“Stuffed:  A Journey of Midwest Sausage Traditions"

In celebration of the best of the wurst from Cozy dogs to Chicago Style dogs, from the Mother-In-Law Tamale dog to the smoked varieties, it's all going to be uncovered.  

  9:00-10:00       Arrival and registration: coffee, tea and pastries served

10:00-10:45       Welcome

• Chris Koetke, Founding Board of GMFA and Dean of Kendall College

• Keynote Address: Andy Smith, Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia on Food and Drink in America, on sausage in the US.

10:45-11:00       Break

11:00-12:15       Chicago Sausage Traditions

• Barbara Olson, retired hot dog stand manager, on the Chicago hot dog

• Leonard Slotkowski Jr., grandson of Joseph Slotkowski who founded Slotkowski Sausage, on Polish sausage.                            

• Peter Engler, Research scientist and amateur food historian on the  Mother in Law, a Southside Sausage Surrogate.

12:15-12:30       Introduction to the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance by Bruce Kraig, Founding Board

12:30-1:15          Lunch: Vienna Beef hot dogs, corn dogs, Coney dogs, bratwurst and other regional sausage specialties

  1:15-2:45          Making Sausage

• Robert E. Rust, Professor Emeritus of Animal Sciences at Iowa State  University, on the art and science of sausage.

• Randy Ream, owner of Ream's Elburn Meat Market in Elburn, Illinois, on small-scale sausage production.

• Bob Schwartz, Vienna Beef, Chicago.

  2:45-3:00          Break—Eli’s Cheesecake

  3:00-4:00          Sausage Across the Midwest    

• Buz Waldmire, of Cozy Dog in Springfield, Illinois, on corn dogs

• Trudy Knauss Paradis, author of Milwaukee Germans: Their History, Their Food, Wisconsin bratwurst and sauerkraut

• William Lockwood, Anthropologist,Coney Dog

  4:00   Closing Remarks

• Catherine Lambrecht, Founding Board of Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance