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Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW) is an informal, non profit, educational organization dedicated to the celebration of food, ethnic cuisines, and culinary customs from all parts of the world. Membership is open to everyone, including home cooks, food writers, chefs, nutritionists, collectors, scholars, and students.

CHEW programs include presentations by speakers, lively discussions, foodie quiz contests, and delicious demonstrations. Past speakers, through their research, have brought us such eclectic topics as the history of the birthday cake, the orgins of Door County fish boils, the saga of corn, Native American fish foodways, food pyramid debates, and traditional Serbian cookery.

Feb. 1, 2012. 7:15pm

Please join us at the Goodman Community Center, located at 149 Waubesa St, Madison, WI 53704. The meeting starts at 7:15pm.

The Spoon Saga.

Speaker: Traci Nathans-Kelly

Inevitably, a crude variation of the spoon was likely one of the first tools that people ever used, fashioned of wood, rock, or shell. To scoop water, to stir a mixture, to move foodstuffs from bowl to mouth—the spoon is culturally ubiquitous and universally recognized as a tool used for eating and cooking. Consider, too, the spoon as instrument or tool. Spoons have also taken on cultural, artistic, academic, romantic, and religious meanings. Nathans-Kelly will review the travels of the humble spoon during this month's talk, bringing along some of her own collection for viewing, including hand carved wooden spoons that are so worn down that they no longer can serve as spoons!

Nathans-Kelly currently teaches technical communication in the College of Engineering at the UW-Madison. However, her dissertation in English was entitled "Burned Sugar Pie: Women's Cultures in the Literature of Food." This topic is an extention of her love for culinary history in its often "unseen" artifacts.

Please join us at the Goodman Community Center, located at 149 Waubesa St, Madison, WI 53704. The meeting starts at 7:15pm.

To get on the mailing list, or for more information, e-mail us at chew@wisconsincooks.org .