HIDDEN JOURNEYS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Producer / Writer / Host
• Professor Emeritus of History and Humanities at Roosevelt

Bruce Kraig is a nationally and internationally known culinary historian. A Professor Emeritus of History and Humanities at Roosevelt, he has been called upon many times as expert by the media. Among his numerous media appearances have been: ABC National News, Good Morning America, Fox News, NBC News, Good Morning Australia, Australian Broadcasting Radio, BBC News, Los Angeles Public Television, Telemundo (Mexico), and many cable shows. Radio appearances have been frequent, including multiple appearances on National Public Radio, WGN-Chicago, and many other Chicago stations. Bruce Kraig has also appeared on stations in Canada, Detroit, San Jose, CA, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston, among others. He has been called upon many times national and international press, among which are The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and many national magazines. Bruce Kraig has appeared in the electronic media as an on-camera host and narrator, and as an expert in the field of food history. He was the host, writer, and historian for the public television documentaries Hidden China, Hidden Mexico, Food For The Ancestors, Hidden Korea, and will do the same in future productions in this public television series. He has also hosted his own television program about food in the Chicago area, "Traveling Fare," and two radio series, "The Mysterious World," and "Chicago s Food." Most recently, he delivered the keynote address to America s food editors at the Pillsbury Bake-Off on the topic of the rise of ethnic foods in America. He also gave the keynote address to the Tablescapes conference at the Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art and delivered an address at the Oxford (England) Symposium on Food and Cookery (where he has been a regular presenter) on "the Art of Rude Food." Dr. Kraig is the author of several cookbooks (most recently, The Cuisines of Hidden Mexico, John Wiley, 1996) and hundreds of articles on food and food history. He also writes for the major Chicago daily newspapers, notably his major article on the history of Chicago food for the 150th anniversary of the Chicago Tribune and recent articles on international and ethnic foods for the Chicago Sun-Times. A member of the editorial board of the Food Series for the University of Illinois Press, he is at present writing a book on the culinary history of Chicago and on the subject of his special expertise, the history and social meaning of the hot dog in America. Additionally, he has published widely in the fields of history and prehistory and his Elementary and High School textbooks on World History, World Cultures, and American history have been adopted nationally. Kraig is founding and continuing president of the Culinary Historians of Chicago.

Job Titles:

• Director
• Senior Producer
• Director of the Center for Documentary Studies

Producer/director/composer, Janice Thompson, turned a personal love of art, music, and history, into a professional award-winning career. In addition to producing/directing live sporting events, sports talk programming and feature profiles for SportsChannel, The Michael Jordan Foundation, and Chicago s FOX 32, Thompson s early work also included "Voices," a documentary featuring Chicago-area Holocaust survivors, now in collection at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. She is widely sought as a producer and director for television programs in Chicago and nationally and is a prize winning music composer. Among her awards are 3 Emmy Awards, a Gold Apple, a Silver Apple, the Herman Kogan Award for Television Journalism, a Chris Award, and 2 Lente de Platas. In 1992, Thompson was the first American producer allowed into the remote province of Guizhou, China to shoot a one-hour documentary about food and folk culture. The Emmy award winning "Hidden China", which aired on public television, led to future projects including "Hidden Mexico" (which aired on National PBS in 1996), and "Food For The Ancestors" (aired on national PBS in 1999 and 2000), "Hidden Korea" (aired on national PBS, 2000) and "Hidden India" (to air on national PBS, 2001). On these programs she has been producer, director, editor, and composer. Under contract with Nation Public Broadcasting, she is creating more programs in this series under the title, Hidden Journeys". Among Prof. Thompson s recent projects were "Words & Music, Maestro Please!" an open rehearsal and interview with Conductor Daniel Barenboim for public television; "First From Chicago", a public television talk show featuring prominent Chicagoans; and "The Double-Edge Sword," a documentary in-progress recounting the experiences of American prisoners of war in the Far East during World War II. She is also working on a book related to the subject for a major publisher. Ms. Thompson is now Director of the Center for Documentary Studies and Assistant Professor of Television in the College of Media Studies at one of the top-ranked production schools in the United States, Southern Illinois University. As a successful documentary maker and composer, Thompson has attracted wide international attention to the Center and works with documentarians from across the country and from abroad.