Upcoming Events
May 26, 2024 5:00PM PDT
Online presentation: 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? Lindsay will explore 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.
Register for tickets on Eventbrite.
June 23, 2024 5:00PM PDT
We are pleased to announce another Bay Area Culinary Historians potluck dinner. Please join us Sunday, June 23, 2024, for an evening of early Roman cookery, presented by BACH member Shannon Wells.
Over two thousand years ago, ancient Roman writers on food were having some of the same debates as today. There were snooty foodies who wanted the most exotic ingredients and fanciest preparations for their meal, versus the snooty pastoralists who idealized the simplicity of country life and its food, criticizing the excesses and poor taste of the nove divites (that's nouveau riche for you plebians). This meal will focus mostly on the latter types of dishes. We'll be creating our own interpretations of dishes described by Cato the Elder, Apicius, Pliny the Elder, and others, with help from modern historians.
The dinner will take place at a private home in Oakland, CA. The exact location will be provided to registered attendees. We will start at 5:00p.m. for anyone that needs to complete their dish(es) a la minute, or just want to get together early and schmooze. At 6:00p.m. we will gather to present our dishes, with the meal starting at 7:00p.m.
Attendees will be directed to a listing of helpful resources for Roman recipes and techniques, as well as a spreadsheet for you to choose which dish(es) you intend to bring. We ask that each attendee bring at least one item.
Shannon Wells will host an optional, short Zoom meeting prior to the event to discuss primary and secondary sources as well as to facilitate sharing tips on ingredient sourcing and preparation.
Shannon Wells is an amateur culinary historian with a long time interest in the history of daily life, including costume history and early Western music. She has previously hosted several historical dinner events.
Tickets (free) are required for this event. Please sign up on Eventbrite. Please note that we expect the potluck to fill up, however, there will be a waiting list. In the past we have been able to accommodate people from the waiting list, so, if it is sold out before you are able to register, please do sign up anyway.
As always, it is super-helpful if you indicate your interest on the BACH Events page on Facebook *in addition to registering on Eventbrite*
July 28, 2024 5:00PM PDT
Online presentation: Diana Willis Bottomley - Selling an Imagined Culinary History to Hipsters
Stay tuned for more details.
August 25, 2024 5:00PM PDT
Online presentation: Sara Evenson - Comparing culinary artifacts uncovered at Fort Ticonderoga and other Revolutionary War military kitchens in New York's Hudson River valley.
Stay tuned for more details.
September, 22 2024 5:00PM PDT
Online presentation: Richard Foss - The First California Cuisine
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?
Richard Foss has been writing professionally since 1986. He has contributed to over forty different publications, including the Encyclopedia of World Food Cultures and Oxford Companion to Sweets. Richard has taught culinary history in extension programs, done lecture tours in the US, Australia, and New Zealand, been a culinary consultant for museums, and is on the board of the Culinary Historians of Southern California.
Stay tuned for the registration link to sign up.
October 27, 2024
Screening of the movie Gather plus a presentation.
The film will be shown at the Hillside Club in Berkeley, CA.
Stay tuned for details.
December 7, 2024 5:00PM PDT
BACH Holiday Party
As in prior years, we will have one event for November/December, which will be our annual holiday party. This year we will be hosting Anthony Buccini, culinary linguist, who will be speaking on Christmas in the Italian culinary calendar.
Details are being finalized, but it will be a potluck dinner held either in Montara, CA or Oakland, CA.