Chicago’s Healthy Food was the oldest Lithuanian restaurant in the world when it closed in late 2009. I was on hand for the last days of this legendary South Side restaurant, one of the last survivors of a once-flourishing ethnic group in Chicago, to talk to the owner, staff and customers as they said Goodbye, Kugelis.

Sky Full of Bacon 14: The Last Days of Kugelis from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

The history of Lithuanians in Chicago is the history of the twentieth century— from immigration and work in the Chicago stockyards in the early years of the century, to the racial tensions of the 1960s and, ultimately, assimilation in the suburbs. One of the last examples of Lithuanian Chicago closed in late 2009: Healthy Food, a 71-year-old restaurant serving good hearty Eastern European food in the Bridgeport neighborhood. I was at Healthy Food during its last few days, talking to owner Gina Santoski about her life in the restaurant (which her parents bought in 1960) and to the staff and customers who made it one of Chicago’s classic old neighborhood spots. And, for the first and only time, I captured on video the complete making of Healthy Food’s signature dish, kugelis— according to Gina, she never let other journalists shoot the full process, because she was concerned that the traditional ways of making it would attract unwanted Health Department attention; but since she was closing anyway, she let me shoot it all. The video runs 15 and a half minutes.

I reviewed a visit to what is now the city of Chicago’s only remaining Lithuanian restaurant here.

Here and here are some LTHForum posts about the decline of the Marquette Park Lithuanian neighborhood in the past decade, and mentions of surviving Lithuanian stores and restaurants in the suburbs. (Probably the newest and most accommodating to visitors is Grand Duke’s, near Toyota Park in Summit.)

Another Lithuanian enclave that has disappeared in the last few years was around 47th St.; I visited Baltic Bakery during this LTHForum event in 2006, and Julia’s Lithuanian during the Chowhound Westernathon in 2003.  (Both are now gone.) The map showing where Chicago ethnic enclaves were around the time Healthy Food Lithuanian opened can be seen here; it actually predates Healthy Food by more than a decade (1926), so compare it to this one from 1940, which shows Marquette Park as the new destination for Lithuanians seeking to own their own homes. Interestingly, though, there’s no mention of Lithuanian food at all in John Drury’s 1931 Dining in Chicago, the primary source for information on Chicago ethnic dining of that era.

One of the things I’m happiest about in this video is that I was able to use authentic Lithuanian music of extremely high quality in it. I found the Lithuanian folk ensemble Sutaras online and contacted their music director, Antanas Fokas, and told him about my intention to help educate Chicago about our Lithuanian heritage. He gave me permission to use several cuts by Sutaras; I highly recommend checking out their recordings at their site.

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About Sky Full of Bacon

Sky Full of Bacon Short: Making Illegal Cheese
Sky Full of Bacon #13: Pie As a Lifestyle
Sky Full of Bacon Short: Edzo’s Burger Shop
Sky Full of Bacon #12: In the Land of Whitefish
Sky Full of Bacon #11: A Better Fish
Sky Full of Bacon #10: Prosciutto di Iowa
Sky Full of Bacon #9: Raccoon Stories
Sky Full of Bacon #8: Pear-Shaped World
Sky Full of Bacon #7: Eat This City
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.

Audio documentarian David Hammond started doing a piece on the growing (but commercially illegal) trend of raw milk cheese, for WBEZ’s Worldview. Then he invited me along to shoot the process— making this the first multimedia event in audio, video and camembert.

First, watch my 8-1/2 minute video about making cheese with amateur cheesemaker Coleen Graham. Then listen to Worldview on Monday, February 22 as David explores the issues involved in raw milk cheesemaking and reveals the results of a taste test to determine if cheese-eaters (including myself) can tell the difference. UPDATE: The radio piece is here.

Sky Full of Bacon Short: Making Illegal Cheese from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Note: the question was raised in an earlier post why Coleen is referring to raw milk itself being illegal to sell in the state of Illinois when in fact it’s not. The reality is that it’s legal to sell if customers bring their own containers (so the farm is not a bottling operation) and transfers it to those containers themselves, and as long as the farm does not advertise the availability of raw milk to the public. (See here for more information.) My guess is that in casual conversation, Coleen regards these conditions as discouraging any practical form of commercial raw milk trade so completely that it is, in effect, illegal.

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About Sky Full of Bacon

Sky Full of Bacon #13: Pie As a Lifestyle
Sky Full of Bacon Short: Edzo’s Burger Shop
Sky Full of Bacon #12: In the Land of Whitefish
Sky Full of Bacon #11: A Better Fish
Sky Full of Bacon #10: Prosciutto di Iowa
Sky Full of Bacon #9: Raccoon Stories
Sky Full of Bacon #8: Pear-Shaped World
Sky Full of Bacon #7: Eat This City
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.

Pie is more than just dessert— it conjures up a whole range of emotions and imagery. In this podcast, I explore the iconic American food with a popular Chicago piemaker, Paula Haney of Hoosier Mama.

Sky Full of Bacon 13: Pie As a Lifestyle from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Chicagoans flock to Paula Haney’s pie shop Hoosier Mama for great pies made the old-fashioned way, with natural and local ingredients and by hand. She’s also helped call attention to the midwest’s heritage with this icon dessert, by reviving 19th and early 20th century pie recipes like Hoosier Sugar Cream pie and using regional specialties such as persimmons. See how the pies get made in a tiny storefront, find out why there’s an entire category of historic pie called “desperation pie,” and pick up some pointers for your own piemaking from the pros in her shop in this Sky Full of Bacon podcast, which runs about 16 minutes.

Here’s Hoosier Mama’s site.

Paula talked more about midwestern pie traditions at a Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance program (where I also spoke).

Here’s Nancie McDermott’s site.

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About Sky Full of Bacon

Sky Full of Bacon Short: Edzo’s Burger Shop
Sky Full of Bacon #12: In the Land of Whitefish
Sky Full of Bacon #11: A Better Fish
Sky Full of Bacon #10: Prosciutto di Iowa
Sky Full of Bacon #9: Raccoon Stories
Sky Full of Bacon #8: Pear-Shaped World
Sky Full of Bacon #7: Eat This City
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.

Eddie Lakin, a former fine dining chef turned burger guy, talks about how to make the perfect old school burger and fries a few weeks after the opening of his hotly anticipated Edzo’s Burger Shop in Evanston, in this 7-1/2 minute short produced for the Chicago Reader. Read more here.

Edzo’s Burger Shop from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

It may not be the deadliest catch, but come with me as I go on a whitefish boat to catch one of the classic fishes of Great Lakes dining, and explore the history and prospects for this very local and sustainable fish.

Sky Full of Bacon 12: In the Land of Whitefish from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

True Great Lakes whitefish are one of the classics of midwestern dining— and a local and sustainable choice to boot. In the second of my two-part exploration of fish and sustainability, I go on a Lake Michigan whitefish boat to see how they’re fished, talk with the family that runs a fifth-generation, 130-year-old Wisconsin fishery, and talk to chefs and fish sellers (including a 92-year-old “retired” fish seller who still comes in to work every day) about what makes these fish special—if, sometimes, a hard sell to diners looking for the latest thing. It runs 19:54; be sure to also watch the first in this series, A Better Fish.

Here’s Susie Q Fish Co.’s site.

Here’s Robert’s Fish Market founder Robert Schuffler’s gefilte fish recipe:

Here’s a nice video I found about very local fish in Montauk, New York.

And be sure to read Art Jackson (SFOB #7)’s observations in the comments section.

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About Sky Full of Bacon

Sky Full of Bacon #11: A Better Fish
Sky Full of Bacon #10: Prosciutto di Iowa
Sky Full of Bacon #9: Raccoon Stories
Sky Full of Bacon #8: Pear-Shaped World
Sky Full of Bacon #7: Eat This City
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.

“The always enlightening podcast Sky Full of Bacon… So much of the seafood discussion is difficult for consumers to navigate but this 22-minute video offers a clear perspective on what happy seafood is out there.” —Serious Eats

Eat more fish, eat less fish… dive into the confusing world of fish today and see for yourself how fish gets to your table and how chefs are exploring new and more sustainable choices.

Sky Full of Bacon 11: A Better Fish from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

You hear a lot about fish these days— about eating it for your health, about overfishing and the health of the oceans, about farmed vs. wild. In this Sky Full of Bacon video podcast, I dive deep into the world of fish as it meets us at the dinner table. I go on a tour of one of the country’s largest fish distributors, to see how they move through thousands of pounds of fresh fish a week, and talk with sales rep Carl Galvan, who’s passionate about getting his chef clients to look past the standard menu fishes and explore new and more sustainable options. And I talk to chefs, fish sellers and experts from Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium about sustainability, and some exciting projects that offer promise for a future that still has fish in it. It runs 22 minutes, and it’s the first of a two-part exploration of fish issues that will conclude next month with my trip on a Lake Michigan whitefish boat.

Here’s Supreme Lobster’s website (Carl’s market report is linked on the main page), and you too can follow Carl’s Twitter feed here.

Here’s the website for Cleanfish, the sustainable fish broker I talk to. In the video Cleanfish’s Alisha Lumea mainly talks about their farmed fish projects, but one of their wild projects is just now coming into season— Nunavut Arctic Char from an Inuit community in far northern Canada. Read about it and watch Cleanfish’s own video here, and follow them on Twitter here for lots of sustainable fish news.

Here’s the Shedd’s Right Bite program.

Of course, there’s a lot of stuff about overfishing out there. Here’s a documentary about it that’s in theaters right now, and here’s a good piece from The Atlantic’s current issue that suggests a market solution to it.

Here’s my post about the meal at Taxim that included eating black cod liver; Philip Foss of Lockwood also posted about cooking with it here.

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About Sky Full of Bacon
Sky Full of Bacon #10: Prosciutto di Iowa
Sky Full of Bacon #9: Raccoon Stories
Sky Full of Bacon #8: Pear-Shaped World
Sky Full of Bacon #7: Eat This City
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.

Can food as good as Europe’s best come from the midwest? Go inside the Italian-style prosciuttificio of La Quercia in Norwalk, Iowa, and see for yourself.

Sky Full of Bacon 10: Prosciutto di Iowa from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Here’s an example of a local food from the midwest that’s not just good for a local product, but as good as any of its kind on earth. Since it first hit the market in 2005-6, the prosciutto made by La Quercia has been hailed in rhapsodic terms by top chefs and food writers (as you’ll see and hear from three of Chicago’s top chefs). Herb and Kathy Eckhouse set out to make a truly world-class product—and to do it in accordance with their principles about being environmentally responsible and humane toward the pigs they use. In this Sky Full of Bacon podcast, we tour the prosciuttificio south of Des Moines to see how state-of-the-art technology simulates the traditional Italian way of making prosciutto, and we hear the Eckhouses talk about how they got started, how they’ve built a business in line with their principles, and about getting Iowa farmers to adopt the ancient practice of raising pigs on acorns for the best hams.

Bonus Audio Podcast

I conducted a long and thoughtful interview with the Eckhouses, only a small part of which could fit into the video. So I’ve condensed the highlights of it into a 44-minute audio podcast which goes into greater depth into such issues as starting and marketing an artisanal food business, and how their prosciutto fits into the local food movement. It’s an interesting conversation that expands on much of what’s in the video; you can listen to it below, or go here, or listen to it at iTunes here.

La Quercia’s website is here. I highly, highly recommend the organic prosciutto. It costs more, but it’s worth the extra.

Here’s Jeffrey Steingarten’s December 2006 piece from Vogue, referenced in the video. (You have to register to read the whole thing.)

Here’s a NY Times piece which came out right after I first contacted them— I thought for sure they’d be too busy for me after that, but thankfully not. (You glimpse it on the wall in the video.)

Here’s a piece by, who else, Mike Sula in the Reader a couple of years ago on their guanciale.

Here’s a piece (which was Beard-nominated) on Russ Kremer, one of the two farmers Kathy’s talking about at the end when she says if she had to be a pig, this is where she’d want to be one. (The other is Jude Becker, who is the “Jude” Brian Huston of The Publican refers to offhand in Sky Full of Bacon #5, incidentally. It’s a small world of good, humane pork.)

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About Sky Full of Bacon
Sky Full of Bacon #9: Raccoon Stories
Sky Full of Bacon #8: Pear-Shaped World
Sky Full of Bacon #7: Eat This City
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.

Here’s a slice of small-town America… served next to a heaping plate of an unusual meat. Sky Full of Bacon takes you to the 82nd Annual Coon Feed at the American Legion post in Delafield, Wisconsin.

Sky Full of Bacon 09: Raccoon Stories from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Since the 1920s, the American Legion Post in Delafield, Wisconsin has hosted a raccoon dinner to support its youth sports programs. Even as the World War II vets who run it get older and the town itself becomes a suburb of Milwaukee, the spirit of the old Delafield— a place where you hunted for your supper, the town barber was the center of all the activity, and Al Capone was an occasional visitor— lives on in the stories of the folks preparing the 82nd Annual Coon Feed… and in the hearty welcome they give old friends and strangers (with video cameras) alike. Plus a special guest appearance by a celebrity chef, who tells us his own story about cooking Delafield coon. It’s 18 and a half minutes of a midwest that’s fast disappearing, but still knows how to have a good time on a Saturday night.

Here’s the site for the American Legion post in Delafield—so you can watch for next year’s coon feed and make your travel plans.

Here and here are Cathy Lambrecht’s posts about past Coon Feeds at LTHForum, and this links to stories of the celebrity chef referenced above (I’d watch the video first, though). Monica Eng at the Chi-Trib also brought raccoon into the same place here.

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About Sky Full of Bacon
Sky Full of Bacon #8: Pear-Shaped World
Sky Full of Bacon #7: Eat This City
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.

“The always superb Sky Full of Bacon video podcast from Chicago’s Michael Gebert serves up a tour of Oriana Kruszewski’s orchard which contains Asian pears, paw paws and black walnuts trees. Kruszewski’s knowledge, enthusiasm and perseverance is inspiring.” —HomegrownEvolution.com

Ever wonder about the farmers who grow and sell the produce at your local farmer’s market?  In this Sky Full of Bacon podcast, we meet Oriana, the Asian pear lady at Chicago’s Green City Market, and travel to her orchard in western Illinois.  She may not look like your typical midwestern farmer, but her challenges (from weather to pests) and her joy at making things grow are universal.

Sky Full of Bacon 08: Pear Shaped World from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Here’s another podcast shot while things were still growing, to help keep your spirits up through the long winter!  If you visit Green City Market in the fall, you’ve probably seen Oriana Kruszewski showing off whatever interesting thing she happens to have picked that week along with her trademark Asian pears— paw paws, persimmons, watercress, Asian herbs, ground cherries.  Oriana has some 500 pear trees at her farm near Galena; I visited her in October as the freeze was approaching and she was picking the last of her fruit for storage.  She’s always interesting to talk to and I think you’ll enjoy the chance to see what all lies behind the produce you buy at a farmer’s market.

For more information about Green City Market, go here. And as you may know, another fruit vendor at Green City had an entire blog about his experiences.

Mike Sula wrote about Oriana a couple of years ago; he fills in more of her personal history.

Josephine at LTHForum first posted about Oriana’s black walnuts in this thread; be sure to read Pdaane’s post about black walnuts in his Wisconsin home town.  (I’m in there too, eventually.)

Here’s a tart I’ve made a couple of times for Christmas using Oriana’s black walnuts:

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About Sky Full of Bacon
Sky Full of Bacon #7: Eat This City
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.

Urban foragers are people who eat what grows naturally from a very unnatural place— a city. In this all-vegetarian Sky Full of Bacon podcast, urban foragers show us how they find food all around them, and we nibble our way through a remarkable wilderness literally in the shadow of Chicago’s skyscrapers.

Sky Full of Bacon 07: Eat This City from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Feeling a little cabin feverish this winter?  This Sky Full of Bacon podcast (shot in September and October) will take you back to a sunnier, somewhat greener time as we explore the city looking for growing things to eat— from fruits to herbs to medicines.  First, chef-blogger Art Jackson shows us what he forages for his own use around his home in Pilsen. Then Art and I are led on a fascinating tour of a stretch of mostly undeveloped (for now) land on the near South side, which turns out to be an amazingly biodiverse landscape as it’s revealed to us by Nance Klehm, artist and urban foraging expert.  Along the way, we discuss many of the issues around foraging and the use of land and food in the city.

If you’d like to see more— and Nance showed us much more than I could include in this podcast— her foraging tours and classes in everything from canning to cheesemaking will start up again in March; watch spontaneousvegetation.net closer to that time for more details.  As urban foraging became a hot topic last year, Nance started turning up more and more in the media; there’s more in this piece from NPR’s Weekend America, this audio podcast from Chicago’s Little Green People Show, and this audio podcast from a magazine called Arthur.

Art Jackson, chef at Chicago’s Bijan’s Bistro, and his wife Chel blog about food at thepleasanthouse.wordpress.com; here’s a recipe they posted that uses one of the most easily foraged fruits in the Chicago area, mulberry muffins.  (We found mulberries but they wound up on the cutting room floor, digitally speaking.) It’s worth noting that I met Art because he commented on my very first podcast, so if you have an idea about something that would be interesting to do a podcast about, let me know and it could happen!

Here’s a Time Out article that came out last fall on another group of Chicago foragers. And finally, remember that the very first Sky Full of Bacon was about local food and growing your own, so if you never saw it, check it out.
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Nance’s recipe for the dandelion-burdock tea that she brought along for our forage:

dandelion-burdock coffee

this rooty brew is highly benefical for the liver, “the great absorber” of stress, alcohol and other unhealthy things. we need to support it in its work and this is a delicious way to do it!

dig dandelion and burdock roots in early spring or late fall. if spring, wash and use greens for salads, soups or stirfries, if fall, compost the tops or use them to mulch a perennial in your yard. wash roots and cut into small pieces. spread on a cookie sheet and roast for two hours in a 175 degree oven – occasionally stirring to roast evenly. you will need a lot of them, and there are a lot of them out there, so digdigdig.

to brew: put one 1/4 cup of roasted root in a one quart jar and pour boiling water over the top, cap and wait 4 hours or overnight. roots take a long time to extract their beneficial minerals. in contrast, a shorter brew is only colored water and carries none of the rich flavor or medicinal benefits. you can drink this at room temperature, iced or gently reheat it if you prefer it warm.

nance klehm will post her ‘living kitchen’ classes and monthly ‘urbanforage’ walks for 2009 on spontaneousvegetation.net in late march.

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About Sky Full of Bacon
Sky Full of Bacon #6: There Will Be Pork (pt. 2)
Sky Full of Bacon #5: There Will Be Pork (pt. 1)
Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale
Sky Full of Bacon #3: The Last Brisket Show
Sky Full of Bacon #2: Duck School
Sky Full of Bacon #1: How Local Can You Go?

Please feel free to comment here or to email me here.