weather will cause a cancellation of a CHoW meeting, first check your e-mail. A CHoW-DC Google group message will be emailed to members.

If you are not part of the CHoW Google group or do not have email, call any Board member (see page 8) to learn of a program can-cellation due to weather. Any decision to cancel would be made the night before, if possible, or no later than 10 a.m. on the day of the meeting.

Last Chance to Renew Your

Membershipfor 2016-17!

If you haven’t renewed your membership,

THIS IS YOUR LAST NEWSLETTER!

See page 9 for the Membership Form.

Libby O’Connell is the author of The Ameri-can Plate: A History in 100 Bites (November

2014), which uses food and drink as a lens that enriches our understanding of history.

Dr. O’Connell is currently the Chief Historian Emeritus at History Channel, where she worked for 23 years in education and corporate social responsibility. She appeared as a com-mentator on His-tory and A&E, as well as the “NBC Today Show,” CNN, and other news channels.

Libby O’Connell’s work in television, historic preservation, and education has received four national Emmy awards and numerous other honors. Dr. O’Connell believes that every food tells a story, enhancing our understanding of culture and society. Learning about changes in what and how people ate, how they prepared and presented food, and what foods symbol-ized to them opens new windows on the past. She will speak on America’s Gilded Age, an ideal platform for explor-ing the rapid change in society and daily life through foodways. This colorful era, from approxi-

mately 1870 to 1900, featured vivid characters such as Diamond Jim Brady, J.P. Morgan, and William K. Vanderbilt, whose enor-mous wealth influenced the rise of famous restaurants (for example, Antoine’s, Delmo-nico’s, and Palmer House). Simultaneous-ly, new immigrants flooded to America, bringing their rich food culture with them. The contrasts and clashes of Gilded Age foodways reflected changes in American

society as a whole, and provide a mirror for the cultural changes we witness today. Dr. O’Connell will leave time for questions after her slide presentation.

Two Resources on the Gilded AgeSee www.chowdc.org to read recipes from Delmonicos’ Restaurant. See Clau-dia Kousoulas’s September Book Review (Vol. XXI, Number 1, page 4) of the book, Food in the Gilded Age, What Ordinary Americans Ate, by Robert Dirks.

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Speaker: Joel Denker NOTE! NEW MEETING TIME

2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center

4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814

The Carrot Purple and Other Food PassagesJanuary 8, 2017, CHoW Meeting

The familiar orange carrot, a little more than four hundred years old, was once a novelty.

The ancient carrot was more likely to be purple. The scent of corian-der, some older commentators suggested, was akin to that of bed bugs. The Mafia had a strangle-

hold on the market for artichokes, a vegetable popular with Italians, during the 1930s in New York City. To wrest control from organized crime, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia announced a ban on the sale of artichokes on December 21, 1935. The history of food is replete with such nuggets, fasci-nating in themselves, but also emblematic of the curious history of edible plants. The Carrot Purple explores how a wide range of ingredients were, in different times and loca-tions, invested with new meaning. This talk will illustrate how foods acquired not only culinary significance, but also ceremonial and economic importance.

Commonplace foods, for exam-ple, were once mystifying. The tomato, an import from Spain to Italy, struck one observer as another “species of eggplant.” Other foods suffered from ethnic stigmas. The chickpea was re-garded by wealthy Spaniards as Muslim grub. Some ingredients were symbols of high social status, while others were disdained as irretrievably common. Cul-tures viewed foods like the pomegranate with wonder and awe. The lecture will highlight the journey of foods from obscurity to familiarity. It will also suggest ways in which this culinary passage continues today.

Joel Denker, a Washington-based food historian, is the author of Capital Flavors and The World on a Plate in addi-tion to the recently published The Carrot Purple. A former university professor, he has written for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications.

BOOK DISCOUNT: Save 35% off the price of $38 until December 31, 2016, on food historian Joel Denker’s The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat when buying from the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield, atwww.rowman.com or (800) 462-6420 ext. 3024. Use promo code RLCHOW35 for hardcover (ISBN 978-1-4422-4885-4) or ebook (ISBN 978-1-4422-4886-1) purchases! Offer expires 12/31/16 and cannot be combined with any other discounts.How to negotiate the online ordering: Go to www.rowman.com. Paste the ISBN number OR “The Carrot Purple” in the “search” box. When the listing comes up, click on the title. Choose which form you wish to buy (hardcover or ebook). In the “shopping cart, click on “Checkout.” Create a new account if you don’t have one. Go back and log in. Click on your shopping cart. Click on “Checkout.” Use the promo code RLCHOW35 to get the 35% discount. The cost will be $24.70 plus $5.00 shipping to total $29.70. (The price on Amazon.com is $32 plus $2 tax and whatever shipping plan you use.)

How to Post to the CHoW-DC Google GroupThe CHoW-DC Google Group is for communicating culinary history matters ONLY. It is not intended to be an open forum.

You must be a member of CHoW, and your email address must be in the CHoW database.

It’s important to remember that if you change your email ad-dress, you need to inform the CHoW Membership Director so that it can be updated and you will continue to receive mes-sages and newsletters.

If you have tried and cannot get your post to transmit, please send it to one of the officers listed on page 8 and he or she can send it out for you.

The easiest way to post a message to the group is simply through an email. Here’s how.• Open a new email• In the address line or “To” box, enter chow-dc@googlegroups.com• Enter a subject in the subject box• Enter the text of your message

NOTE: If you are announcing an event, please make sure you include all relevant information, plus a website or phone number for additional information.

• Please sign your message as a courtesy to everyone.• Add your email address for replies.• Send the message! DONE!

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September 11 Johanna Mendelson Forman. “Is the Kitchen the New Venue of Foreign Policy? Food, Diasporas and Building Community”

October 9 Dr. William Woys Weaver. “As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine”

November 13 Bill Schindler, Ph.D. “Dietary Past: The Ancestral Quest for Nutrient Dense Foods” December 11 Libby O’Connell. “From Caviar to Leek Pie: Food and Society in America’s Gilded Age”

January 8, 2017 Joel Denker. “The Carrot Purple and Other Food Passages” February 12, 2017 Philip Greene. “How the Manhattan Changed the Course of American Cocktails” March 12, 2017 Laura Shapiro. “Women, Food, and Biography”

April 9, 2017 Cooperative Supper, Alexandria House May 7, 2017 CHoW Anniversary Panel

CHoW Programs 2016-2017

What Happened at the November 13 CHoW Meeting?

After seven years, Anne Whitaker has said she must retire as our unof-ficial refreshment chairwoman. For all that time, Anne has been a main-stay of our meetings, making sure that we had implements with which to sample all of the wonderful dishes that members bring in, and something to drink to go with them. She’s done that on top of having one of the longest commutes to our meetings, if not the longest, since she lives in Southern Maryland. December’s meeting will be the last time we see Anne in this role. On behalf of us all, I want to give Anne a heartfelt thanks for her dedication and service. Anne, we will sorely miss your participation in the refresh-ment role. We hope your retirement will not stop your coming up to our meetings as often as you can! The Board is currently working on how to deal with refreshments over the long term. From January on, until (and unless) we come up with a more suitable long-term solution, Francine Berkowitz has agreed to bring basic paper goods (cups, plates, napkins, and forks and knives) to meetings. (Volunteers to back Francine up for months she may not be able to make it would be welcome.) We ask any of you who might need any service utensils for your refreshments, other than basic plastic forks and knives, to bring them (and make sure you remember to take them home).

Bruce W. Reynolds, CHoW President

Thank You to Anne Whitaker

Anne Whitaker. Photo by CiCi Williamson

President Bruce Reynolds called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m. Present were 24 CHoW members and seven visitors. Visitors introduced themselves, saying how they had found us, and what interested them. Two mentioned our website; two mentioned recommendations from their professors at Howard University.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Shirley Cherkasky reminded members of the recent-ly-opened exhibit called “Yummm! The History, Fantasy, and Future of Food” at the American Visionary Art Mu-seum in Baltimore. See the Upcoming Events in the Octo-ber CHoW Line for more information. Two members had already been to the show, and pronounced it “well worth seeing.” It will be open until September 2017. 2. Shirley also mentioned that there were give-aways at the back of the room: Product Cookbooks (free compendia usually handed out by commercial companies) of which the Archives already has copies. 3. CiCi Williamson offered six copies of William Woys Weaver’s cookbook, As American as Shoe-Fly Pie, available for the discounted price of $20 from CHoW.

PROGRAMAudrey Hong, Vice President, introduced the speaker, Dr. Bill Schindler, an anthropologist and archaeologist from Washington College in Chestertown MD. His topic: Our Dietary Past: The Ancestral Quest for Nutrient-dense Foods. Dr. Schindler kindly stayed after the meeting adjourned to continue conversations and Q & A. His talk summary and further resources will be in the February 2017 CHoW Line.

(Minutes continued on page 7)

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BOOK REVIEWA Square Meal, A Culinary History of the Great Depression

By Andrew Coe and Jane Ziegelman, Harper Collins, 2016, hardback $26.99, 352 pages

Claudia Kousoulas is an editor, writer, and educator whose topics include architecture, urbanism, and culinary history. Her blog is appetiteforbooks.wordpress.com

NOTE: The author, Andrew Coe, spoke to CHoW in October 2011 on “Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States.” This is the title of his 2009 book published by Oxford University Press.

By Claudia Kousoulas

“Great Depression” equals breadlines. You know the images—lines of men on city sidewalks, collars turned up and eyes turned away. But Coe and Ziegelman find the men behind the images—white collar professionals thrown out of work, but still in jacket and tie—for pride and perhaps a job interview, and seasonal laborers with no reason to return to drought-stricken farms. They don’t find single women on the lines—who were just as stricken and hungry as men but who preferred to live on a cracker a day until they fainted on the street. It was better than the rough com-pany on line and being perceived as alone.

Throughout the book, Coe and Zeigelman reveal the details behind what we think we know about the Great Depression, often revealing uncomfortably familiar attitudes toward work, charity, gender, the role of government, and healthy food.

They begin after World War I, when food was given to returning soldiers and was a point of pride in production for a farm wife. But modernity—urbanization and industrialization—were beginning to com-plicate production and consumption. What looked like a boom in the 1920s hid struc-tural changes to the economy and society. The wealth was going to only a few and when the crash came, offers of help soon morphed into blaming those in need.

In 1930, Hoover resisted helping drought-stricken Arkansas (and Missouri, Ten-nessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia), claiming it would “break the spirit of responsibility,” preferring to rely on individual generosity and uneven local initiatives. At the same time, the Red Cross dug in its heels, not wanting to shoulder a burden that was expanding beyond a single catastrophic event. Red Cross doctors and government reports conveniently determined that rickets and pellagra likely existed before the drought and that residents liked the diet of salt meat, molasses, and beans that kept them alive but without the energy to work.

Meanwhile, American farmers couldn’t make money bringing the produce to market, Ford was lay-ing off workers, and the Bonus Army—World War I vets in search of a promised government reim-bursement—hit the road to make their case to Congress. Nonetheless, Hoover blamed unrest on Commu-nists and persisted in shifting relief responsibility to local governments.

Even this limited charity came sea-soned with moral and racial biases, including familiar discussions of the deserving poor, and the requirement that the black recipients work for their share, while whites didn’t have to. Some Dickensian-minded com-mentators even viewed this as an opportunity to cull less desirable ele-ments of the population. It was the Bonus Army’s violent routing from DC, led by Douglas MacArthur, that would end Hoover’s tenure and open the door to Roosevelt who, as New York’s governor, created the first of many alphabet relief organi-zations to come—TERA (Temporary Emergency Relief Administration). It was where Harry Hopkins honed his managerial skills and home econ-omists would test their theories of a scientifically healthy diet—which included a bias towards copious amounts of white sauce.

As Coe and Zeigleman note, the Depression “galvanized an already committed group of reformers,” who believed in a “scientifically de-signed eating program.” Meanwhile H.L. Mencken and Sheila Hibben ―the New Yorker’s first food critic and author of National Cookbook, a collec-tion of regional recipes that brought her to national prominence―were

touting American foodways like Boston Baked Beans and Baltimore Steamed Crabs. It set a pattern of food attitudes that continue today. On the one hand, a health-oriented “nutritionism” and on the other, a search for local and authentic.

Photo: A Group of People at a Breadline During the Great Depression. Long lines of people waiting to be fed in New York City during 1932. Photograph from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.

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our collection of food-related books was shelved there for several years until the George Washing-ton University took over the Mt. Vernon College campus.

Shirley

High in the West Virginia Appalachians is a wonder-ful county where a considerable Renaissance is occurring. Do go and try the food, six art galleries,

the trails, and the history. Learn about the ecological efforts and meet the people! With the fabulous new Federal High-way 48 (from Wardensburg) sailing over the mountains, it’s only 3+ hours from the D.C. area, leading you to the towns of Davis, Thomas, and Canaan Valley. www.tuckerwv.com

The latter (the first word is pronounced ca--nAAn, accent on the second syllable) is known for its skiing, but it offers much more: Monongahela National Forest, Dolly Sods & Otter Creek Wildernesses, Blackwater and Canaan Valley state park resorts, the deep canyon of the Blackwater River, and the 500th US Wildlife Refuge. There’s plenty of rental housing throughout the 12-mile area; expect comfort but not urban glitz. www.canaanvalley.org

Tip Top Café. Now let me concentrate on the food of the region. Consider Tip Top Café (www.facebook.com) in Thomas. Cade started it as a local-roast coffee house but it has expanded, offering a range of extraordinary chocolates, bourbons, wines, coffee, and select lunch dishes and pas-tries. Reviewers give it 4.5-5 stars! Friday Night is Ham-burger Night—all parts local, natural, and delicious.

Hellbenders. As an alternative, try Hellbenders (www.hellbenderburritos.com) in Davis. The real Hellbender is a huge salamander struggling to survive: at Hellbenders you can buy it smiling on T-shirts while you gulp down your fresh, excellent, and huge rice-filled burritos.

Stumptown Ales. Across the street is Stumptown Ales (www.stumptownales.com). They describe themselves as “hopcentric” and offer beers made within feet of the bar along with “small bites.” My favorite beer is flavored with thyme.

White Grass Café. In winter, White Grass Café (www.whitegrass.com/cafe), in Canaan Valley, serves warm nat-ural food to ‘starving’ cross-country skiers, and has done so for 34 years. Chef Laurie Little, with Mary Beth Gwyer, has published two cookbooks, including the 5-star White Grass Flavor (2005). White Grass Café also offers a West Virginia Culinary Scholarship.

Good Food in Tucker County,

West Virginia

Culinary Byways

By Claire Cassidy

Eight Appalachian West Vir-ginia and Maryland counties are supported in part by the Tucker Community Founda-tion. Among its many projects is the promotion of local food production, preservation, and marketing for profit via the non-profit Potomac Highlands Food and Farm Initiative (www.phffi.org).

This wonderful organization offers workshops “to assist and inspire folks in getting back to the way our great-grandparents grew, harvested, preserved, and prepared food. We strive to teach participants in the basic skills of country living.” (from www.tuckerfoundation.net)

The Initiative supports Highland Market, the one room grocery where you’ll find the best local and natural foods, 70% of which are sourced within 100 miles of Davis. Prices are set by the farmers themselves, and foods like bread, fresh milk, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, cheeses, maple syrup, and natural meats arrive predictably. Non-local foods like almond flour, gluten-free pasta, and chocolate expand the offerings. As the website says of the grocery, “We acquire our products…from small farmers who are as close to home as possible. This serves to cut down on the carbon footprint…and helps those farmers by providing additional outlets to sell their products, therefore helping the farmer develop a stronger economic future.” Please see the website for superb photos and more detail.

Readers: I hope these few words have whetted your appe-tite and your curiosity—a ‘field trip’ to Tucker County WV will reward you in a hundred ways!

History: As of the 2010 census, the population of Tucker County was 7,141, making it the second-least populous county in West Virginia. Its county seat is Parsons. The county was created in 1856 from a part of Randolph County, then part of Virginia. In 1871, a small part of Barbour County, was transferred to Tucker County. The county was named after Henry St. George Tucker, Sr., a judge and Congressman from Williamsburg, Virginia.

Cooperative Supper 2017Now is the time to start thinking about a culinary history theme for our April 2017 Cooperative Supper. Do you want the topic to be related to our 20th Anniversary such as food trends of the last twenty years? Or perhaps choose foods that reflect changes in technology, agriculture, or population movements since 1996? Or perhaps choose a theme that’s inde-pendent of CHoW’s 20th anniversary celebration? Please send Dianne Hennessy King your suggestions at (tuckking@aol.com), along with two or more suggested resources that members might use to start their research. We will vote on the Cooperative Supper theme at the February meeting.

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Upcoming EventsNational Museum of African American History and Culture1400 Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C.

Free. Timed passes needed until January 1. Limited num-ber of “day of” passes available at 9:15 a.m. The Museum opened to the public on September 24 as the 19th and new-est museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Culinary his-tory artifacts include photographs of food banks, restaurant interiors and “Brady’s Restaurant Sit-In”; postcards of fruit, vegetable, and seafood vendors; menus; and items such as a sign from a segregated restaurant and the stockpot from D.C.’s Florida Avenue Grill Restaurant. The museum restaurant, Sweet Home Café, show-cases the rich culture and history of the African American people with traditional, authentic offerings as well as present-day food traditions. Behind Executive Chef Jerome Grant, Sweet Home Café uses the very best version of classic dishes and employs a high degree of from-scratch cooking with locally-sourced ingredients. Four distinct stations each tell the story of the regional offerings: The Agricultural South, The Creole Coast, The North States, and The Western Range. Carla Hall, Washington resident, Les Dames member, and co-host of ABC-TV’s weekday lifestyle show “The Chew,” is the culinary ambassador. The research and writings of culinary leader Jessica B. Harris, Ph.D. were essential to the development of this project.https://nmaahc.si.edu/visit/sweet-home-cafe#main

“Oysters and Oldies” Christmas Oyster RoastSaturday, December 3, 12:30-3:30 p.m.6108 Northumberland HighwayHeathsville, VA 22473 (106 miles from Washington)Roanoke Farm 804-724-4238Fee: $30 Adults; Free for children under 12

Enjoy a traditional Northern Neck Oyster Roast and “rock around the Christmas tree” to “oldies” and Holiday music from the 1940s through the 80s. Travel back in time as you walk the grounds of beautiful Roanoke Farm in Heaths-ville, one of Virginia’s Century Farms dating from late 18th Century. Savor an all you can eat menu of briny local wild-caught oysters (roasted over an oak fire or fresh on the half shell), St. Stephen’s homemade chili, hot dogs, brownies, cookies, hot cider and soft drinks. Beer, including Virginia craft beers, and wine is also available. This is an outdoor rain or shine event, with plenty of covered seating in case of inclement weather. www.facebook.com/OystersandOldies/

Brandy: In the Winter SpiritMonday, December 12, 6:45-8:45 p.m. Location on ticketFee: Smithsonian members $50; Non-member $60Scott Harris is a distiller and brandy evangelist, as well as the man responsible for a new local spirit, Catoctin Creek’s 1757 Brandy from Loudon County, Virginia. Harris will explain production methods around the world, offer tips for enjoying your brandy, and share some of his favorite bottles. www.smithsonianassociates.org or 202-633-3030.

Winternational CelebrationDecember 7, 2016, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Atrium, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. This free event celebrates the holiday traditions from a global perspective with an international bazaar featuring cultural performances, embassy exhibitors and artisans, gingerbread cookie decorating, and global food sampling.

Hanukkah Dinners December 24-January 1Various Restaurants such as Bistro L’Hermitage, Lincoln, D.C., and DGS Delicatessen offer special menus during Hanukkah. To see Joan Nathan’s December 2, 2015 article, “How to Put a Syrian Spin on Your Hanukkah Feast,” in Tablet, see http://www.tabletmag.com/recipes-2/195196/syrian-meatballs. On December 25, a National Hanukkah Menorah is lit on the White House grounds, at the Ellipse. Festivities at the lighting ceremony include musical perfor-mances, hot latkes and donuts.

Farm Alliance Pop Up at Lexington MarketBaltimore, MarylandNovember 23, 2016 - January 25, 2017

The Farm Alliance of Baltimore is adding to Lexington Market’s produce offerings. The Alliance has launched a pop-up stall in the historic Market directly off Eutaw Street at the Arcade entrance. The Farm Alliance of Baltimore Pop Up runs every Wednesday through January 25, 2017. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Farm Alliance, a vibrant collective comprised of 12 Baltimore City-based farms, will feature locally grown produce such as radishes, collards and mustard greens, as well as made-to-order salads. The network of local producers aims to increase the viability of urban farming and improve access to urban grown foods. More information including a list of farms is available at www.farmalliancebaltimore.org and at www.facebook.com/farmalliance/. In addition, on the second Wednesday of December and January, the Farm Alliance will host a guest vegan chef who will feature locally grown products.

Mario Batali: Regional American CookingSaturday, January 28, 3-4:30 p.m.Baird Auditorium, Natural History Museum Code 110-14810th and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington D.C.Fee: Members $25; Non-members $35; Members + Book $55; Non-members + Book $65

In a conversation with Joe Yonan, food and dining editor for The Washington Post, Mario Batali discusses what the American recipes in his newest book reveal about Ameri-ca’s food culture, and how he made personal additions to give tradition a fresh boost. Program includes a tasting. Big American Cookbook: 250 Favorite Recipes from Across America is available for signing.

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WHATZITS: Bruce Reynolds offered two objects: one was cubical in cross-section, white plastic, and about 3” long. A top piece could be removed. The second was an iron object, flat, about 9” long, with a triangular flat tip with beveled edge, a circle behind that, and a long narrow handle ending in a curl, which showed it to be handmade by a blacksmith. At the end of the meeting we learned that the plastic object, brought by Bruce, holds a quarter stick of butter and is used to butter sweet corn on the cob. Carter and Willis Van Devanter brought the iron object, which proved to be an 18th or 19th century pot cleaner, designed to scrub cooked-on remnants from a cooking pot.

REFRESHMENTSThank you to Anne Whitaker for generously providing beverages and supplies for the meeting, and to our members who brought the following:

• Francine Berkowitz: Real Pumpkin and Pumpkin Seed tortilla chips with red-pepper hummus• Beverly Firme: Walnut-stuffed dates rolled in sugar• Dianne Hennessy King: Fruit tray• Clara Raju: Apple Banana Mini-Muffins. • Amy Snyder: Organic beef jerky and or-ganic salmon jerky• CiCi Williamson: Deviled Eggs, along with the question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” The USDA states that it was the egg.

There were also some cookies from unnamed benefactors!

Book Giveaway: Thank you to Claudia Kou-soulas for donating three new cookbooks to the drawing held for CHoW members.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,Claire Cassidy, Recording Secretary

Minutes, continued from page 3 CHoW’s First Year: Programs, Newsletter, and Charter Members

1996-1997 was an exciting beginning: Development and adoption of bylaws (see last month’s “CHoW’s Beginnings: 1996” article); nomi-nations and election of Board members; creation and naming of the newsletter (“Victuals Viewpoints” and “CHoW for Now” titles lost out); development of communications with other culinary history groups; and a varied selection of programs and presenters. We are pleased that Charter Member, Warren Belasco, who spoke on “Why Food Matters” in March of 1997, will be part of our 20th An-niversary Panel on May 7, 2017. Another charter member, Joel Denker, will be our January speaker. Charter member Francine Berkowitz, CHoW’s second president, vol-unteered to collect dues that first year of CHoW, just as she is volun-teering as treasurer last year and this year. Charter members Dianne King and CiCi Williamson have been creating eight annual issues of CHoW Line (the winning title) for 10 years. Claire Cassidy has been a presenter and is our current secretary. Quentin Looney was recently our membership chair, and Willis Van Devanter has been a secretary, a presenter, and an impeccable writer for CHoW Line. In Vol. I, No. 4, March 1997, Willis wrote an article about his travel to Michigan to visit the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, and his visit to the University of Michigan’s Clements Library to meet Jan Longone, founding member of the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor.She gave Willis a tour of the library’s “American Cookery” exhibition that she had curated. His “Culinary Odyssey” article was the model for what we now call the “Culinary Byways” column. Many others on this list, such as founder Shirley Cherkasky, continue to guide CHoW as we go forward. Thanks to the charter members (listed below) who founded our great organization!

60 Charter Members of Culinary Historians of Washington (as of January 27, 1997)

Joan BacharachWarren BelascoFrancine BerkowitzDebbie BowlesGretchen BrodtmanJoseph CarlinCarol CarpenterClaire CassidyElizabeth Castleman (Elisabetta G. Giacon)Karen CatheyJoan ChallinorShirley CherkaskyCecilia ChinLaurene ChurchSusan ClarkAudrey DavisJoel DenkerSusan DerecskeyChristine Donnelly

CHoW continued to add members each month during our first program year. For example, In February, CHoW new members were Nancy Brooks, Gail Cassidy, Mary Kay Harper, Suzanne White Junod, Karen Lottes, Joan Nathan, M. Susan Rieken, and Mary Kay Ruwe. Twenty years later, CHoW continues to welcome the varied interests and talents of new members.—Dianne Hennessy King

Catherine EvansJane FinnGail FormanSidney GottliebRayna Green Elaine HawesSylvia HopkinsPeter Barton HuttVirginia JenkinsEve JochnowitzMartha KaiserDianne KingMary Sue LatiniQuentin LooneyRobert MageeCarolyn MargolisBrigitte MartinMargaret McKennaSidney MintzMilton Mortman

Vilma Ortiz Robert ParkerCatherine PresslerFrances PriceBetsy RobinsonCathy RomanoAnne RominesRodris RothMolly SchuchatMonya ShannonGoody SolomonAnita StemmermanMary ThompsonB.L. TrahosCarter Van DevanterWillis Van DevanterJames WallaceSally WaltzLelia WashburnCiCi Williamson

DIRECTIONS TO THE MEETINGCHoW/DC usually meets on the second Sunday of each month, September through May, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, Maryland 20814.

DIRECTIONS: Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center is located at 4805 Edgemoor Lane in downtown Bethesda, Maryland, in the two-story County office building on the plaza level of the Metropolitan complex, above a County parking garage. The building is across the street from the Bethesda Metro station.

From the Metro Station, take the escalator from the bus bay to the plaza level, turn left, walk past the clock tower and across to the Metropolitan plaza using the pedestrian bridge. The Center’s street entrance at 4805 Edgemoor Lane (corner of Old Georgetown and Edgemoor) is marked with American and Montgomery County flags. Take the elevator to Level Two for meeting rooms.

If you are coming south on Old Georgetown Road (from the Beltway use exit 36) turn right on Woodmont Avenue - the entrance is the second driveway on the left.

If you are coming south on Wisconsin Avenue/Rockville Pike, turn right onto Woodmont Avenue, go south for approximately one mile, cross over Old Georgetown Road, and the parking garage entrance is the second driveway on your left.

Coming north on Wisconsin or west on Rt. 410, take Old Georgetown Road north, turn left at the second traffic light (Woodmont Ave.) and the garage entrance will be on your left. Take the elevators from the parking garage to the plaza level (P). The building is located at the center of the plaza. The American flag, Montgomery County flag, and the County seal mark the entrance to the building.

PARKING: Parking is free on weekends in the county parking garage. The entrance to the parking garage is marked with a large blue Bethesda Center parking sign.

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