NMAAHC Collection

Valentine's Day

February 14, 2023

Valentine's Day seems to correlate directly with the spread of Christianity, capitalism, and consumerism. In America, Valentine's Day is a multi-billion dollar industry. The holiday has good intentions: a day to celebrate love and show consideration for loved ones with a day of feasting, marking the end of a barren winter with warmer spring temperatures just around the corner. In my backyard, snowbirds sweetly chirp away and return home to roost, and purple and yellow crocuses slowly emerge from the defrosted earth, just in time for a day of flowers. The Valentine's Day holiday has European Christian origins and was named after Saint Valentine, who was executed "…on February 14, 270 c.e. by the Roman emperor Claudius II for conducting secret marriages of soldiers." (Roy) Later the February holiday became a Christian day of feasting, called the Feast of Saint Valentine. Another origin story for the romantic day comes from the Middle Ages in Europe, which notes February 14 as the day when "birds begin to pair." (Roy) Thus, another connection to mid-February love affairs. In America, Esther A. Howland popularized the V-Day greeting card, and Valentine's Day "became popular in the United States in the 1800s during the Civil War." (Roy) First, it was paper cards, and then British-born Cadbury added chocolates to the celebration. With the invention of fancy painted boxes filled with delectables, Cadbury manufactured "the first heart-shaped chocolate box in 1868." (Quinzio) By the late 1800s, in America, "edible solid chocolates in fancy boxes became the preferred Valentine's Day gift.." (Woloson) The historian Marcy Norton links the romanticization of chocolate with 16th and 17th-century observations by Spanish explorers in Central America, "…chocolate played a role in marriage negotiations among the Maya and in symbolic representations of marriage among the Mixtec." (Norton) In addition to chocolates, the New England Confectionery Company invented what is now known as Sweethearts in 1866, small heart-shaped sugary treats with one or two-word expressions such as be true, be kind, and be mine, marry me, and true love. During the 20th century, advertisements for Valentine's Day chocolates exploded with national campaigns. "By 2001 candy sales for the holiday reached over $1 billion, a figure which decreased slightly over the following years, amounting to $928 million in 2009." (Woloson) In 2019, "the percentage of people who celebrate Valentine's Day had declined steadily." (Wiki). The trajectory for Valentine's day consumerism is on a decline. With the rise in diabetes in western countries like America, it might be worth supporting good health, low sugar consumption, and skipping such excessive sugar-infused holiday traditions. Perhaps Valentine's Day can become less sweet and more savory, with delicacies still presented with love but instead having more consideration for the pancreas. 

• Quinzio, J. (2015). Valentine's Day. In The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. : Oxford University Press. 
• Roy, A. (2015). Valentine's Day. In F. Wherry & J. Schor (Eds.) The SAGE encyclopedia of economics and society. (Vols. 1-4). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452206905 
• Norton, M. (2004). Conquests of Chocolate. OAH Magazine of History, 18(3), 14–17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163677 
• Woloson, W. (2004). Candy Bars and Candy. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. : Oxford University Press. 
• Wikipedia contributors. (2023, February 13). Valentine's Day. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 

Russell Stover

February 13, 2023

When I was growing up, Russell Stover chocolates dominated the boxed chocolates in the grocery and drug store aisles. Around Valentine's Day, I would experience the American dream and rot my teeth away with factory-processed strawberry and raspberry cream chocolates. The creator of the boxed chocolate company, Russell Stover, initially worked for big tobacco, met his wife, Clara, and settled into farm life, harvesting flax and wheat. However, this career path didn't work out, so the Stovers relocated, moved into the candy industry, and worked for several midwestern candy companies. Afterward, their entrepreneurial spirit took over; in 1923, Russell and Clara Stover established their own chocolate company, initially called Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies, named after Clara's masterful kitchen creations. The business expanded, as did its advertising campaigns. In 1932, Kansas City, Missouri, became the headquarters for Russell Stover Candies. Americans continued to consume chocolate-covered caramels and buttercreams. A few short years after Russell Stover died in 1954, the company was sold to Louis L. Ward and became a publicly traded company. These days, several hundred Russell Stover employees were laid off during the pandemic; shortly afterward, Russell Stover Chocolates began employing inmates to manufacture chocolates. In the movie Forrest Gump, the main character munches on Russell Stover chocolates saying, "Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get."

• Pederson, J. P. (2008). Russell Stover Candies Inc. In International Directory of Company Histories. (2008). United States: St. James Press. P. 426 - 431. 
• Stover C. & Koury P. A. (1957). The Life of Russell Stover: an American success story. Random House.
• Russell Stover Chocolate Timeline | RSC. (n.d.). Welcome to Russell Stover. https://www.russellstover.com/russell-stover-timeline 
• Wikipedia contributors. (2023, January 15). Russell Stover Candies. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:03, February 13, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russell_Stover_Candies&oldid=1133790447 

Superbowl

Hunger

February 11, 2023

America's extreme and growing inequalities, lack of living wages, and affordable housing contribute to the rise in hunger and homelessness. Moving the vulnerable populations into tiny homes and kitchenless shipping crates is a solution that might only lead to the development of future slums. As the economy rocks back and forth and the coronavirus persists, individuals face eviction from their homes, and more highly skilled young adults remain at home with their aging families. Families cross borders, and transient men move in search of economic opportunity. Living paycheck to paycheck, with any loss of income, could lead to homelessness and hunger. The vulnerable and alone without safety nets fall into the gutters of despair. “Hunger and poverty go hand-in-hand…”(Cotugna) Poverty, mental illness, addiction, homelessness, and dependency on 'food stamps and welfare' are treated like burdens that society cannot face, yet, what are the roots of these conditions? Stagnate wages, unaffordable housing, family hardships, and lack of generational opportunities are stressful gateways for homelessness, mental illness, addiction, and food insecurities. Years ago, the mayor of New York City compared New York to Dickens's novel, A Tale of Two Cities. The two societies, one representing callous glutinous wealth and the other subjected to extreme poverty and inequality. How can we amend America's economic capitalist model rooted in slavery and reduce selfishness and greed, so individuals and families do not fear hunger, poverty, homelessness, and deprivation? What small steps can individuals take to help strengthen those who are powerless? Local community boards need neighbors to show up, have a voice, be a part of the community, and take action. If we start small by helping and trusting our neighbors, perhaps, that will be one small step toward change and improvement. Local food banks need volunteers; food banks "have become permanent fixtures in America because of economic recessions, job insecurity, erosion of public assistance benefits, and sharp increases in housing and other costs." (Cotugna) Food banks, soup kitchens, meals on wheels, and religious and hunger organizations can help alleviate hunger, but radical change is needed to create a more equitable society.

• Shelke, K. (2012). Food Banks and Relief Foods. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. : Oxford University Press. 
• Giesen, James C.. Food and Eating in America : A Documentary Reader, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2018. 
• Karp, K. (2012). Soup Kitchens. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. : Oxford University Press.
• Cotugna, N. (2003). Food Banks. In Eds. S. H. Katz (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Scribner.
• Morris, P.N. (2003). Soup Kitchens. In Eds. S. H. Katz (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Scribner.
• Lappé, F. (2015). Hunger. In K. Albala (ed.),The SAGE encyclopedia of food issues. (Vols. 1-3). SAGE Publications, Inc., 

The Iron Chefs: Post-Soviet Europe

February 10, 2023

On a recent outing to my local public library, I picked up Carpathia: Food from the Heart of Romania (2020) by Irina Georgescu and BUDMO!: Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen (2022) by Anna Voloshyna. Both books are written by ex-pats living in the US and UK. With Ukraine in my heart, I thought of exploring Eastern European cuisines from the Soviet Eastern Bloc. I recommend reading Red Famine (2017) by Anne Applebaum, which is about Stalin's desire to dominate and weaken the Ukrainian population with food restrictions, leading to the starvation and death of 4 million during the 1930s; it is a horrific account of the abuse of power used to control, suppress, and eradicate human beings. Shortly after Stalin inflicted starvation on the people of Ukraine, the Soviet government published The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food in 1939 for the Soviet people. I recently finished listening to Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, wrapped around this 1930s book which was developed as propaganda for Soviet food used to bolster Soviet cuisine and squash regional cultural identity. Von Bremzen nostalgically reflects on food traditions and longs to connect to her Russian culinary roots. In the past year, Russia has become one of the most globally despised, invasive, and despotic countries in Eastern Europe. I admire countries like Ukraine, which is becoming independent of the Kremlin's oppressive cultural and economic dominance. Besides the decades of conflict under the Soviet oppressive regime, local food traditions live on. A few cookbooks collect recipes and showcase regional foodways such as Ukrainian, Polish, Baltic, and Romanian cuisines and those from the Black Sea region. Anne Applebaum co-wrote a cookbook in 2012 based on her experience living in Poland called From a Polish Country House Kitchen. Voloshyna's Budmo cookbook discusses the fertile Ukrainian soil that produced rye, barley, beets, cabbage, mushrooms and the country known for borscht, stuffed cabbages, dumplings, and sheep's milk cheese. Budmo includes recipes for magenta deviled eggs pickled with fresh beets, green sorrel borscht, buckwheat soups, kasha, cabbage rolls, fried potatoes with pork belly, beet pickled cabbage, fresh Ukrainian cheese called Syr or Tvorog, and one 19th century recipe for sour cream ice cream. Carpathia by Irina Georgescu explores Romanian cuisine. The opening recipe is for a Romanian breakfast with creamy polenta and a runny egg sprinkled with pungent cheese. I plan on co-opting such an easy and comforting breakfast experience and, perhaps, one more comfort dish, the batter-crusted grilled Romanian cheese. The cookbook also includes other recipes using stinging nettle and lovage. Bors is a spiced sour fermented broth made with wheat bran and polenta used for soups; one recipe consists of a bors soup with beans, sausages, and pickled red onions. Lastly, there is a recipe for a sweet and creamy noodle pudding with stone fruits for desserts. All delicious, nutritious, and homemade. The Soviet Union suppressed cultural identity during its long regime. Yet, after the soviet collapse, former eastern bloc states have had the liberty to rediscover their cultural heritages through family lore, remembered traditions, and published works. Cookbooks help us remember such stories. As Georgescu notes, "food is intertwined with personal journeys and life stories." (Georgescu) We must recollect and record before such food histories are lost against future forces.

Ken Albala

Avocado

February 8, 2023

In 2020, Reaktion Books and the University of Chicago Press published Avocado: A Global History by Jeff Miller. That same year Pavilion Books published The Avocado Book Recipes for the World's Most Instagrammable Fruit by Ron Simpson and Julien Zaal. Two virtually identical covers were designed with light easter egg pastel backgrounds and a graphic illustration of an ovate-shaped avocado. It makes me wonder, what inspired such covers? Either way, The Avocado Book has over 60 fresh and fatty recipes for millennials, including the ever-popular yet straightforward dish, avocado on toast. Recipes for a Wagyu burger stuffed into an avocado bun, tuna avocado tacos, and vegan desserts are included in the cookbook. Hilarious avocado art creations and beautiful photographs line the pages of Simpson &  Zaal's book. Avocado by Jeff Miller discusses the history of avocados, includes some recipes, and is relatively short in length. Both books pair well together for anyone that loves avocados. Other avocado books are on the market, such as  Avocaderia by Alessandro Biggi, Super Food: Avocado published by Bloomsbury, and Avocadomania by Déborah Holtz.

The Grocer's Encyclopedia

February 7, 2023

The Grocer's Encyclopedia was published in 1911 by Artemas Ward; according to the preface, it took him 30 years to compile the 700-plus pages of all things food. The book includes over 400 illustrations. Before Artemas Ward published The Grocer's Encyclopedia, he was the editor of a trade publication called The National Grocer for 20 years. The Grocer's Encyclopedia describes foods sold at early 20th-century grocery stores, such as catawba, an indigenous people's wine, a green-colored cheddar cheese made with sage (sage cheese), and goosefoot, also known as quinoa. The encyclopedia discusses the history of such foods, the history of beer making; the history of the Italian maraschino cherries; the popularity of buttermilk in Scotland and Ireland; and the hoecake originating from southern plantations and named after enslaved peoples' cooking methods of baking corn cakes on a hoe, a common farming tool. The book also identifies problems and offers solutions like dealing with food rot; the prevention of ants with the use of sassafras oil; the use of cod liver oil for lung ailments; saving wood ash to use for soap; and "a good cat is the best remedy" for getting rid of a grocers rat. It's full of interesting little tidbits, like Cordon Bleu meaning blue ribbon, was "a term applied to a first-class cook, generally to female cooks," and the marshmallow plant was initially used to make marshmallows. A costermonger is a term for a "person selling any kind of food." Pretzels were initially called Bretzels; the B is for the shape the pretzel makes once formed. Of course, there is also outdated information, which is always fun to see, like, "radishes have practically no nutritive value." These days, as WebMD points out, radishes contain antioxidants and vitamin C. Michigan State University Libraries stated Artemas Ward "raised dairy cows on 3,000 acres of land in Orange County, New York, acquired several thousand acres of land in Westchester County, N.Y., and New Jersey, and had a thousand-acre apple orchard in Virginia." (MSU) Ward was the quintessential late 19th-century and early 20th-century gourmand who dedicated much of his life and free time to food history.

• Ward, A (1911). The Grocer's Encyclopedia. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/grocersencyclope00warduoft 
• Ward, Artemas, 1848-1925 | MSU Libraries. (n.d.). https://d.lib.msu.edu/content/biographies?author_name=Ward,+Artemas,+1848-1925  
• Davidson, A. (2006). Ward Artemas. In Jaine, T. (Ed.), The Oxford Companion to Food. : Oxford University Press. 
• Longone, J., Longone, J., Mendelson, A., Mercuri, B., Haddix, C., Ross, A., Bower, A., Smith, A., Puskar-Pasewicz, M., & Bartlett, V. (2012). Cookbooks. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. : Oxford University Press. 

Chow Chow

February 6, 2023

Chow Chow, not to be confused with the Chinese dog, is a pickled vegetable condiment now popular in Southern American cuisine. Malinda Russell included a recipe for Chow Chow in her 1865 cookbook. The SoulFood Bake Off on HBO mentions Chow Chow as a classic southern soul food dish. The Essential New York Times Cookbook notes Chow Chow as a "trademark flavor of the 1880s." The White House Cookbook from 1887 mentions Chowchow as a "superior English recipe." The Food Lover's Companion suggested Chow Chow might have been brought to the US by Chinese railroad workers. The Grocer's Encyclopedia noted  Chow Chow was initially used to describe a preserved Chinese condiment made with sweetened orange peel and ginger. With so many interpretations, what's the consensus around Chow Chow, and what other findings exist about the origins of this spiced pickled dish? Chow Chow in America appears to be an East India Company commodity imported from England with roots conceivably from the spice trade with India and China. These days this dish is associated with Southern culture and cooking. The dish's name appears to change throughout history from India Pickles, East India Chow Chow, Chow Chow, East Indian Pickles, Mustard Pickles, Yellow Pickles, Axe-jar, Achar, and Piccalilli. The ingredients of Chow Chow sometimes include cabbage, peppers, vinegar, mustard seed, turmeric, cauliflower, green tomatoes, onion, pickling spices (ginger, clove, mace, allspice, pepper), horseradish (mustard family), sugar, and celery seed. Based on the ingredients and well-documented English influence, I'd say Chow Chow originated from Indian cuisine, with dishes known as Achar, pickled produce with vinegar, curries, turmeric, and mustard seeds. Turmeric was exported from India and was the primary ingredient for the "pickle trade" in the US. (Stone) According to Wikipedia, mustard oil is an ingredient used for one of India's main types of pickles. Mustard and turmeric are essential ingredients in Indian, English, and American pickling. According to Oxford English Dictionary, Achar was first recorded by a European explorer in 1598. The dutch merchant John Huyghen van Linschoten published The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies, and his journals mention observations about food preparation in India, noting "pepper in Achar," "sodden in Vineger," peppers soaked in vinegar which is called Achar. Linschoten observed the influence spiced Indian pickles had on Portuguese wives. Pickled peppers eventually made their way to the Americas. The spiced sweet and sour preserved vegetables became a popular 19th-century food product, jarred and sold at groceries around America, not solely a southern dish. The earliest mention I found in America is from an advert in the Portland Gazette in Maine from January 11, 1822, listing East India Chow Chow. In 1849 in Louisiana, Chow Chow and the nearly identical Piccalilly were listed side by side as food products for sale. According to John Ayto's The Diner's Dictionary, piccalilli is a pickled dish made with cauliflower, cucumber, onion, mustard, turmeric, and vinegar. "The earliest apparent reference to it in English, under the name Pickile Lila, is in a recipe book compiled by Ann Blencowe in 1694." (Ayto). Chow Chow and its variations are fascinating dishes that combine many cultures, continents, and histories preserved in shippable glass jars. It is a dish symbolic of colonialism, the spice trade, and the expanded British mercantile sea powers in Asia and the Americas. There's more to the story of Chow Chow. I look forward to reading additional research about this dish from historians and scholars looking into the origins and Southeast Asian roots.

• Ward, A. (1911). The grocer's encyclopedia. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/grocersencyclope00warduoft 
• Ayto, J. (2012). piccalilli. In The Diner's Dictionary. : Oxford University Press.
• "achar, n.". OED Online. December 2022. Oxford University Press.
• STONE, B. G. (1964). THE SPICE TRADE. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 112(5097), 703–713. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41367670 
• Wikipedia contributors. (2023, January 27). South Asian pickle. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 
• Herbst S. T. & Herbst R. (2007). The new food lover's companion (4th ed.). Barron's Educational Series.
• Charles River Editors. (2n.d.). The east india company: the history of the British empire's most famous mercantile company. Charles River Editors.

Soul Food

Gordon Parks

February 4, 2023

Gordon Parks was a 20th-century author and photographer with a long extensive career in photography, working as the first African American photographer for Life Magazine and the Farm Security Administration. He also established Essence Magazine. Gordon Parks grew up on a farm in Kansas. According to Wikipedia, "his father was a farmer who grew corn, beets, turnips, potatoes, collard greens, and tomatoes. They also had a few ducks, chickens, and hogs." (Wiki). Growing up, his family shared food with transient families searching for food, and his mother always shared what she could. Gordon Parks worked as a waiter in a train dining car that crisscrossed the country and, at one point, became a "cattle herder." (Burrows). After receiving a job working for the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, Parks said, "…no longer would my stomach ache for hunger" (Parks, p23); his creative pursuits were about to take off. In the late 30s, Parks began his career as a photojournalist but continued to experience discrimination and forced segregation at restaurants in Washington, D.C. "...in 1942 he was not able to eat in even Washington's cheapest whites-only restaurant." (Burrows) Gordon Parks was active in the civil rights movement, fighting for equality and fairness. The Library of Congress in DC now collects Gordon Parks' early photography projects from the 1940s that documented Americans and poverty for the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information. A Hungry Heart was Gordon Parks's last memoir, written in his 90s shortly before his death in 2006. Parks wrote about photographing families suffering from extreme poverty and hunger and noted, "…hunger is someone's vicious enemy" and “hunger nudges kids into violence.” (Parks, p261). This a reminder that we should contribute what we can to help others and help eliminate hunger and the struggles associated with poverty. Following in the footsteps of Gordon Parks, volunteers can contribute to helping reduce suffering and injustice through nonprofit organizations such as the Food Bank for NYC, City Harvest, and New York Common Pantry. These are three great organizations working to address hunger-related issues in NYC. 

• Burrows, Barbara Baker. "Remembering Gordon Parks (1912–2006)." American Art, vol. 20, no. 3, 2006, pp. 118–21. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1086/511098 
• Parks G. (2005). A hungry heart : a memoir (1st Atria books hardcover). Atria Books. https://archive.org/details/hungryheartmemoi0000park 
• Schulz, C. (2005). Parks, Gordon. In The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. : Oxford University Press.
• Schul, E. (2001). Parks, Gordon. In The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. : Oxford University Press.
• Wikipedia contributors. (2023, February 3). Gordon Parks. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Parks 

Malinda Russell

February 3, 2023

February is African American heritage month. One early culinary icon is Malinda Russell, who has been identified as the first known African American woman cookbook author. Malinda Russell was a cook born free from the confines and brutality of 19th-century American slavery and later in life published A Domestic Cook Book in 1866. Russell’s life is a mystery, and what is known is intriguing. Russell’s mother died when she was young, but she went on to receive a culinary education from Fanny Steward, a Virginian cook. The Virginia House-Wife by Mary Randolph influenced her cooking style. As a young woman, Malinda had hoped to travel to Africa and become a citizen of Liberia. Unfortunately, circumstances robbed her of her sea fare, leaving her to wander the American lands making a living through cooking, baking, and boarding in Tennessee, Virginia, and Michigan. Misfortune pursued her throughout her life; she fell victim to thievery multiple times. Shortly into her marriage, her husband passed away, leaving her alone to care for a disabled son. Afterward, she opened a pastry shop which was later raided during the civil war years, forcing her to flee north. “Hearing that Michigan was the Garden of the West…”(Russell), she relocated and settled in Paw Paw, Michigan, which is how the world came to know of Malinda Russell. Paw Paw is where A Domestic Cook Book was printed by Thomas O. Ward, owner of the True Northerner newspaper. The cookbook includes recipes for sweet cakes, such as soft gingerbread with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and molasses; rich black cake with sour cream, butter and molasses, mace, brandy, and dried fruits; caraway seed cake with rose water; and raspberry tea cake. Many recipes are made with mace, rose water, and caraway. Her recipes are heavy with spices, wines, and creams. There are several recipes for puddings, custards, and pies, including sweet potato baked pudding; molasses custard; onion custard; baked cranberry pudding; and Delmonico pudding. Savory dishes, too, include potted beef, fricasseed catfish, and fried oysters. English Virginian, American Indian, and African American influences can be found in her collection of early American recipes. 

• Longone, Jan. “Early Black-Authored American Cookbooks.” Gastronomica, vol. 1, no. 1, 2001, pp. 96–99. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2001.1.1.96. 
• Russell, M., (1866). A domestic cook book: containing a careful selection of useful receipts for the kitchen. Paw Paw, Mich. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004747129 

The Walden Way

February 2, 2023

Last summer, I spent much of my limited free time watching Alone, and I was mesmerized by the idea of living in the wilderness. My wilderness living curiosity stems from not being able to afford housing as an individual in America. While watching Alone, the idea of living in a tent seems like the more realistic and affordable option. I am not alone here in my thinking, as The Salt Path by Raynor Winn addresses losing one's home, heading towards the hiking trails along the coast of the United Kingdom, and being constantly famished on the path towards stability. Walden by Henry David Thoreau is the literary manifesto for the wilderness living ideology, where one can escape the treachery of greedy pursuits and live a simple life in the woods. In 1845, the Harvard-educated Thoreau spent two years living in the country near Walden Pond in Massachusetts (the property of his literary pal, Ralph Waldo Emerson) and wrote about his experience off the grid. During his wilderness experiment, he survived cheaply on potatoes, green corn, peas, rice, rye flour, cornmeal, salted pork, sugar, lard, apples, dried apples, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, watermelon, salt, water, woodchuck, fish, purslane, unleavened bread, and pumpkin/beet molasses. Thoreau brought tools such as a kettle, skillet, frying pan, ladle, two knives, two forks, three plates, one cup, one spoon, and jugs for oil and molasses. He collected fruits from the land like wild apples, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, groundnuts, chestnuts, and the many fishes of Walden Pond. Cultivating the ground and turning fields into rows of beans and potatoes, he produced nine bushels of beans and fourteen bushels of potatoes. A local grocery nearby sold raisins, nuts, salt, and flour. Thoreau succeeded at living in the country woods away from the struggle of the 18th-century industrial revolution and wrote his memoir and ode to the return to nature. The television show Alone relives the Walden experience, only with more immediate hardships. The all-alone survivalists' hunt, forage, and fish for meals. They purify water, eat slugs, chomp on raw bull kelp, hunt moose and mice, and grate tree bark to abate hunger and starvation. If they are lucky, contestants will tearfully thank heaven and end up with a rabbit or fish. Chef vs. Wild builds on this idea of returning to the world's natural beauty far from factory farms and big box grocery stores. The reality tv show follows chefs and survivalists searching for mushrooms, fish, berries, and plants to prepare an elegant wilderness meal in a well-stocked, thank the industrial revolution high-tech kitchen that happens to be on the top of a mountain at the center of an outdoor paradise—the best of both worlds.

The Public Library

February 1, 2023

All over the country, libraries are creatively thinking about new ways to uplift community spirits and offer the public ways to learn something new. Public libraries provide the community with considerable benefits like free educational or entertainment resources and an indoor place to go and sit, read, relax and remain unbothered. Every public library has a cookbook section. I have spent many hours in front of those shelves, browsing, reading, checking out new cookbooks, and becoming inspired by my newly acquired information and knowledge. "NYPL has been collecting cookbooks since its founding in 1911." (Federman) American libraries offer free public programs like drive-thru food pantries to address hunger and food insecurities. The Southern Adirondack Library System has partnered with local organizations to address local food wastelands (deserts). The Public Library of Brookline in Massachusetts allows the local community to check out cake pans in the shape of an airplane, butterfly, giant cupcake, Hansel and Gretel witch's house, a yule log, and more. The Brooklyn Public Library offers a teen cooking program. Many other library locations across America provide cooking demos and online cooking tutorial videos. The Vienna Library in West Virginia partnered with their local Master Gardeners program to share information about horticulture and edible gardens. The Omaha Public Library in Nebraska started a local seed library.  The Slater Public Library offers a monthly Meet n' Eat program on location. The Free Library of Philadelphia has a Culinary Literacy Center and is a leading U.S. institution spearheading the library and cooking movement. Unfortunately, when I visited the library in Philadelphia, I was told the room was closed and not assessable to the public unless programming was scheduled. Sadly, I could not peek into the room to see the Culinary Literacy Center's professional kitchen. Despite this, it sounds like a remarkable program for the local community when open to the public. Offering food programs within public libraries may encounter problems with local health departments, and health certification may be required. The development of partnerships between community libraries and the food industry can create future opportunities to establish regular public programming related to cookbooks and cuisine. Now that the dread of the pandemic concludes, residents can step out into their communities and chow down with neighbors.

• Federman, R. (2015). New York Public Library. In Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover’s Companion to New York City. : Oxford University Press. 
• Krystal, B. (2021, March 29). Why you should use the library as a valuable — free! — resource for cookbooks, kitchen tools and more. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/03/29/libraries-cookbooks-magazines-kitchen-equipment/ 
• Lenstra, N., & D’Arpa, C. (2019). Food Justice in the Public Library: Information, Resources, and Meals. The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 3(4), 45–67. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48645197 
• Dankowski, T. (2019, April 23). A Movable Feast. American Libraries Magazine. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/09/04/movable-feast-library-mobile-kitchens/ 

Sicily

January 31, 2023

Once upon a time, I had the opportunity to spend a week on the island of Sicily. I arrived in Messina in the middle of the night, speeding through the streets in a taxi, took a boat to Lipari, and, later, a train down the beautiful western coast. Lovely, except for the apocalyptic oil refineries that blackened the skies around Syracuse, the sky eventually returned to blue, and I ended up in Noto. While dining at an outdoor restaurant in Noto, devoid of people, a small group of influential people arrived midday with an entourage and a physically fit security detail dressed in freshly pressed suits, black sunglasses, and curly wires danging from behind the ears. As an American, unfortunately, raised on too many action movies, it was just like a scene from The Godfather, feeling a slight sense of trepidation, I got up and left. Afterward, I journeyed across the island to Palermo on a slow train trip across arid farmland. I remember the trains in Sicily being so smelly I had to inhale the scents of citrusy lime to mitigate the musky odor. Besides this funk, and perhaps, very powerful deep-rooted families, there is no place like Sicily. Eating mussels, drinking deep red wines, gorging on prosciutti, prickly cactus fruit, and fresh produce every day for a week—one of the best real vacations of my life. Sicily is the land of relaxation, a society designed around a restful afternoon siesta, one of the longest in Europe. Life is good in Sicily! Unless you are north African or Romani, then you might get hassled by Sicilian authorities. Above are photographs from my trip through Sicily in 2007. Below you'll find a selection of cookbooks devoted to Sicilian cuisine.

Haruki Murakami

January 30, 2023

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author who writes cult classics in the genre of magical realism. His books are about the seemingly boring lives of individuals that lead to unpredictable journeys into parallel universes like paintings, abandoned wells, and worlds with two moons, with themes of cats, baseball, melancholic men and women, libraries, and bland foods. I've read most of his novels as English translations and love them all except for IQ84. When I find an author I like, I read every published book back to back. The problem with this method is every story begins to blur into one long novel. It's hard for me to differentiate novels in my mind's memory. Haruki Murakami is an excellent author to read during the cold winter months. In What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Murakami discusses his first career owning a Jazz bar in Japan. He would serve diners coffee during the day and drinks at night and listen to the details of customers' life stories. Haruki's novels almost always involve characters sitting and having conversations over a meal. He writes about western and Japanese foods, simple meals, and nothing pretentious. The first sentence from Murakami's most well-known book, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, starts with a description of the character at work in the kitchen, "When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta." (Murakami, 2011, p16) Many other passages are spent cooking in the kitchen. "I went to the kitchen, filled the kettle, and lit the gas. When the water boiled, I made coffee and sat at the kitchen table to take a sip. Then I made toast and ate some potato salad from the refrigerator. This was the first time in years that I had eaten breakfast alone." (Murakami, 2011, p175) The main character often sits around, waiting, drinking coffee, cooking, and eating alone. "I was in the middle of preparing lunch when the phone rang again. I had cut two slices of bread, spread them with butter and mustard, filled them with tomato slices and cheese, set the whole on the cutting board, and I was just about to cut it in half when the bell started ringing." (Murakami, 2011, P32) In Norwegian Wood,  food preparation is explained in detail, "I washed three cucumbers in the sink and dribbled a little soy sauce into a dish. Then I wrapped a cucumber in nori, dipped it in soy sauce, and gobbled it down." (Murakami, 2000, p191) Almost as if his novels are food chronologies arranged by breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout each work, "On the way I found an open eatery and had myself a breakfast of rice, miso soup, pickled vegetables, and fried eggs." (Murakami, 2000, p233) In Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, the melancholic character "...had lunch at the college cafeteria, but other than that, he hardly consumed a decent meal. When he felt hungry he stopped by the local supermarket and bought an apple or some vegetables. Sometimes he ate plain bread, washing it down with milk straight from the carton." (Murakami, 2014, p5) My top Murakami works would be Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994), Kafka on the Shore (2002), Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (2013), and Killing Commendatore (2017). One could devote a whole blog or cookbook to Haruki Murakami dishes, and I hope a book is currently in the works! Also, I'm particularly interested in reading about his cookbook collection. 

• Murakami H. & Rubin J. (2011). The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Vintage International. https://archive.org/details/windupbirdchroni0000unse/mode/2up  
• Murakami H. & Rubin J. (2000). Norwegian Wood. Vintage International. https://archive.org/details/norwegianwood00mura/mode/2up 
• Murakami H. & Gabriel P. (2014). Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage : a novel (First American). Alfred A. Knopf. https://archive.org/details/colorlesstsukuru0000mura/mode/2up 
• Murakami H. & Gabriel P. (2005). Kafka on the Shore (1st American). Alfred A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House. https://archive.org/details/kafkaonshore00mura_0/mode/2up  

Fulton Fish Market

January 29, 2023

I spent two decades in New York, and for the first five years, the Fulton Fish Market was still open in lower Manhattan; however, it was not an ideal environment to walk around without purpose. Reaching the vicinity of the fish market, one could smell the fishiness. Around this time, I lived in lower Manhattan, and every summer morning, I would wake to the lovely smell of wet cardboard and rotting fish. This may be one of the reasons the Fulton Fish Market moved to the Bronx. It smelled, attracted rot eaters, and was unwelcoming to women, children, and tourists. After September 11, 2001, it was essential to have New Yorkers and out-of-towners return to lower Manhattan; moving the fish market would open up the waterfront and make the area more hospitable to daytrippers, and the waterfront is a valuable asset for the real estate industry to develop. New York restauranteurs are nostalgic for the good old days of the fish market, but South Street Seaport is pretty great these days. NYC has added a new East River ferry stop at South Street Seaport, renovated nearby public parks, and established restaurants, and it's safer and cleaner to walk around. There is a beautiful view of Brooklyn and no smells of rotting fish. In 2005, after 180 years of operation, the Fulton Fish Market relocated to - at the time - one of the most crime-stricken neighborhoods in New York City, Hunts Point, which, before the pandemic, was also seeing an economic uplift. Jonathan H. Rees recently published a book about the history of the Fulton Fish Market, mentioning that NYC redeveloped the neighborhood around the Fulton Street fish market and turned it into an "upscale eaters paradise" (Rees). Rees said the fish market was initially called Fulton Market, and around 1822, New Yorkers could buy groceries and pick up fish. Afterward, it turned into a wholesale fish market between 1850 and 1920. Unfortunately, with the growing industry, local waterways have become polluted. I lived in Brooklyn for over a decade. There was a stinky sewage water treatment facility nearby, many petroleum refineries, oil storage tanks, and an oil-slicked slime covering the brackish creek between Brooklyn and Queens, which included floatable flushables after heavy rain storms. I would not want to eat fish out of these waterways and cringe when I see fishing hobbyists along the shore of the East River, hoping to bake a catch of the day. When the rivers became more polluted, local fish became more scarce during the 20th century; therefore, the Fulton Fish Market became an international market, with fish flown in worldwide. Rees mentions that the fish market was perhaps more of an illicit gangster's paradise, which led to its eventual demise. I'll leave this research for someone else to investigate and stick with searching for images of breaded fish sticks. Have I mentioned how much I love Sicilian food? 

• NYC H2O. (2022, November 30). Fulton Fish Market with author Jonathan Rees. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIn_I_gnMYE 

Menu Design

January 28, 2023

Restaurant menus have an origin story in eighteenth-century France. According to Paul Freedman In Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover's Companion to New York City, seventy years later, fine dining restaurants became increasingly popular in the U.S. Menu Design in America, edited by Jim Heimann, is a compilation of 800 reproductions of restaurant menus. Taschen published a follow-up with Menu Design in Europe in 2022, another collection of restaurant menus from the 1800s to the 2000s. The Culinary Institute of America and the New York Public Library have extensive menu collections, as do many other archives at leading universities. "Most menus in library collections...are dated between the latter half of the 19th century and the present." (Pearlman) The Denver Public Library has 26 oversize boxes full of menus from the mid-1800s to 2013. Cornell University has over 10,000 menus. Johnson & Wales University Library collects menus from the National Restaurant Association. Tulane University has the Louisiana Menu and Restaurant Collection. Ephemera menu collections are fascinating, with folders stored in museum and library archives recording what people consumed away from home kitchens. Over time, such collections show a chronology of the evolution of culinary trends in restaurants. The documents also showcase the design and artistic styles of the times, created by various graphic designers and illustrators. Some artists are known, and some remain unknown names lost to history. Yet, their artistic creations remain remembered. "With the advance of color engraving, menus by the 1890s were carefully and beautifully designed," and "the period from 1920 to 1970... was an era of magnificent and extravagant menu design." (Freedman) There are menus from cruise ships, airplanes, railroad dining cars, restaurants, events, and banquets. According to Food in the American Gilded Age by Helen Zoe Veit, "...a main reason these [banquet] menus survived at all was because it was a fad of the era to give banquet guests souvenir copies of the menu so that they could long remember the delights of the night."(Veit) In 1906 the Swedish Society held a banquet with seven courses, including my favorite reoccurring menu item, the 19th-century appetizer, celery and olives, and Neapolitan ice cream for dessert. According to Paul Freedman, the oldest menu in NYC was from Delmonico in 1838. Like with much-remembered material in the archives, the collection is often not equitable or representative of all peoples. 19th-century menus were for the gilded gentry or those who could afford the life of fine dining, while the subjugated poor would dine at the almshouse sans printed pieces of paper to record their dining experiences. Those who can pay are remembered, and those who cannot are forgotten. Despite this, there is an alluring beauty in such records, and dining establishments provided many economic benefits and employment for the food industry, like sustaining fishermen, farmers, cooks, chefs, servers, washers, artists, and designers of menus.

• Freedman, P. (2015). Menus. In Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover's Companion to New York City. : Oxford University Press.
• Pearlman, A. (Ed.) (2015). Restaurant Menu Design in The SAGE encyclopedia of food issues. (Vols. 1-3). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483346304 
• Veit, H.Z. (2017). Food in the American Gilded Age. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.

Cali Abalone

January 27, 2023

Abalone is a large edible sea snail that slithers along the alga-covered rocks on the coast of California in search of seaweed. The 1953 article, Abalone: The Gastronomist's Gastropod by Eugene C. Bovee, which is beautifully written, describes the sea creature as such, "Herbivorous is the abalone. Using its strap-like tongue, armed with hooked teeth ... it browses on vegetation of the ocean bottom.... Peaceful and harmless to its neighbors, it has few enemies other than man during its adult life, and let alone, lives to a ripe age, unless beset by parasitic worms." (Bovee) Growing up near the sunny coast of San Diego, my family would head to the Pacific Ocean and dive down for abalone, bringing back pearly iridescent multicolored shells. I have no childhood memories of eating these chewy sea slugs, but I treasured their shimmering seashells. These days fishing for abalone is strictly prohibited. Abalone has an interesting history between government regulation, environmental preservation, and cultural and economic persecution of Asian Americans. The Chinese community in California developed a booming abalone harvesting industry from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. The population of abalone declined significantly; one argument noted, "...without legislation for its preservation, the abalone might well go along the path of the dodo, the bison, the passenger pigeon and other which had their legions slaughtered to complete or near extinction"(Bovee) However, according to Braje's 2007 article about Chinese abalone fisheries, during "the 1870s, an anti-Chinese movement gripped the United States,"(Braje) and US Laws eventually targeted Chinese and Japanese businesses to curb the population decline of these hard-shelled sea creatures. Even with early legislation, "...by 1997, abalone was near extinction..."(Smith). To this day, abalone remain endangered. According to California Recreational Ocean Fishing Regulations, "all ocean waters are closed to the take of abalone," such legislation ends in 2026.

• Braje, T. J., Erlandson, J. M., & Rick, T. C. (2007). A Historic Chinese Abalone Fishery on California's Northern Channel Islands. Historical Archaeology, 41(4), 117–128. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25617470 
• Bovee, E. C. (1953). Abalone: The Gastronomist's Gastropod. Bios, 24(2), 75–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4605535 
• Oliver, S. (2012). Abalone. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. : Oxford University Press. 
• Smith, A. (Ed.) (2015). Fishing Industry in The SAGE encyclopedia of food issues. (Vols. 1-3). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483346304 
• Bentz, L., & Braje, T. J. (2017). Sea of Prosperity: Foundations of the California Commercial Abalone Fishery. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 21(3), 598–622. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45154361 
• Smith, A. (Ed.) (2015). Fishing Policies in The SAGE encyclopedia of food issues. (Vols. 1-3). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483346304 
• Branch, J. (2014, July 28). In Hunt for Red Abalone, Divers Face Risks and Poachers Face the Law. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/sports/in-hunt-for-red-abalone-divers-face-risks-and-poachers-face-the-law.html 

Soup

January 25, 2023

Soup is an affordable and rewarding dish. I depend on soup; it's nutritious, savory, flavorful, filling, and can be created with the most on-hand ingredients. I recently threw some leftover chicken, tomato paste, sofrito from the freezer, turmeric, salt, carrots, potatoes, dried chili pepper, and olive oil into a pot, and voila, a delicious hearty meal for dinner and the next day's lunch. I have many favorites like Cholent and Moosewood Cookbook's Gypsy soup with chickpeas and paprika. Every soup from The Fannie Farmer cookbook, like the savory oatmeal soup with parsley, spicy Chinese winter soup with cilantro and tofu, and the tomato bread soup recipe with lots of olive oil and basil. The soup section in my Fannie Farmer cookbook is wrinkled and crinkled with so much love and wear and tear. I enjoy my soup with toasted sourdough and Irish butter. Unfortunately, I make so much soup, so wide varieties; I'm like a soup kitchen that my family detests. Not soup again. But just like a New York City apartment, soup can be enjoyed by a billionaire and the destitute. It is the most humble and equitable dish in existence— a hot soupy broth, fatty and salty, with a filling protein and nutritious vegetables. There is always a lot going on in a bowl of broth. MSG can bring out the umami flavoring, but I've recently run out of Goya MSG packets and switched to the au natural approach using salt and vegetables. I have no qualms about using MSG when I have it around. Eventually, if dreams are fruitful, I plan to open a tiny home, soup & pie hole-in-the-wall, to-go restaurant, and I will enjoy every chomp and slurp.

• Lyness, S. (2003). Soup. In Encyclopedia of Food and Culture (Vol. 3, pp. 297–301).

Eric Ripert

January 24, 2023

Eric Ripert is a French Chef and owner of Le Bernardin in New York, a restaurant most people will never be able to taste or afford. However, closer to the walks of life of many, Ripert is involved with the organization City Harvest, which provides vegetable produce to New Yorkers with food insecurities. City Harvest is always looking for volunteers. In the past, I have volunteered with this incredible team to provide struggling families in subsidized housing with healthy, nutritious fresh groceries. City Harvest is a well-organized and outstanding organization that works to eliminate hunger. Eric Ripert's memoir, 32 Yolks, is one of the better chef life stories I've read. With just one Deja Vu word-for-word repetitive part; otherwise, Veronica Chambers did a great job retelling Eric Ripert's early years in France and Andorra. Ripert was born with a silver spoon and a sweet tooth for French pastries. He grew up in the decadence of French life, but his life was not without struggle. One of the great tragedies of Eric Ripert's early life was when his father died of a heart attack while mountain climbing, which left a young Eric alone with an aching heart. After his father's death, Eric continued climbing the Andorra mountains and, at one point, even considered becoming a forest ranger instead of a chef. Ripert found a religious experience in the mountains, and later because of a Buddhist. Belief has played an essential part in his life. While growing up in Andorra, Ripert met a neighborhood psychic who told the young man he would one day work in a famous restaurant in a city surrounded by water and that he must wear the cross of Caravaca for good luck, protection, and fortune. Still, to this day, Ripert, the leading french Chef in America, continues to wear the emblem of protection. During his culinary training in France, Ripert was influenced by French Haute Cuisine chefs such as Bocuse, Escoffier, and Robuchon. While working in intense Michelin-star kitchen brigades, he followed orders, stayed in line, was the victim of extensive burns on his legs and body, and suffered daily mental abuse by culinary perfectionists. He made many mistakes and worked with the best of the best while surviving on ten espressos a day and working 18-hour shifts in a version of l'enfer en France. However, Eric Ripert exited Sartre's version of hell; and clambered up to the top of the culinary food pyramid, becoming a great chef with an established career at New York's Le Bernardin.

• Ripert E. & Chambers V. (2016). 32 Yolks: from my mother's table to working the line (First). Random House.

Michigan Pasties

January 23, 2023

A pasty is a pie you can eat in the palms of your hands, baked initially by the wives and mothers of Cornish miners from Cornwall, England. During the 1800s, pasties made their way to America. As the mining industry boomed, Cornish miners packed up Cornish culture, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and introduced pasties to multi-generations of miners, residents, and tourists in Michigan. Pasties are thick-flour-crusted pies filled with a fatty, meaty, starchy combination and sealed and then baked for an hour in an oven—the tightly packed meal was made for consumption in the dark, dusty shafts of the copper and iron mines. According to the Food Lover's Companion, in Cornwall, "...it was common to place a savory mixture in one end and an apple mixture in the other so both meat and dessert could be enjoyed in the same pasty."(Herbst) My family grew up in Michigan, and Mr. Foisie's Pasties introduced me to this classic mining meal. The first time I dug into this rockhard dish full of a pipping hot savory or sweet filling, I was in awe, and afterward, whenever I visited relatives in Michigan, I would stop by a pick up my pasties. To recreate this dish at home, Chronicling America includes published pasties recipes from 1952 and 1963, Food.com shares another, and the Milwaukee Public Library Historic Recipe File has a few from 1969, 1976, and 1983. 

• Brower, R. (2012). Pasties. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. : Oxford University Press. 
• Herbst S. T. & Herbst R. (2007). The New Food Lover's Companion (4th ed.). Barron's Educational Series.
• McWilliams, Mark ( 2012). The Story Behind the Dish: Classic American Foods: Classic American Foods, ABC-CLIO, LLC

Comfort Food

January 22, 2023

The middle of January is the most depressing time of the year; comfort food and companionship can bring joy during the winter blues. The aftermath of pandemic fright, joblessness, and long-lasting periods of isolation continue to quiver through society, but comfort food can carry us through another winter. Today was a rainy gray, and cold day, weary with thoughts and worries; one petite little black cupcake with a white squiggle and rich chocolate frosting, centered with a dense white cream, resuscitated me and brought me great joy—a little perk to uplift my low spirits. Eric Ripert, who I consider to be perpetually happy, has written a memoir with Veronica Chambers about his melancholic life. 32 Yolks is about finding comfort in food when times were unbearable, through childhood struggles of loss, death, and divorce. When his father died during his youth, a gourmet french chocolate pudding paired with friendship brought him back from the brink. Ripert provides a recipe for his chocolate mousse recipe on AvecEric, which includes ½ c whole milk, ¼ c sugar, two egg yolks, 6 oz dark chocolate, and ¾ c heavy cream. Eric Ripert, a seemingly sensitive child, grew up in the richness of the best french Michelin-starred cuisine, mixed with daily struggle and conflict in his home life. A boy who yearned for the joyous days when his father and mother were still together, lovingly enjoying the French seaside life as one happy family. "Comfort food may be best thought of as any food consumed by individuals, often during periods of stress, that evokes positive emotions and is associated with significant social relationships."(Locher) A comfort dish like Eric Ripert's chocolate mousse brings back happy nostalgic memories. My favorite comfort food is homemade extra crispy salty fried chicken covered in chunky cornflakes with a honey mustard dipping sauce. I also find great comfort in a hot bowl of slightly salty cream of wheat with maple syrup and whole milk—a fat, sweet and salty combination, "...high-fat, high-carbohydrate, high-sodium foods that stimulate the limbic system of the brain, just what people crave when pressured or stressed." (McWilliams) During one of the more stressful periods of my life, a moon pie appeared in one of my dreams, "don't worry, have a moon pie," said the dream, an answer to all my worries, "…eating comfort foods may be a means of maintaining control over the self when all else seems out of control. In essence, comfort food provides individuals with a sense of security during troubling times by evoking emotions associated with safer and happier times." (Locher) Until this day, I still associate the Moon Pie with good luck and comfort. Comfort food is personal, typically consisting of macaroni and cheese, potato chips, ice cream, cookies, candy, chocolate, snack foods, soup, mashed potatoes, and puddings. If you are feeling blue, cookbooks and publications like Epicurious, BBC GoodFood, and Bon Appetit can provide recipes for comfort. 

• Locher, J. L. (2003). Comfort Food. In Encyclopedia of Food and Culture (Vol. 1, pp. 442–443).
• McWilliams, M. (2012). The Story Behind the Dish: Classic American Foods: Classic American Foods, ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Dorothea Lange

January 21, 2023

Dorothea Lange was born in New Jersey and was left disabled due to an illness with polio. She later became a documentary photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and photographed impoverished American migrants during the economic hardship of the Great Depression. "The FSA gave a face to the migrants through its photography program of 1935 through 1944, commissioning some 250,000 photos. These photos, including those by Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, were printed in popular magazines like Life, creating many of the lasting images of the Depression."(Danver) Some of these migrant families recorded in Lange's photographs relocated due to the dustbowl of Oklahoma, a drought that "...scourged much of the country throughout the 1930s,...fierce winds whipping through America's midsection raised mighty clouds of dust, which blocked the sun, buried fields and equipment, and powdered everything with unrelenting grit." (Bakken) Afterward, many migrants settled in warm and sunny California; the homeless, jobless, and hungry migrant drifters were called Okies and often not welcomed by the locals. Lange's photographs show the agricultural life of impoverished farm workers, with the malnourished men and women "...picking cotton, pulling carrots, digging potatoes, thinning lettuce, cutting cabbage and cauliflower" (Gordon). In addition to documenting the agricultural workers out west, Dorothea Lange photographed the sharecroppers of the southern states. Since 1944, The Library of Congress has held Dorothea Lange's FSA photographic collection.

• Bakken, G. M., & Kindell, A. (Eds.) (2006). Okies in Encyclopedia of immigration and migration in the American West. (Vols. 1-2). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412952439
• Danver, S. L. (Ed.) (2013). Farm Security Administration, U. S. in Encyclopedia of politics of the American West. (Vols. 1-2). CQ Press, https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452276076 
• Gordon, L. (2006). Dorothea Lange: The Photographer as Agricultural Sociologist. The Journal of American History, 93(3), 698–727. https://doi.org/10.2307/4486410 

Spain

January 20, 2023

In my previous life, I had the opportunity to travel to Spain. At first, my exploration began by walking on foot in Barcelona and later by car through the windy roads through the mountains between Valencia and Seville. Ending a day's journey by watching the sunset at a vast sandy beach on the Gulf of Cadiz and later traveling to the southern tip of the Alboran Sea. Most of my experience is a blur, traveling too quickly and too much, walking to exhaustion. I remember the egg and bean breakfasts I would eat daily in Barcelona. Tapas in New York, I remember, but I barely recall the food in Spain. At one stop at a touristy restaurant, I picked through a tolerable plate of paella; I still remember my disappointment. However, I loved my journey, even though it was near the end of my European adventure, racking up loads of credit card debt for my one big trip in my lifetime. Spain was well worth it, particularly Seville and Barcelona. Paella The Original One-Pan Dish: Over 50 Recipes for the Spanish Classic, published by Quadrille Publishing and written by Omar Allibhoy, a social media chef on YouTube, comes out in July 2023 with cookbook recipes that include black seafood paella, oxtail paella, and mushroom artichoke paella. Many cookbooks are on the market, highlighting the different regional cuisines of Spain (see above). If I could live in Spain, I would commit to finally learning Spanish and dedicate my life to living as a character in a Pedro Almodovar film. My apartment would be as colorful as the Spanish cookbook covers, and I would continue touring Madrid and the tiny Catalan-speaking territory called Andorra, sandwiched between Spain and France. ¡Que aproveche!

The Tree of Life

January 19, 2023

Over the weekend, I scrolled and clicked through the Art Institute of Chicago's digital collection. I came across a small embroidered textile from the 17th century in England depicting a biblical scene with Adam and Eve and the Tree of Life. This magical tree at the center of the tapestry bears two fruits: grapes and pears or, perhaps, apples. This tree reminds me of work by the artist Sam Van Aken. Sam Van Aken is an American modern visual artist who turns trees into works of art by grafting a variety of stone fruits into one hybrid creation. Van Aken grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania; he was concerned about the agricultural monoculture in America; therefore, he created the Tree of 40 Fruits, which includes peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines, cherries, and almonds. During the spring, the grafted work of art produces a bright hombre-like shade of pink, peach, and white fruit blossoms from 40 different varieties of stone fruits, and late in the summer, each tree will produce buckets of different varieties of fruit. Sam Van Aken partnered up with Governors Island and planted 102 hybrid trees in The Open Orchard. As of 2022, it is now open to the public, and New Yorkers might want to take a trip to Governors Island this spring when the blossoms are in full bloom to see Sam Van Aken's spectacular fruit trees returning to life. According to Sam Van Aken, fruit grafting is old technology that goes back to ancient Egypt. Multi-grafted fruit trees are available from nurseries across the country. Raintree Nursery sells a hybrid tree called the Fruit Cocktail, which includes peach, apricot, nectarine, cherry, and prune. Grow Organic sells a Fruit Salad tree with apricot, peach, nectarine, and plum. The Tree of Life is depicted in two embroidered British textiles from the 17th century. One is currently on view at  The Metropolitan Museum of Art. According to the Met, "A multifruiting tree is described in the Book of Revelations; a tree that grows in the celestial City of God bearing twelve types of fruit that ripen during every month of the year." (The Met) 

• Epicurious: The Tree of 40 Fruit Is Exactly as Awesome as It Sounds by Lauren Salkeld
• The New Yorker: The Four-Hundred-Year-Old Fruit That Built New York (2022) by Zach Helfand
• NPR: The Gift Of Graft: New York Artist's Tree To Grow 40 Kinds Of Fruit (2014)
• Open Orchard Project (2022) by Sam Van Aken. Publisher: Timber Press.
• Ted Talk: The tree of forty fruits by Sam Van Aken 
• CBS Mornings: Syracuse professor grows 40 different fruits on one tree 
• Stanford: Sam Van Aken’s Tree of 40 Fruit (2022) by Andrew Catanese 
• National Geographic: This Crazy Tree Grows 40 Kinds of Fruit
• Smithsonian: A Tree Grows 40 Different Types of Fruit (2015) by Randy Rieland

Reference Cookbooks

January 18, 2023

My version of the Essential New York Times Cookbook from 2021 is instrumental since it combines modern chefs breaking the boundaries with classic recipes. The food history timeline is handy for learning about the history of dishes and food products. In this cookbook, one can find chef recipes such as James Beards Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic (p484), Marcell Hazan's Tomato sauce with butter (p644), Lindy's Cheesecake (p809), Edna Lewis's Sweet Potato Baked with Lemon (p290). Including classics such as Chicken Paprikash (p476) and Mississippi Roast (p608). Even recipes for Pickled Watermelon Rinds (p628) and Licorice Ice Cream (p779). An excellent reference book to own on your shelf. Bon Appetite (2006) elevates the flavor of most dishes, such as Thai Fish Curry (p122) and Upscale Macaroni and Cheese made with blue cheese, celery, and Parmesan (p189). Martha Stewart is the Polish American version of the modern Julia Child. A food icon for many American Women. The Martha Stewart Cookbook (1995) includes Sliced Tomatoes with tarragon and cream  (p339) and Buttermilk Pie  (p468). Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is fun to read for inspiration for mastering poached eggs, cream sauce, custards, soufflés -- and failing. After you've stuffed up on Julia Child's french cream and eggs, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, by another New York Times author, offers an excellent alternative to exploring the world of veggies. 

• Hesser A. (2021). The Essential New York Times Cookbook: the recipes of record ([Updated edition]). W. W. Norton & Company.
• Fairchild B. (2006). The Bon Appétit Cookbook. Wiley.
• Stewart M. (1995). The Martha Stewart Cookbook: collected recipes for every day (First). Clarkson Potter.

The Art Institute of Chicago

Gordon Ramsay

January 16, 2023

I'm on a Gordon Ramsay marathon. As a newbie to Hulu, Ramsay dominates my online streaming with Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmare, and Hotel Hell. Another hellraiser, Anthony Bourdain, briefly mentioned Ramsay's memoir in Medium Raw, so I thought I'd read more about this hotheaded chef. Ramsay's book, Roasting in Hell's Kitchen, written in 2006, begins with his rocky Scottish childhood in the United Kingdom; he grew up poor in a volatile alcoholic household and moved through the ranks of life, determined to make it as a chef. A true rags-to-riches story that Americans love—his struggle, determination, and success inspire many. I'm especially intrigued by Gordon Ramsay because he looks like my relatives. According to my bloodline, I'm half Scottish-American, although my family is thoroughly Americanized from a century of living in Michigan. Watching Ramsay's facial features, mannerisms, and wrinkles on T.V. is fascinating. What does Ramsay say about foods from Scotland? "Scotland is the home of the deep-fried Mars Bar…" (Ramsay, p198) yum, although this is not a compliment... "...food in Scotland was bad, then — unbelievably bad. It still is in most cases. It was pie and gravy, pie and beans, or what the Scottish call a 'slice' — these big, square, processed slabs of sausage meat."(Ramsay, p48) Ramsay grew up poor and thin on subsidized school lunches, dependent on powdered milk, and in a family that struggled to buy bread. However, Ramsay's mother was a cook and sometimes brought home leftover treats. He grew up with sausage, chops, tripe in milk with onions, "...ham hock soup, bread and butter pudding, and fish fingers, homemade chips with beans"(Ramsay, p61). Later, when he started his professional career as a chef studying French Haute cuisine, he worked in kitchens with tempers boiling over in high-pressure environments. Chefs threw hot dishes around the kitchens, "…saffron and tomatoes everywhere, bubbling across every wall…" (Ramsay, p95). At one point, a chef threw a plate at his face, "my ear was blocked with hot food, my face was burnt, and there were ravioli all over the place." (Ramsay, p107). Non-toxic cookware, perhaps, but the kitchen was anything but! Ramsay looked up to Alain Ducasse and Auguste Escoffier and recommended Nigel Slater as a go-to inspiration for home cooks. In 2006 Gordon Ramsay "owned about 3,500 cookbooks" (Ramsay, p270), some bought at a U.K. bookstore, Books for Cooks. The book ends with some advice, "we need to get closer to what we eat, to scrutinize it more, to love it and pay it attention." (Ramsay, p277)

• Ramsay G. (2006). Roasting in hell's kitchen: temper tantrums f words and the pursuit of perfection (1st U.S.). HarperCollins Entertainment. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/roasting-in-hells-kitchen-gordon-ramsay