The Feast

Almost sixty years ago to the day, President John F Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline hosted the largest state dinner of the Kennedy Administration. Invited to the White House for a special "brains dinner" in April 1962 were 49 Nobel laureates, along with Pulitzer Prize winners, noted actors, and Poet Laureates. What happened the night Robert Frost dined with J. Robert Oppenheimer? How did James Baldwin get on with Mary Welsh Hemingway? On this episode, we speak with Joseph A. Esposito, author of "Dinner in Camelot: The Night America’s Greatest Scientists, Writers, and Scholars Partied at the Kennedy White House” to discuss the dinner and its impressive guest list.

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This week, the Feast is heading to Ohio to visit a brewery entirely dedicated to making beer like they did in the mid-19th century. Located in Dayton, Carillon Brewing Company is not your average craft brewery. Instead of wrestling with stainless steel tanks, you’re more likely to find these brewers chopping wood and discussing 19th century recipe books. We spoke with head brewer Kyle Spears and assistant brewer Dan Lauro to learn what it takes to brew beer like they did in 1855. Here’s a clue: the first thing you’ll need is a really big fire.

Written and produced by Laura Carlson

Photography and digital direction by Mike Portt

Special guests: Kyle Spears and Dan Lauro of Carillon Brewing Company

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In an era of celebrity chefs, fast casual chains, and meal delivery services available at the touch of a button, it may be hard to imagine a state where people drive out of town to go to a pyramid-shaped restaurant to enjoy a nice brandy-based cocktail, a relish tray, fried fish, and prime rib. Where the host lets you linger at a bar for hours before even thinking of being seated for dinner. Where you might know everyone in the restaurant, including the owners. And you may be back in a few days to dine at the same place all over again. 

But this magical state does exist, my friends. It exists at the Wisconsin supper club.

On this week’s episode, we speak with Holly L. De Ruyter, writer, producer, and director of Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club, the definitive documentary the explores the rise and enduring tradition of this dining legacy of the midwest.

Written and produced by Laura Carlson

Photographer and Digital Director: Mike Portt

Special Guest: Holly L. De Ruyter

Find out more about The Feast at www.thefeastpodcast.org

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This week, we’re featuring another interview from our trip to the first-ever Beer Culture Summit, held in Chicago in October 2019. This time, we’re heading to the Chicago History Museum to learn about the forgotten women that helped shape America’s beer industry in the 19th century. We speak with Dr. Jennifer Jordan, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, who has spent the last few years researching and writing about the forgotten hop industry and specifically the women who were often at the forefront of hop harvesting in states like Wisconsin and California. We chatted about Dr. Jordan’s research, which has taken her from the archives to the back roads of rural Wisconsin in search of the evidence for this once powerful industry of the area. We also talk about her research into the life of Ella, one of the many hop harvesting Wisconsin women of history.

For more information and show notes, please visit https://www.thefeastpodcast.org

Find The Feast at @Feast_Podcast on Twitter and Instagram

Cover image via the Wisconsin Historical Society

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This week, we're taking you to the heart of the Windy City itself, Chicago, to chat with the founder and executive director of the one of the only museum's dedicated entirely to the history and culture of beer: the Chicago Brewseum. At its helm is Liz Garibay, who has spearheaded the organization's programming and events for the last several years. In October 2019, the Brewseum hosted the first-ever Beer Culture Summit, dedicated to enhancing the cultural understanding of one of the world's oldest beverages. We chatted with Liz at a Chicago craft brewery, Metropolitan Brewing, about how she got into the beer history game, the origins of the Brewseum, and why history and beer go so well together.

Find out more about the other great breweries we mention in this episode:

3 Sheeps Brewing

Eris Brewery and Cider House

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The Feast is back! Just in time for the month of healthy New Year’s resolutions, our season premiere features a rich discussion on the history of feasting and fasting in Europe. We talk to Dr. Victoria Avery and Dr. Melissa Calaresu, co-curators of the exhibition “Feast & Fast: The Art of Food in Europe 1500–1800” at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, to learn some of the questions early modern Europeans were asking about what to eat and where their food came from: How can I eat clean? What is a moderate diet? Should I adopt a plant-based lifestyle?

Such questions might sound very 21st century, but these topics wouldn’t have been out of place in the 17th or 18th centuries as Europeans wrestled with the idea of how to adopt a moderate and nutritious diet. We’ll also look at some of the most epic feasting traditions of early modern Europe, from architectural sugar sculptures to ten-foot tall pineapples, but we’ll also uncover the questionable and often dark histories that lay at their root. Join us for a feast and fast of epic proportions on the Season 4 premiere of The Feast. 

Learn more: www.thefeastpodcast.org

Cover Photo by James Berrill

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On a special holiday bonus episode of the Feast, we talk to Robert Tinnell, the writer and director of the new film, “Feast of the Seven Fishes”, out now. Centered on the Italian-American culinary tradition of seven seafood dishes eaten on Christmas Eve, the romantic-comedy is based loosely on Robert’s childhood growing up in West Virginia.

From stuffed calamari to marinated eel to salt cod, we talked to Robert about the food traditions at the heart of the film. Although no one may know exactly this fishy feast’s origins, today, the Feast of the Seven Fishes has become a celebrated holiday tradition in Fairmont, West Virginia where the town holds a yearly festival in its honor.

For more information about the film, visit https://feastofthesevenfishesmovie.com/

For more information about The Feast Podcast, please visit thefeastpodcast.org

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The Feast is back! And we’re bringing you a few special episodes before the launch of Season 4 on January 7, 2020. Longtime Feast listeners may remember our episode that touched on the history of egg nog and the Virginia hardy orange. The hardy orange is often regarded as a pest, with its bitter taste, numerous thorns, and ability to survive the chilliest of frosts. Introduced by botanists hoping for a way to grow frost-resistant citrus in the United States in the 19th century, the hardy orange has become a common sight in the upper parts of the southern United States. But with a bitter pulp, full of seeds, it’s not exactly a fruit you want to enjoy for breakfast.

Professor Ian Glomski of Vitae Spirits in Charlottesville, Virginia has discovered what may be the perfect solution for this little shrub. Sourcing hardy oranges throughout Virginia, including even a few fruit from Thomas Jefferson’s grave, Glomski has produced a unique hardy orange liqueur, used in bars and restaurants throughout the upper South. On this bonus episode of The Feast, we talked to Ian about how he discovered a delicious way to use this invasive shrub. 

This show is part of The Podglomerate network, a podcast company that produces and distributes exciting new shows.

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Hungry for more food podcasts while the Feast is on season break?

Try Green Eggs & Dan, a new podcast from The Podglomerate. Taking a new look at “you are what you eat,” comedian Dan Ahdoot brings listeners in on conversations about food, life, and more, with some of his most entertaining friends. Not your typical, holier-than-thou food show, Green Eggs and Dan is the type of food podcast you’d make with your friends around the table, roasting more than just the food.

Subscribe to the show at Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

And, don't worry, Season 4 of the The Feast will be back soon with more delicious meals that made history. Find out more about when the new season will launch by visiting www.thefeastpodcast.org and signing up for our newsletter. 

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On the Feast’s season finale, we revisit a meal that ended a chapter in one of the most famous hotel’s in history: the Waldorf Astoria. Famous for its invention of the Waldorf Salad and (arguably) Eggs Benedict, the legacy of this world-renown hotel has always been associated with food. But what did the hotel serve on its final meal on May 1st, 1929? True New Yorkers know that underneath a certain famous city skyscraper lies the foundations of this mighty hotel: first known as the Waldorf and later the Waldorf Astoria. And when the hotel closed its doors at its original location after that final historic meal, many considered it to be an end of an era for Gilded Age New York. Join us on our season finale as we explore the legacy of that luxury hotel through its final meal of 1929.

Find out more about the recipes and stories feature on today’s episode at our website and on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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