CHEW meetings are free and open to the public. Unless otherwise noted in a program’s description, meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month at the Goodman Community Center, (Ironworks Building), 149 Waubesa St., Madison, Wisconsin. Got questions? Or want to get on our newsletter list? Email chewwisconsin@gmail.com
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COMING NEXT
“Beer Ghosts: In Search of Lost Hops and the Women Who Grew Them”
Presenter: Jennifer Jordan
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, 7 pm, Goodman Community Center, 149 Madison, WI
Water, malt, yeast, and hops: these are essential ingredients of beer. Hops, specifically, play an outsized role in determining its flavor and aroma. In her new book, Beer Ghosts: In Search of Lost Hops and the Women Who Grew Them, Jennifer Jordan takes us back to a brief but pivotal moment in the nineteenth century when Wisconsin produced much of the hops grown in the U.S. Yet those long-ago hops are not the only ghosts in Jordan’s story. Haunting the pages of her book are the tens of thousands of young women whose work at harvest time was key to the rise of the American beer industry. Using diaries, letters, and handwritten census records, Jordan has pieced together the story of the rise and fall of this once-vibrant industry, and the lives of the women who made it possible.
Jennifer Jordan is professor of sociology, urban studies, and history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is the author of Beer Ghosts: In Search of Lost Hops and the Women who Grew Them (University of Chicago Press, 2026), Edible Memory: The Lure of Heirloom Tomatoes and other Forgotten Foods (University of Chicago Press, 2015) and Structures of Memory: Understanding Urban Change in Berlin and Beyond (Stanford University Press, 2006) as well as numerous scholarly articles. She is currently working on a book about handweavers on the eve(s) of industrialization. She has been a Fulbright scholar and a senior scientist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, among other fellowships.
CHEW meetings feature invited speakers, lively discussions, and often food samplings or cooking demonstrations. See below for info about our newsletter, membership, traveling library and more.
Newsletter – To receive our email newsletter, send us a note at chewwisconsin@gmail.com.
Membership – For info about why and how to join CHEW, click here.
CHEW Library – One of the benefits of in-person CHEW meetings is access to CHEW’s traveling library. Our collection totals over 110 titles, ranging from James Beard award winner The Sioux’s Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen to the very drinkable Bottoms Up: A Toast to Wisconsin’s Historic Bars and Breweries. To peruse all the book titles in our library, click Culinary. You can put in an “order” for a specific book by emailing chewwisconsin@gmail.com. The book will be brought to the next in-person meeting (if it hasn’t already been checked out). Several titles will also be featured at each meeting–you’ll hear a short review and will have the opportunity to check one of the featured titles out for a month.
Facebook – We also invite you to join CHEW on Facebook, for fascinating food links, discussions and more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/chewwis/