Join us Monday, September 14, at 7 p.m., ONLINE as the Food Etymologist Dann Woellert shares the story of Cincinnati Goetta. Cincinnati loves goetta. Since its arrival with nineteenth-century Germanic immigrants, this humble dish has evolved from peasant staple to ubiquitous delicacy. Once upon a time, Cincinnatians found goetta mostly in neighborhood butcher shops, in Over-the-Rhine’s so-called Goetta Alley and through Sander Packing, its first commercial producer. Now hungry locals scarf it down at diners and white-linen establishments alike and in everything from egg rolls to Reuben sandwiches. Tracing goetta from its Germanic origins and its first stop in Greater Cincinnati to its largest commercial producers, Queen City Sausage and Gliers, food etymologist and “Goettevangelist” Dann Woellert explores goetta’s history in the city that made it regionally famous.

Dann has been in the product marketing world for more than a decade. He has traveled the country in search of “goetta cousins” and has a mission to make knowledge of goetta so prevalent that food writers describe scrapple as “goetta with cornmeal.” He writes the blog Dann Woellert the Food Etymologist, which discusses the origins of local and regional foods. He is also part of a new wave of entertainment started at bars in Cincinnati called Standup History, a combination of standup comedy and drunken history. Dann is affiliated with the Cincinnati Preservation Association, the German American Citizens League, the Brewery District and several local historical societies. He is a five-time recipient of the Ohioana Award for Literary and Artistic Achievement.