Past Events
Videos are available for many of our past online events. In-person events are not recorded.
February 23, 2025 - Adam Balic - The Obscure Origins and Mysterious Disappearance of the Savoury Course
Balic writes, 'A “savoury” is an English foodstuff whose purpose is to stimulate and awaken the appetite of diners. In this context it overlaps in meaning with a vast array of other small piquant dishes. What distinguishes the English “savoury” from other similar dishes is that it is served towards the end of the meal, rather than the beginning. From its peak popularity from the mid-19th century to the early-20th century, the savoury course has now all but disappeared as British society and dining habits rapidly changed in the post-WWII era.'
In this talk Adam Balic explored the origins, popularity and waning of this largely overlooked area of British food history., presenting evidence that the savoury course was not so much a collection of specific recipes, but an English cultural phenomenon.​
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Video not yet available.
August 25, 2024 - Sara Evenson - Culinary Material Culture at Fort Ticonderoga
What was the culinary world of an eighteenth century military installation like? Fort Ticonderoga, originally built as Fort Carillon, is uniquely situated to inform us on the ways that culinary practices were carried out within an eighteenth century military setting during the French and Indian War, American Revolutionary War, and even the interwar period while garrisoned by a small contingent.
Drawing on archaeological records Sara Evenson explored cooking methods and how we can use material culture to better understand the culinary past.
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Video not yet available.
May 26, 2024 - Martin S. Lindsay - A Century of Caesar's Salad
Many have claimed to, but who really originated Caesar’s Salad? And where is Baja-Mediterranean style cooking from? In this talk Lindsay explored the culinary legacies of the Caesar and Alex Cardini brothers, from culinary apprenticeships at Italian lakeside resorts to their invention of Caesar’s Salad in Tijuana, Mexico.
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Video not yet available.
October 22, 2023 - Ihor Lylo - Ukrainian Gastronomic Identity vs. the Russian Invasion
Ukrainian professor Ihor Lylo, formerly of the Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, spoke on the history of the cuisine of Ukraine and the way it has forged a cultural identity that is helping to keep the people of Ukraine united during this terrible time. He writes, "Today, as many years ago, Ukrainians courageously fight for their freedom against Russian imperialism and tyranny. A crucial part of their struggle is their gastronomic identity."
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Video not yet available.
June 25, 2023 - Ken Albala - The Great Gelatin Revival
Historian Ken Albala described the process of writing his most recent book, The Great Gelatin Revival, while giving us an overview of the world history of the culinary use of gelatins. We got to see photos of some of his most amazing gelatin creations and hear how they came to be.
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Video not yet available
February 26, 2023 - Donna Green-Tye - All about the West Coast Culinary Symposium (WCCS)
Donna regaled us with stories from the 2023 event, as well as exciting moments from years gone by. She also spoke about how the SCA and WCCS help to bring culinary history alive and add to our knowledge and understanding of early foodways.
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Video not yet available.
October 13, 2022 - Shelley Handler - Chez Panisse: Evergreen (the Early Days at Chez Panisse)
Shelly Handler spoke on the early days of the seminal Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse and the way this restaurant helped to usher in the era of California Cuisine.
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August 11, 2022 - William Rubel - Smoked Milk of the Samburu Tribe of Kenya
William Rubel describes the unique milk handling tradition of "smoked milk." He also presents the almost total collapse of the culture of the Samburu people as ecological devastation is wiping out their way of life.
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May 12, 2022 - Carolyn Tillie - Travelling Silver for Those Not to the Manor Born
BACH co-founder Carrie Tillie presented a dress rehearsal of her presentation for the Oxford Food Symposium 2022, entitled "Travelling "Silver" for Those Not to the Manor Born: Old Sheffield Plate and Electroplated Silver in Travel Equipage and Cutlery from 1730 to the Belle Epoque."
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January 26, 2025 - Richard Foss - The First California Cuisines
None of the cooking techniques or popular items of either the first people of California or the Mission period are common today. Why? How did the native people survive, and how did the introduction of agriculture change their lives? What delicacies did the pleasure-loving Californian Dons enjoy in their haciendas, and why did their cuisine die out so quickly after the USA annexed the territory?
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In this engaging presentation Richard Foss helped us understand the answers to these questions.
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Video not yet available.
July 28, 2024 - Camper English - Drinks in San Francisco from the Gold Rush to Today
Cocktails made famous in the San Francisco Bay Area include the Pisco Punch, Irish Coffee, Mai Tai, Lemon Drop, and Tommy’s Margarita, among many others. In this talk, cocktail writer Camper English reviewed for us the highlights of the last 175 years of mixed drinks in the City by the Bay, the mixologists who created them, the bars in which they were born, and the influences on the California style of cocktails created then and now
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Video not yet available.
March 24, 2024 - James Edward Malin - Dining Together, Cooking Apart: the Missing Culinary History of Apartment Hotels.
Food history researcher James Edward Malin presented on dining in "Apartment Hotels" in New York City and San Francisco. Marketed to the burgeoning upper-middle class, an apartment hotel was fundamentally an apartment building, but avoided anti-tenement regulations by leaving out kitchens. Instead, they provided food to their residents from centralized kitchens, either as room service or in a shared residential restaurant.
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Video not yet available.
July 23, 2023 - L. John Harris - Tales of the Gourmet Ghetto
Food journalist, garlic activist, and cookbook publisher L. John Harris regaled us in words and cartoons about his experiences of the Berkeley food scene in the 1970s and 80s, his publishing business, and anecdotes of local gastronomic luminaries.
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Video not yet available.
May 28, 2023 - Lizzie Stark - Egg: A Dozen Ovatures
Lizzie Stark shared stories from her recent book Egg: A Dozen Ovatures about the world's largest cellular workhorse, from chickens to penguins and art to crime. A lively discussion followed.
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Video not yet available.
January 22, 2023 - Pam Elder - Historic Postcards from San Francisco Restaurants
Rarely seen San Francisco restaurant postcards and a discussion of some of the changes that have happened to dining out over the past 150 years.
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Video not yet available.
September 8, 2022 - Maryellen Burns - A Taste for Comedy
Long before the first creamy custard pie was thrown in the face of Ben Turpin in the 1909 silent film Mr. Flip, food and comedy has been a staple of western literature and remains a mainstay of popular media. Maryellen Burns, writes about food in an often-humorous vein, and will guide us through some of history's most iconic comedic bits in which food takes center stage.
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July 14, 2022 - Oliver Pollak - Rebbetzins, Faith and Food (Simulcast virtual event on Zoom and in-person potluck)
Oliver Pollak presents on the cookbook, The Jewish Home Beautiful and its relationship to the Jewish Conservative movement in America.
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April 14, 2022 - Peter Hertzmann - Escoffier and a Spoonful of Umami
Peter Hertzmann, culinary historian and BACH member gave the first BACH Concerto. He presented to us his paper that was previously published in Petits Propos Culinaires #104.
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