Culinary Historians: Passage to India, March 21 @ 10 AM

Culinary Historians of Chicago presents:

Passage to India
Presented by:
Suvir Saran
Chef, Devi Restaurant, New York City and author of “American Masala” and “Indian Home Cooking”

Saturday, March 21, 2009
10 a.m. to Noon
at
Ranjana Bhargava Indian Cooking School
6730 S. Euclid Ave. Chicago
(Located one street west of Jeffrey Boulevard, and less than one mile West of Lake Michigan, and a short distance south down Lake Shore Drive from the Museum of Science and Industry. Lots of street parking, and easily accessible by public transportation – (#s 6 or # 14 bus from downtown.)

New Delhi-born Suvir Saran, chef/owner of the highly acclaimed Dévi restaurant in New York City and cookbook author of American Masala and Indian Home Cooking, will conduct a virtual journey through the world’s spice markets, exploring the nuances of spices and the cultural and historical influences of spices on Indian cuisine. Chef Saran will also demonstrate how to coax out the essence of spices, and talk about buying and storing spices – from cardamom to mustard seeds to turmeric. Chef Saran is Chairman, Asian Culinary Studies for the World Cuisines Council at The Culinary Institute of America, and teaches all over the U.S. and beyond. When he is not traveling, he enjoys working on his 68-acre farm in upstate New York. http://www.suvir.com.

Copies of Chef Saran’s two books will be offered for sale with all profits going to fund the Culinary Historians of Chicago. Chef Saran will be happy to sign the books during a reception immediately following his talk, where a sampling of his appetizers will be served by our hostess, Ranjana Bhargava.

Ms. Bhargava, a pioneer in Chicago’s in Chicago’s Indian community will also speak briefly about the evolution of this major ethnic group in our city. A trained psychologist, she has spearheaded efforts to serve the needs of women, and immigrants in Chicago. Ms. Bhargava has led numerous nonprofit organizations, and helped found Apna Ghar, the first domestic violence shelter serving Asian women and families. For more than 30 years, she has shared her love of the Indian culture by teaching Indian vegetarian cooking classes, mainly from her state-of-the art home kitchen, which she will show to our group. http://www.indiancookingclass.com

Cost of the morning lecture program is $5, $3 for students and members and no charge for CHC members. To reserve for the morning lecture, only, please call Barbara Olson at (708) 788-0338. Or e-mail your reservation to: [email protected] .

CHICAGOURMETS LUNCHEON IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING MORNING PROGRAM

The fine-dining organization, ChicaGourmets is offering a complete Indian vegetarian sit-down luncheon with wine prepared from Chef Saran’s recipes by Ms. Bhargava. The luncheon will also be held at her cooking school, 6730 S. Euclid.

Cost is $39, inclusive, and includes the morning lecture and reception. For details and to reserve online, go to http://www.ChicaGourmets.org. For information, call Don Newcomb (708) 383-7543.

It seems essentially wrong to attend this veggie-ish lecture and then hit up That's-A-Burger nearby. But that's what I'm itching to do

Anyone else?

Hi,

I almost always have a crowd who wants to go out to dine right afterwards. I was also thinking of leading them to NW Indiana to dine. At least at that location, Indiana is just a heartbeat away ... by my standards.

Please make your reservations earlier rather than later.

Regards,

I was really excited for this lecture today - I love Suvir Saran's Indian Home Cooking cookbook. And I live on the south side so it seemed ideal. Unfortunately, I was disappointed as he didn't talk at all about what the lecture was supposed to be about (namely the history of spices and shopping for/storing/cooking with them). It was more of a travelogue of India and his farm. That wasn't what we signed up for. However, I must say that the snacks were great!

This was our first foray to the Culinary Historians...I wonder if there is commonly this kind of disconnect between what is advertised and what the speakers actually discuss.

Hi,

The promotional material was what they agreed upon for the content. However once they take to the floor and begin to talk, there is no control of the content. I wasn't too thrilled with the travelogue or his long list of petty prejudices. Pretty much only what he makes is authentic, pure or up to (his) standard. I was seated next to someone who loved Kerala, which he declared as not worthy of visiting. She was bristling over his negative review. He described Chicago in terms I normally consider New York with all this grittiness.

I wonder when he was last on Devon Avenue. Does he go to the Hyderbad House Indo-Pak taxi restaurants? Or does he go to Vermillion?

When I first belonged to Culinary Historians 15 years ago. I would attend lectures depending if the content interested me. I quickly learned that was a mistake, because I'd later learn I missed something interesting at the prior meeting. I go to every meeting, unless something comes up, because I always learn something. A program I thought would not be interesting, like a lecture on Bones, proved fascinating. Likewise those I looked forward to, didn't always pan out. Some people put on very poised presentations and others are rich in content and lousy in presentation. For me, content is king, so the presentation lacked, I can forgive if I learn something new.

In a nutshell, I liken my experiences at Culinary Historians akin to kindergarten: interesting lecture, a good snack, lunch and a nap.

Too bad we didn't meet, you could have gone out to lunch with us. Of course, lunch became a tour of the NW Indiana plus dinner. I didn't make it home until 11:30 PM.

Regards,

I agree with Cathy2 that it is hard to predict which programs are going to be content-rich and which are going to be disappointing.

I do find that, if you keep an eye on both Culinary Historians and Chicago Foodways Roundtable, you improve your chances of hitting on solid topics -- and of the two, Foodways is more likely to be content driven, rather than celebrity driven. But that said, some of the celebrity ones have been fabulous, and I've come away with pages of notes and new ideas I could use at home.

But I second Cathy2's proposition -- if you're free, just go, and sometimes you'll be amazed, and sometimes you'll just have a nice snack and chat with friendly people who know a lot about food.

Thanks for the advice! And I'm glad someone else found his talk to be less than satisfying if not downright annoying. As I said, I like his first cookbook, but his second one just seems to be american food with indian spices thrown in it. Something that seems ironic given his proclivity for calling people 'inauthentic'. BTW, I've eaten at Devi and I thought it was OK at best, nothing I would ever go to again...

I'll definitely keep checking out events. Thanks again for your advice!

bon2mic wrote:Thanks for the advice! And I'm glad someone else found his talk to be less than satisfying if not downright annoying. As I said, I like his first cookbook, but his second one just seems to be american food with indian spices thrown in it. Something that seems ironic given his proclivity for calling people 'inauthentic'. BTW, I've eaten at Devi and I thought it was OK at best, nothing I would ever go to again...

Thanks for this. It seemed to me that I was surrounded by general reverence for his pronouncements, and I feared that I was the only one who disliked the presentation.

Hope to meet you at future events.

WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified partners with Culinary Historians by recording our programs and making them available for broadcast on demand at their website or downloadable to an iPod. Our most recent programs:

Passage to India with Suvir Saran, recorded March 21, 2009: http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/passage-india

Regards,