Retrospective of the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor—Two Decades of Culinary Exploration

By Jan Longone

Twenty years ago, on March 15, 1983, a small group of friends assembled in the living room of Jan and Dan Longone's home on the west side of Ann Arbor. For several years, the group had talked about starting a Culinary Historians group. 

Those invited to the meeting were Cathy Arcure, Tom and Mary Blaske, Janis Bobrin, Mitch Chyette, Beth and Doug Campbell, Charlene Depner, Nili Tannenbaum, Kathleen Vakalo, Ann Larimore, Andrea Leibson, and Dorothy Whallon Fish.

This first organizational meeting soon became the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA).

Our first formal gathering in 1983 was a group participation event-- “Gastronomic Events I Would Like to Have Attended or Would Like to Relive.”

It took place in the old Second Ward Building in downtown Ann Arbor, a building steeped in history, which was generously made available to us by John and Mary Hathaway. We found it a congenial setting for weaving our tales of our most beloved, sought-after culinary experiences.

All will agree that we have had a splendid and diverse culinary history education in the past 20 + years

The People
A small number of people have been with the group since its inception; others are more recent members. 

In 2006, CHAA will celebrate its 23rd anniversary.

Although the purpose of a group such as CHAA is not primarily social but academic and scholarly, in reality the opportunity of meeting members, guests, speakers, and other contributors to CHAA has been one of its most rewarding aspects..

Our Officers
In its 20-year history, CHAA has had an amazingly small number of chairpersons:

Jan Longone 1983-1988 (currently CHAA Founder and Honorary Chair)

Julie Lewis, 1988-1999 (currently Program Chair)

Margot Michael 2000-2001

Carroll Thomson 2001-present.

Each has made (and is still making) major contributions to CHAA. We particularly acknowledge Julie Lewis's more than 10-year stewardship.

No chairperson can be responsible for all facets of any organization. CHAA has been fortunate in having dedicated and creative support persons.

The following deserve a sustained round of applause: Carroll and John Thomson, Julie and Bob Lewis, Ned and Joann Chalat, Jan and Dan (our longtime treasurer) Longone, Pat Cornett, Ann Woodward, Mila Simmons, Susan Fussell, Jim and Judy Goldwasser, Ann Larimore, Charlene Depner, Bill and
Yvonne Lockwood, Chris Kent, Ann and Don Fowler, Gwen and John Nystuen, Jeff
Renner, Miriam Immerman, Muriel Seligman, Lucy Seligman, Kathleen Vakalo,
Sherry Sundling, Marion Prince Holt, Dorothy Whallon Fish, Nili Tanenbaum, Mary
Lou Unterberger, Tom and Mary Blaske, Katie Curtis, Fran Lyman--and others.

Meeting Places

Over the last 20 years, CHAA has met in many different locations. Currently, the regular monthly meetings are held on the third Sunday afternoon of each month between September and May at the Ann Arbor Senior Center at Burns Park. Special meetings have been held at many different venues, as varied as Zingerman's Next Door and the Matthaei Botanical Gardens.

Members have generously opened their homes and grounds for our annual summer picnics and December holiday potlucks, many more than once. Some hosted meetings in their homes; others hosted our speakers and gave special dinners to honor them. CHAA members and guests have also shared meals in a many different restaurants, covering a wide ethnic range from Vietnamese and Chinese to Cypriot, Lebanese, and Italian.

 

The Newsletters

From its inception, CHAA dreamed of becoming a nationally recognized organization with its own newsletter. Although there were sporadic informal newsletters, it was a struggle to find responsible volunteers to undertake a formal newsletter. But our goal of publishing a formal newsletter was reached in June 1987 with Pat Cornett as its editor. Thus, as CHAA enters its 22 nd year, we celebrate the newsletter's 18 th year.

The contents of the first newsletter in 1987 reflected the Michigan Sesquicentennial, which was then being celebrated. Since then, many persons have been involved in its writing, editing, production, and mailing. Editors and co-editors have included Pat Cornett, Susan Fussell, Marion Prince Holt, Cheryl Depner, Julie Levine, Ann Woodward, and Randy Schwartz, the current editor. Without their dedication and talent, the newsletter would probably not have survived.

With the Winter 1999 edition (Volume XV #1), our current editor Randy Schwartz took over the reins of the CHAA newsletter, turning it into a splendid and reliable quarterly, christened Repast in the Winter 2000 issue.

 

Summer Picnics and December Holiday Potlucks

In some ways, our summer picnics and December holiday potlucks have been among our most memorable shared experiences. Each year we feel we can simply not outdo the current year's event, and yet, impossibly, we do. All have been special, but a few stand out in my mind. 

Of the December potlucks, I especially remember several. One was on December 6, 1999, a Shakespeare Holiday Feast held at the home of Jim and Judy Goldwasser. Pat Cornett orchestrated this feast and everyone got into the Elizabethan spirit.

Another special feast was held in 1996 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of the first American cookbook, Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (1796) and the 100th anniversary of the first edition of Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cook Book (1896). 

John and Carroll Thomson were our hosts in their beautiful Victorian farmhouse; Julie Lewis coordinated the menu. Every dish came from a recipe found in these two books. It was a bountiful American feast.

Our summer picnics celebrating Julia Child's several birthdays have been very special, thanks to hosts and hostesses Joanne and Ned Chalat (80th and 85 th birthdays) and Bob and Midge Lusardi (90th).

The Hawaiian Luau, July 2001, at Sherry Sundling's farmhouse in Chelsea was among our most memorable picnics. With her usual talent and elan, Sherry was the perfect hostess.

For me, personally, the picnic held at the home of Marge and Maxwell Reade in July, 1993 turned out to be more than memorable. The theme was Pacific Rim foods, and it was well carried out...but then a surprise. CHAA honored me by holding a surprise party for my 60th birthday. I was both honored and surprised. I still have the crown presented to me on this occasion.

Other Culinary History Groups

We are proud to have established relationships with other Culinary History groups and culinary historians throughout the United States.

We exchange newsletters with most of them; several of our members have spoken at their meetings, and CHAA has hosted a number of their members. 

Through our newsletter and meetings, we have gathered and shared information about national and international culinary events and locales: museums, libraries, collections, conferences, symposia, cooking classes, exhibitions, books, magazines, journals, articles, speeches and lectures. 

All of this has contributed mightily to our joint culinary history education and knowledge over the past 22 years.

complete set of the CHAA newsletters and other records are being donated to the Clements Library as part of the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. 

Thus, our history--and the contributions of all of the members who have made it possible--will be available for research by scholars in the future.

 

-Adapted and condensed from Jan Longone’s article “Two Decades of Culinary Exploration,” which appeared in the Winter 2003 issue of Repast.