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Symposium on the history and foodways of chocolate

Symposium on the history and foodways of chocolate
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  • Symposium on the history and foodways of chocolate

    Post #1 - January 19th, 2009, 6:17 pm
    Post #1 - January 19th, 2009, 6:17 pm Post #1 - January 19th, 2009, 6:17 pm
    National Museum of American History and Mars, Incorporated

    present a symposium on the history and foodways of chocolate

    Saturday, March 7, 2009, 9:15 a.m.–7 p.m.
    Carmichael Auditorium

    Register for the free symposium:
    E-mail: chocolate.symposium@effem.com
    Registration deadline February 12, 2009
    Space is limited

    Speakers include:
    Howard-Yana Shapiro , Mars, Incorporated, Director Plant Science; University of California, Davis
    Marian Burros , Food Writer, New York Times
    Steve Klc , Pastry Chef and author
    Peter Liebhold , National Museum of American History
    Susan Terrio , Georgetown University; author of Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate
    Mort Rosenblum , author of Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light
    Louis Grivetti , University of California, Davis


    Chocolate: The North American Experience

    8:30 – 9:15 Registration

    9:15 – 9:30 Welcome
    Brent Glass
    Director, National Museum of American History
    Washington, DC

    9:30 – 10:15 Keynote
    Howard-Yana Shapiro
    Mars Incorporated, Global Director, Plant Science and External Research
    McLean, Virginia
    University of California, Davis

    10:15 – 10:45 Break

    10:45 – 12:30 Session 1 - Chocolate Diaspora
    Chair –Kenneth Kiple
    Professor, Bowling Green University
    Oxford, Ohio

    Origin Stories: Meso-America to 17th Century
    Louis Grivetti
    Professor, University of California, Davis
    Davis, California

    Military and Civic Action Stories
    David Hogan
    Curator, U.S. Army

    Jewish Roles in North America
    Celia Shapiro
    Archivist and Independent Scholar
    Washington, DC

    12:30 – 2:00 Lunch

    2:00 – 3:45 Session 2 – The Business of Chocolate
    Chair – Fath Ruffins
    Curator, National Museum of American History
    Washington, DC

    Entrepreneurial Stories
    Steve Klc
    Writer and Pastry Chef
    Washington, DC

    North American Chocolate Advertising
    Kurt Richter
    University of California, Davis

    Global Production
    Peter Liebhold
    Curator, National Museum of American History
    Washington, DC

    3:45 – 4:15 break

    4:15 – 5:45 Session 3 - Chocolate Consumption
    Chair – Marion Burros
    Author and Food Writer, NY Times
    New York, New York and Washington, DC
    Author – Cooking for Comfort

    Chocolate in 18th and 19th American Society
    Gerald Ward
    Curator, Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston, Massachusetts

    Chocolate as Medicine
    Deanna Pucciarelli
    Assistant Professor, Ball State University
    Muncie, Indiana

    Chocolate Culture in the 20th century
    Susan Terrio
    Professor, The Georgetown University
    Washington, DC
    Author - Crafting The Culture and History of French Chocolate

    5:45 – 6:00 Closing remarks
    Mort Rosenblum
    Paris, France
    Author, Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light

    6:00 – 7:00 Reception
  • Post #2 - January 19th, 2009, 7:13 pm
    Post #2 - January 19th, 2009, 7:13 pm Post #2 - January 19th, 2009, 7:13 pm
    For one happy moment, I thought this might be in Chicago. Sigh.
    "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." Ronald Reagan

    http://midwestmaize.wordpress.com
  • Post #3 - January 19th, 2009, 8:36 pm
    Post #3 - January 19th, 2009, 8:36 pm Post #3 - January 19th, 2009, 8:36 pm
    Anyone going? I might be persuaded to make the trip to D.C. . .
    Man : I can't understand how a poet like you can eat that stuff.
    T. S. Eliot: Ah, but you're not a poet.
  • Post #4 - January 20th, 2009, 12:05 am
    Post #4 - January 20th, 2009, 12:05 am Post #4 - January 20th, 2009, 12:05 am
    Hi,

    I have sent a query e-mail inquring on the fees involved.

    I was impressed this symposium is a full ten hours long.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #5 - January 20th, 2009, 2:52 pm
    Post #5 - January 20th, 2009, 2:52 pm Post #5 - January 20th, 2009, 2:52 pm
    Hi,

    I guess I should read better, "Register for the free symposium"

    Now I need to think about this ...

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #6 - January 20th, 2009, 3:04 pm
    Post #6 - January 20th, 2009, 3:04 pm Post #6 - January 20th, 2009, 3:04 pm
    Josephine wrote:Anyone going? I might be persuaded to make the trip to D.C. . .

    I thought the Carmichael Auditorium was in Chapel Hill, NC. :?

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #7 - January 20th, 2009, 10:42 pm
    Post #7 - January 20th, 2009, 10:42 pm Post #7 - January 20th, 2009, 10:42 pm
    Susan Terrio is the author of Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate, and as an anthropologist studied chocolatiers in Southwest France and Paris. Her book is really excellent, easy to read, and a lot of fun.
    Toast, as every breakfaster knows, isn't really about the quality of the bread or how it's sliced or even the toaster. For man cannot live by toast alone. It's all about the butter. -- Adam Gopnik
  • Post #8 - January 21st, 2009, 9:11 am
    Post #8 - January 21st, 2009, 9:11 am Post #8 - January 21st, 2009, 9:11 am
    Hi,

    I have registered for this event. Not yet 100% sure I will go, but I don't want to miss the boat while I dicker on this, either.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #9 - January 21st, 2009, 10:02 am
    Post #9 - January 21st, 2009, 10:02 am Post #9 - January 21st, 2009, 10:02 am
    Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

    I have registered for this event. Not yet 100% sure I will go, but I don't want to miss the boat while I dicker on this, either.

    Regards,

    Hi,

    Where is the event taking place? I'm probably just missing it but the initial post doesn't seem to mention it.

    Thanks,

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #10 - January 21st, 2009, 1:38 pm
    Post #10 - January 21st, 2009, 1:38 pm Post #10 - January 21st, 2009, 1:38 pm
    ronnie_suburban wrote:
    Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

    I have registered for this event. Not yet 100% sure I will go, but I don't want to miss the boat while I dicker on this, either.

    Regards,

    Hi,

    Where is the event taking place? I'm probably just missing it but the initial post doesn't seem to mention it.

    Thanks,

    =R=


    Hi,

    From what I gathered: National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. I am quite impressed by the speaker's roster.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #11 - January 21st, 2009, 1:43 pm
    Post #11 - January 21st, 2009, 1:43 pm Post #11 - January 21st, 2009, 1:43 pm
    Cathy2 wrote:
    ronnie_suburban wrote:
    Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

    I have registered for this event. Not yet 100% sure I will go, but I don't want to miss the boat while I dicker on this, either.

    Regards,

    Hi,

    Where is the event taking place? I'm probably just missing it but the initial post doesn't seem to mention it.

    Thanks,

    =R=


    Hi,

    From what I gathered: National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. I am quite impressed by the speaker's roster.

    Regards,

    Thanks, Cathy.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #12 - January 21st, 2009, 2:30 pm
    Post #12 - January 21st, 2009, 2:30 pm Post #12 - January 21st, 2009, 2:30 pm
    Cathy2 wrote: I am quite impressed by the speaker's roster.


    I'd be even more impressed if they were actually serving chocolate. The thought of going to a 10 hour long symposium and just listening to people talking about chocolate borders on cruel and unusual punishment for me. :wink:
    Steve Z.

    “Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
    ― Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Post #13 - January 28th, 2009, 5:47 pm
    Post #13 - January 28th, 2009, 5:47 pm Post #13 - January 28th, 2009, 5:47 pm
    I got my golden ticket! :D

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #14 - February 14th, 2009, 10:46 pm
    Post #14 - February 14th, 2009, 10:46 pm Post #14 - February 14th, 2009, 10:46 pm
    Hi,

    I will be attending this symposium in a few weeks. If there is anyone from LTHland going I am unaware of, please let me know. I expect to be there Friday and possibly leave late in the day on Sunday toward home.

    Yes, the road warrior is driving because how else can I stop to look at stuff?

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #15 - March 14th, 2009, 7:55 pm
    Post #15 - March 14th, 2009, 7:55 pm Post #15 - March 14th, 2009, 7:55 pm
    A few of us made the trip to Washington for the symposium and it was well worth it. The talks were uniformly excellent and there were interesting demonstrations of early chocolate making methods as well as opportunities to sample chocolate made from 18th century recipes.

    Image

    The symposium was convened to celebrate the completion of Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage, an amazing book resulting from a decade of work by over a hundred scholars. Anyone seriously interested in chocolate needs to look at this definitive work.
  • Post #16 - July 18th, 2010, 9:25 am
    Post #16 - July 18th, 2010, 9:25 am Post #16 - July 18th, 2010, 9:25 am
    HI,

    A few weeks after the Chocolate Symposium, the Smithsonian's blog had a discussion on Mrs. Snyder's Chocolates. I follow the Smithsonian's American History Museum's "This Day in History" links. Today is the anniversary of Mrs. Snyder's death in 1948 aged 72. This blog is here, which they are hoping people from Chicago would fill in with additional information.

    ...

    Mrs. Ora Snyder (nee Hanson) of Chicago was the mother of several children when her husband took ill in 1909 and had to quit his job. To make ends meet, she began making candy and selling it to the children down the street after school. She very quickly took her sweets to a different location in “the Loop” (Chicago speak for the historical downtown district) where her business really took off. By the time this photograph was made in 1925, she owned eight shops. In 1931, she was the first woman elected as President of the Associated Retail Confectioners of the United States.

    In a Chicago Daily Tribune article from December 20, 1942, she explained how war rationing affected business. “Mrs. Ora Snyder said her stores were 1000 orders behind and purchases are being limited to five pounds per customer. Even using more honey and maple sirups [sic] . . . the company cannot meet the vastly increased demand.” She explained, “People, because of sugar rationing and chocolate shortages, have fewer sweets at home and are turning to candy to fill the need.”

    After the war, when supplies were more accessible, she continued expanding her business. When she passed away at age 72 on July 18, 1948, she owned sixteen shops, one of which was a seven-story building. In another Tribune article, in 1959, son-in-law Seymour W. Neill was running the company of twenty-four shops, requiring some 380,000 pounds of sugar and 350,000 pounds of chocolate per year. He’s quoted as saying, “One thing that has become almost a lost art amid the mechanization is hand chocolate dipping. Snyder’s still employs about 20 who do hand dipping but they’re hard to find.”

    If you have stories about Snyder’s and the woman who turned a small kitchen-based business into a Chicago-based chain, please share them in the comments.

    Shannon Perich is Associate Curator for the Photographic History Collection at the National Museum of American History.

    Nobody added anything related to Chicago history to this post.

    This seems to be a large enough enterprise that it was likely bought and folded into someplace else. I simply never heard of them before.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #17 - July 18th, 2010, 10:16 am
    Post #17 - July 18th, 2010, 10:16 am Post #17 - July 18th, 2010, 10:16 am
    Cathy2 wrote:This seems to be a large enough enterprise that it was likely bought and folded into someplace else.

    You are right about that. Mrs Snyder's, with its 15 stores, was purchased by Fannie May in the 1960s.
  • Post #18 - July 18th, 2010, 11:13 am
    Post #18 - July 18th, 2010, 11:13 am Post #18 - July 18th, 2010, 11:13 am
    Hi,

    Thanks! That was my gut feeling. I couldn't think of another candy enterprise with a similar profile or as large.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #19 - April 11th, 2011, 12:35 pm
    Post #19 - April 11th, 2011, 12:35 pm Post #19 - April 11th, 2011, 12:35 pm
    I am the great granddaughter of Mrs. Ora Snyder and have trunks full of pictures, recipes, speeches and magazine/newspaper clippings. I have been moving all these old memories with me for at least 40 years and periodically enjoying reviewing these materials and amazed at her business acuity and public image. I wish I knew how to donate these treasures to some historical society or group interested in Chicago history. Any thoughts? Doctor JLH
  • Post #20 - April 11th, 2011, 12:53 pm
    Post #20 - April 11th, 2011, 12:53 pm Post #20 - April 11th, 2011, 12:53 pm
    Hi,

    I learned of Ora Snyder from a blog of the Smithsonian American History Museum last year.

    I have several ideas where her collection could be preserved. I am sending you an e-mail to the address you registered.

    I look forward to meeting you.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #21 - October 7th, 2011, 11:09 pm
    Post #21 - October 7th, 2011, 11:09 pm Post #21 - October 7th, 2011, 11:09 pm
    I was talking to a Great Grandson of Ora Snyder. He remarked she was mentioned in a Dale Carnegie book. I found her mention in How To Stop Worrying And Start Living By Dale Carnegie.

    Rule No. 9: If necessary, make a little extra money off your kitchen stove.

    ...

    Mrs. Ora Snyder will tell you the same thing. She lives in a town of thirty thousand-Maywood, Illinois. Yet she started in business with the kitchen stove and ten cents' worth of ingredients. Her husband fell ill. She had to earn money. But how? No experience. No skill. No capital. Just a housewife. She took the white of an egg and sugar and made some candy on the back of the kitchen stove; then she took her pan of candy and stood near the school and sold it to the children for a penny a piece as they went home. "Bring more pennies tomorrow," she said. "I'll be here every day with my home-made candy." During the first week, she not only made a profit, but had also put a new zest into living. She was making both herself and the children happy. No time now for worry.

    Go to page 144 for the rest of the story.

    Regards,
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,
  • Post #22 - March 10th, 2022, 3:31 pm
    Post #22 - March 10th, 2022, 3:31 pm Post #22 - March 10th, 2022, 3:31 pm
    “Confectionately Yours”: The Story of Ora Snyder, Chicago’s Candy Queen
    Cathy2

    "You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
    Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways,

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