Title: A Celebration of Our Members
Speakers: Carolina Capehart, Doug Duda, Elizabeth Schaible, and Scott Alves Barton
Date: September 15, 2015
Location: Exhibit C Culinary Studio
“A Celebration of Our Members,” CHNY’s annual business-meeting and opportunity to speed date through all of the wonderful work our members have been doing, took place at the hip new culinary space, Exhibit C, at 88 Eldridge Street. Four of CHNY’s distinguished members presented synopses of recent work.
Carolina Capehart opened the evening with a lusciously scathing indictment of the sin of many historic houses in promoting “historic receipts” that are really some nostalgic fakery. An experienced hearth cook, Capehart has seen firsthand the efforts of some to promote fakelore and pass off fake recipes as historical truth; her presentation was a welcome corrective to this unfortunate reality.
Elizabeth Schaible presented an intimate view Parisian restaurants based on her father’s gorgeous photographs from pre-war France; it was a rare, unique, and personal look at the iconic French bistro. Doug Duda shared the results of his important project, “Farm Life School in Redland, Florida: An Agricultural Community Center.” Duda’s efforts to bring this development to fruition were amply rewarded in the beautiful campus that is now furthering agricultural and community education in Florida.
The evening’s featured speaker was Scott Alves Barton (pictured here with CHNY member Megan Elias), a doctoral candidate at New York University and a winner of a 2014 CHNY Scholar’s Grant. Barton, whose work focuses on the cultural significance, politics, and economic opportunities presented by Brazilian street food, especially utilizing dendê oil, has traveled repeatedly to Brazil to conduct field research and to work with NGOs to bring economic opportunities to local communities. His presentation, “Feeding the Gods: Afro-Brazilian Street Foods and Dendê,” was vividly illustrated with images he captured on his travels, including video of the street sellers, all women dressed in flouncy white attire; it was mesmerizing and reminded us of the meanings and visceral powers of food to mark a culture.