These days, “Midwestern cuisine” is likely to evoke brats, gelatin-based salads, hot-dish casseroles, and perhaps a few regional specialties like deep dish pizza or deep-fried cheese curds. But the region’s culinary history is far more complex than these stereotypes suggest.
This symposium, organized and hosted by our friends at the Newberry Library, will explore the complex histories that have shaped the real and quite varied cuisines of the Midwest.
In the morning session, experts will cover the native foodways of the Indigenous peoples of the region before discussing the foods that entered and shaped the Midwest culinary idiom through successive waves of migration, including traditions that arrived with groups of European immigrants; traveled north with the Great Migration; and accompanied Latino workers from Mexico and Latin America.
In the afternoon, historians and colleagues from the Chicago Brewseum will present a conversation called, Better Than Pop: A History of Midwestern Beer and its National Influence. Our Executive Director, Liz Garibay, takes a look at the rich history and culture of midwestern beer and brewing, which played an integral role in the economic, social, and cultural development of the region. Alison Orton, part of the Brewseum’s League of Historians, takes a look at how mid- to late-nineteenth century immigrant groups brought their beer and beer cultures to the Midwest, creating a tapestry of styles, traditions, and drinking establishments that led to the area’s dominance in the US brewing industry. We round it up with Pat Doerr, Managing Director of the Hospitality Business Association of Chicago who will conclude with an examination of the growth of craft beer in the region and its importance in the national landscape.
