This week some copies of the Reader’s print edition are served with a lagniappe. Tucked inside 2,700 copies of the paper is the premiere issue of the Chicago FoodCultura Clarion, the culmination of a collaboration between artist Antoni Miralda and University of Chicago anthropologist Stephan Palmié.
Instead Palmié and Miralda, along with an editorial team consisting of noted investigator of south-side culinary oddities Peter Engler, chef and founder of Roots & Culture Contemporary Arts Center Eric May, and food writer Paige Resnick, put together the Clarion, a 12-page folded insert of original Chicago food writing and artwork. There’s Engler on the origins of Chicago tamales; anthropologist Magnus Fiskesjö on the weird history of presidential turkey pardons; an essay on navigating the pandemic from the point of view of a restaurant by Phillip Foss, and from Miralda, a centerfold “Chicago Tongue,” portraying the culinary topography of Chicago.
