Friday, June 29, 2012

Caribbean Pepper-Pot History

Caribbean Pepper-Pot Stew, recipe below  
In the Caribbean, British planters quickly became the minority to African slaves. Many of the planters were so focused on returning to England wealthy that they made little effort to re-create English culture and, instead, slaves were allowed to retain and cultivate an African-American cooking aesthetic. By one estimate, “80 percent of British imports of Gold Coast slaves went to Jamaica, the largest British sugar-producing region in the eighteenth century.” In Jamaica, planters supplied slaves with weekly rations of salted fish and set small parcels of land aside for their slaves to cultivate produce and raise animals on Sundays. Slaves in Jamaica managed to raise fowl, pigs, vegetables, and rice. What slaves did not use to supplement their rations, they sold on Sunday, the traditional market day and a free day for slaves. With their earnings they purchased salted beef or pork. They then combined the meat received as rations and purchased at market with produce from their gardens to prepare a spicy creolized stew they called oglios, or pepper-pot. Today it’s a traditional dish throughout many parts of the Caribbean. For those who do not eat meat there are plenty of vegetarian meat substitutes that you can use to replace the poultry, pork, and beef in the recipe: 







Thursday, June 28, 2012

Celebrating Caribbean American Foodways

Lexington Street, Baltimore nearby the Lexington Market, below is the menu of this place on a two sided placard. Click images to enlarge
Roti, recipes below
June is National Caribbean American heritage month. I found this Caribbean eatery above just outside of Baltimore's historic Lexington Market.Started in Baltimore City in 1782, Lexington Market expanded in 1803 and again after a fire in 1949. The fire resulted in a new and improved market with spaces designed for kitchens and takeout eateries serving prepared foods. Not sure what the size of Baltimore’s Caribbean Community is but this entrepreneur has evidently made a living selling classic Caribbean dishes like patties, jerk chicken, ox-tail, curry goat, roti and soul food standards. East Indian contract laborers who replaced recently emancipated black slaves on sugar plantations introduced roti to the Caribbean in the mid nineteenth century. Roti is a thin large tortilla from Indian made with flour, salt, and water. It’s used like a large burrito to wrap various ingredients. Rotis are particularly popular in Trinidad and Guyana. Here are roti recipes below:


Chicken roti recipe: http://www.caribbeanchoice.com/recipes/recipe.asp?recipe=228


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Food Historian Ken Albala on Publisher Excitement About Food History

Babson College Professor of History and Foodways Frederick Douglass Opie interviews University of the Pacific Food Historian Ken Albala at the 2012 Boston University Food in the City Conference.

Ken Alabala is the author of many books including Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern Europe, Cooking in Europe 1250-1650, The Banquet, Beans: A History, Pancake, His cookbook, coauthored with Rosanna Nafziger, is titled, THE LOST ART OF REAL COOKING. Albala is the editor of a number of food history series and journals and he has written a number of texts books: Three World Cuisines: Italian, Mexican and Chinese and the Routledge International Handbook to Food Studies.  

Other Interviews with Ken Albala: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Ken+Albala+

Ken Albala's Food Blog: http://kenalbala.blogspot.com/
 Babson College Professor of History and Foodways Frederick Douglass Opie interviews University of the Pacific Food Historian Ken Albala at the 2012 Boston University Food in the City Conference.

Boston University Food and the City Conference Talks with Recipes:







Tuesday, June 26, 2012

An Interview With Food Historian Ken Albala on Food History, Acceptability, and the Academia


Babson College Professor of History and Foodways Frederick Douglass Opie interviews University of the Pacific Food Historian Ken Albala at the 2012 Boston University Food in the City Conference.

Ken Alabala is the author of many books including Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern EuropeCooking in Europe 1250-1650The BanquetBeans: A HistoryPancake, His cookbook, coauthored with Rosanna Nafziger, is titled, THE LOST ART OF REAL COOKING. Albala is the editor of a number of food history series and journals and he has written a number of texts books: Three World Cuisines: Italian, Mexican and Chinese and the Routledge International Handbook to Food Studies

Ken Albala's Food Bloghttp://kenalbala.blogspot.com/

Boston University Food and the City Conference Talks with Recipes:





Monday, June 25, 2012

An Interview With Food Historian Ken Albala On Trends in Food History Writing


Babson College Professor of History and Foodways Frederick Douglass Opie interviews University of the Pacific Food Historian Ken Albala at the 2012 Boston University Food in the City Conference.

Ken Alabala is the author of many books including Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern EuropeCooking in Europe 1250-1650The BanquetBeans: A HistoryPancake, His cookbook, coauthored with Rosanna Nafziger, is titled, THE LOST ART OF REAL COOKING. Albala is the editor of a number of food history series and journals and he has written a number of texts books: Three World Cuisines: Italian, Mexican and Chinese and the Routledge International Handbook to Food Studies.  

Ken Albala's Food Bloghttp://kenalbala.blogspot.com/

Boston University Food and the City Conference Talks with Recipes:




Saturday, June 23, 2012

Food This Week: Tijuana Chief, Drink Hype, BBC Food and Farm Awards, Coffee in Cario, a Dad's Food Memoir

Babson Professor of History and Foodways, and blogger  Frederick Douglass Opie shares what he found to be the most entertaining and informative foodie stories this week. Particularly he loved listening to Dad Dan Duane talk on the show Good Food on KCRW in LA about his recently published dad's food memoir, How to Cook Like a Man.  






Interview Dan Duane Author of How To Cook Like a Man: http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf120616how_to_grill_a_steak

Friday, June 22, 2012

An Interview With Food Historian Ken Albala On Food Regulation Then And Now

1905 Chicago Pork Processing Plant (U. S. Library of Congress Collections)

Babson College Professor of History and Foodways Frederick Douglass Opie interviews University of the Pacific Food Historian Ken Albala at the 2012 Boston University Food in the City Conference.

Ken Alabala is the author of many books including Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern EuropeCooking in Europe 1250-1650The BanquetBeans: A HistoryPancake, His cookbook, coauthored with Rosanna Nafziger, is titled, THE LOST ART OF REAL COOKING. Albala is the editor of a number of food history series and journals and he has written a number of texts books: Three World Cuisines: Italian, Mexican and Chinese and the Routledge International Handbook to Food Studies.  

Ken Albala's Food Blog: http://kenalbala.blogspot.com/

Boston University Food and the City Conference Talks with Recipes:




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

What is Soul And Soul Food?


The following is a prerecorded interview I did on The Splendid Table From America Public Media

This week it's soul food, or what some think of as the culinary calling card of African Americans. It's an odd juxtaposition that out of great poverty and struggle came some of America's best eating. Our guest is history professor Frederick Douglass Opie, author of Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America .


Related Links


Don Cornelius Reflects on 40 Years Aboard Soul Train: [Listen 12 min 50 sec] http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-08-31/don-cornelius-reflects-40-years-aboard-soul-train-91297

Arkansas Foodways and Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Arkansas

Alabama Foodways and Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Alabama

Carolina Foodways and Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Carolina

Floridian Foodways and Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Florida

Louisiana Foodways and Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Louisiana

Mississippi Foodways and Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Mississippi+



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Juneteenth Drinkways

Texas Strawberry soda sold at Juneteenth celebrations
Today is Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when all U.S. slaves gained their freedom. Two and half weeks earlier, President Abraham Lincoln’s two executive orders set slaves free in confederate states (except for the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, or Delaware, and not in Tennessee, Texas and parts of Louisiana and Virginia). The June 19th declaration informed all slaves that they were now free. “Juneteenth” began thereafter in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and I suspect other “delayed emancipation states” with annual parades and festivals. In1980, the Texas legislature made the celebration an official state holiday with several other states following suit. By 2002, seven states recognized the day through various proclamations, and four years later, twenty states observed the day in some fashion. In 2005, the U.S. Congress officially recognized the historical significance of Juneteenth, but still has yet to give it official holiday status.  In addition to Texas style barbecue and soul food there is generally plenty of Texas strawberry soda sold at Juneteenth celebrations. Why strawberry soda? One reader commented, “Red foods are popular at Juneteenth such as barbeque, red soda & red velvet cake & always include [red] rice. Not sure why? Can anybody else provide the why part this question?


Juneteenth Series with Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Juneteenth


Monday, June 18, 2012

Juneteenth Foodways

Pickled Watermelon Rind, recipe below
Been doing a serious on Juneteenth which is tomorrow.  On June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, General Gordon Granger declared all slaves free 2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. “Juneteenth” (a mixture of June and nineteen) began thereafter in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma with parades and festivals. The celebration spread with the migration of African-Americans from these states. During the Depression celebrations declined but the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 70s revitalized the holiday in African American communities. Black history, educating people about African American contributions, and agitating for the advancement of African American needs (and sometimes for reparations) serves as the reason for the holiday, but down home cooking has attracted large crowds too. In addition to Texas style barbecue and soul food there is generally plenty of Texas strawberry soda and Texas chocolate cake (recipe below) for sale. Here are two recipes that give you a taste of Juneteenth:


Pickled Watermelon Rind Recipe: http://www.goodbyecitylife.com/cooking/watermelon/


Juneteenth Series with Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Juneteenth

Food Festivals with Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Festivals

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Dad Loved Nathan’s Famous Coney Island Hot Dogs


Nathan’s at Coney Island. Photos courtesy of Nathan's Famous, Inc.

On Father's Day I want to talk about one of my Dad's favorite foods---Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs. Dad would load his three boys in the station wagon and say, "lets go and get one of those Nathan's famous! We had a stand on Central Avenue in Yonkers not far from our home in Westchester County. Polish immigrant, Nathan Handwerker, started Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs in 1916 on the board walk in Coney Island, New York. People principally came to Coney Island enjoy its amusement park and to stroll up and down the board walk trying the various eateries such as Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs. Nathan Handwerker’s wife Ida developed a hot dog recipe that quickly became a hit with common folk, gangsters, actors, and politicians. FDR enjoyed the hot dogs so much that he had them served to dignitaries at White House events and sent them to the Yalta summit to share with Britain’s Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin. New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller supposedly said in the 1960s that no one could successfully run for public office in the state without being photographed eating a Nathan’s Famous hot dog. I’m not sure when the restaurant opened in Yonkers but I remember that my Dad loved those long skinny and shinny hot dogs.  I ate my beef hot dog smothered with grilled onions topped with spicy mustard. An order of Nathan’s distinctly ridged cut thick French fries with ketchup and an ice cold root beer complemented the hot dog perfectly. I took my then 4 and 6 year olds to the Yonkers location to enjoy the experience before we relocated to the Boston area. The restaurant to my surprise looked relatively the same with some renovations and many additions to the menu. Today Nathan’s hot dogs are sold in supermarkets in all 50 states. But to get the real experience you have to have at a Nathan’s on Coney Island.
More photos of Nathan’s restaurants: http://www.nathansfamous.com/PageFetch/getpage.php?pgid=39



More on My Dad and Food Stories Below:

Going for Custard with my Dad: http://www.foodasalens.com/2009/08/custard.html


Saturday, June 16, 2012

Top Foodways Interviews This Week

Babson Professor of History and Foodways Frederick Douglass Opie shares his Foodie downloads from this past week


Good Food Host Evan Kleiman Looks Back Over 15 Years with Her Favorite Interviews: [Listen] http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf120526celebrating_15_years

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Juneteenth Foodways and Red Velvet Cake

Red velvet cake, This and other recipes below 
On June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, General Gordon Granger declared all slaves free 2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. “Juneteenth” (a mixture of June and nineteen) began thereafter in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma with parades and festivals. Food has been a staple of Juneteenth from the first celebrations and as a summer event barbecue with red sauce became a staple along with some mysterious reason red food and drink like strawberry drinks and red velvet cake. Juneteenth as a link with “Watch Night,” or the distinctive way African Americans have historically celebrated New Year’s Eve. I talk about this tradition in my book Hog and Hominy http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14638-8/hog-and-hominy/webFeatures. Watch Night dates back to the end of the Civil War. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln declared his famous Emancipation Proclamation, which set slaves in Confederate territories free as of January 1, 1863. As a result, African Americans across much of the South held religious services, many of them secretly, in which they praised and worshiped God as they watched the New Year and freedom arrive at midnight. Thus, after 1863, African Americans began observing Watch Night and New Year’s Eve in honor of Emancipation Day. Southerners carried their religious traditions with them when they migrated north including recipes for good old fashion church cakes like red velvet cake. Here are some recipes below and additional links.

Red velvet cake recipe with great photos: http://pinchmysalt.com/2008/11/10/red-velvet-cake-recipe/




Civil War Foodways with Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Civil+War

Watch Night Series with Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Watch+Night+

Monday, June 11, 2012

Spicy Hot Mexican Foodways

Mexican Corn Bread, recipe below
Don’t know if you have noticed, but spicy foods are in these days. Mexican food I can tell you from experience is spicy hot, even the nuts you purchase from street venders are hot! The Aztec empire covered the most of the region of the contemporary republic of Mexico to parts of Guatemala. The Aztec were the most powerful political force in Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century. As proud imperialist, the Aztec were far from egalitarian. In terms of food, they forced groups they conquered, most of which were agriculturalist, to pay tribute, some it in food staples. Commoner women in the Aztec empire controlled local markets where they bartered and negotiated for important staples such as varies species of corn, tomatoes, and chili peppers. The people of Mesoamerica in ancient times were often called the people of maize (corn). This is because they ate and drink it had just about every meal. Mexican corn bread I really like, particularly the way Mexican cooks add fresh vegetables including chilies. Here’s a great corn bread recipe.

Mexican Cornbread Recipe:

Ingredients:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup olive or canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
¼ cup or more of heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
1 large diced onion
1 cup fresh steamed corn
¼ cup diced green chillies
¼ cup diced red chillies
1 cup cornmeal (self-rising if available)
1/2 cup self-rising flour
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder (if self-rising flour is not available)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (if self-rising flour is not available)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°. In large bowl combine eggs, corn oil, and buttermilk. Add shredded cheese, corn, onions, and chillies. Mix well. In small bowl mix together corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to egg and corn mixture. Pour into greased cast iron skillet bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.



Saturday, June 9, 2012

Spicy Hot Indonesian Foodways


Spicy pad Thai, recipes below

Today we go to Indonesia as part of our on going series on spicy hot food history. In Dutch colonial Indonesia (1800-1942) elites warned Dutch settlers not to eat the local spicy foods sold on the streets insisting that they had harmful effects on the liver and would destroy one’s digestive system. Since the end of colonial rule, elitist prejudices against spicy foods abated a bit. But one still sees that haute cuisine remains almost exclusively Eurocentric in most former colonial societies with elites still relatively cold toward spicy foods that street venders sell. President Obama lived in Jakarta, Indonesia with his mother S. Ann Dunham and step father Lolo Soetoro (a native of Jakarta and graduate student at the University of Hawaii) from age six to ten while his mother did field work as part of her doctoral studies in anthropology at the University of Hawaii (S. Ann Dunham, Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia, Duke University Press 2009 a book based on the dissertation). The president speaks the native language and he is very familiar with the delicious spicy hot foods of Jakarta.



Home Style Thai Recipes: http://www.templeofthai.com/recipes/

Spicy pad Thai video recipe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vznd6-MJTIQ

President’s Jakarta years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6VvlKlNfDE

Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=46699


Friday, June 8, 2012

Spicing Up The European Culinary World

Portuguese Piri piri chicken and tomato salad, recipes below
Recently listened to a restaurant review that mentioned a delicious spicy hot southern Thai dish. The segment made me hungry and think about the history of similar foodways. Historically there has been a race and class dimension to the custom of eating spicy hot food. With some exceptions, Europeans used salt and showed disdain for spicy hot flavors until more recent times. For example, before the establishment of colonies in the Far East, in the Netherlands cooks seasoned their food with salt and few other non-spicy flavors. The French used salt plus lots of butter, chives, onions, thyme, and garlic. British seasoning traditions called for salt and mustards, ketchups, Worcester sauce, and marmalades. The Spanish and the Portuguese represented the first European nation states to indulge in spicy hot flavors thanks to the Moorish colonization of the Iberian Peninsula in 718. The Moors introduced peppers from Asia to Iberian Kitchens as well as nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. By the 1470s, a newly independent Portugal established trading strong holds on the West coast of Africa and began importing African peppers to Europe through its principal port at Lisbon. Hot spices slowly made their way across Europe where they became symbols of wealth among elites in Venice, Italy. Here are Jamie Oliver piri piri chicken, dressed potatoes, rocket salad, and Portuguese tart recipes. There is a also a vegetarian piri piri dish recipe. Click and open the links below they all look spectacular!


Vegetarian potato patties with a salad and piri piri sauce recipe: http://www.foodista.com/recipe/M5ZBHLZ5/vegetarian-potato-patties-with-a-salad-piri-piri-sauce

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Interview with Dr. David Driskell on Southern Cooking and Ethnicity in the 1940s

Church Dinner on the grounds at all day community sing, 1940. Click to enlarge the image. (Library of Congress Collection)
Babson Professor of History and Foodways Frederick Douglass Opie Interview with Dr. Driskell, Maine 2011, Related Recipes Below

Dinner on the Ground Stories with Related Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=dinner+on+the+grounds

Collard Green Stories with Related Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=collard+greens

Potato Salad Stories with Related Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=potato+salad

Fried Chicken Stories with Related Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=fried+chicken

Sweet Potato Stories with Related Recipes: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=sweet+potato+pie+

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

How A Southern Pokeweed Plant for Poke Salad Adapted to New England

The Pokeweed Plant (Phytolacca americana), poke salad recipe below
Frederick Douglass Opie Garden interview with Dr. David Driskell at his summer home in Maine, related recipes below


The Civil War and Poke Salad with Related Recipe: http://www.foodasalens.com/2010/10/civil-war-foodways-seriesgeneral.html

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Garden Interview With Artist Dr. David Driskell

Dr. David Driskell Holding Canned Produced from His Garden
David Driskell and Fred Opie


Dr. Driskell on Race Relations and Food in the Depression Era South:


Food and Weddings Receptions From The Antebellum Period

Strawberry rhubarb cobbler, recipes below
It's June, which is the height of the wedding season, so I decided provide an historical look at weddings and food. Today I am delving into what the available written record says about the south. What follow are scenes of weddings on large plantations.  Often the master class bank rolled the wedding receptions  We know that the wealthy had some wedding receptions indoors in their mansions and some outdoors. Enslaved and free folk as well as white and black family, friends, and neighbors attended these weddings ate together from large buffet table filled with roasted turkey, chickens, pies and cakes—that black cooks prepared. If you’re planning a wedding and you want something old and something knew, try these fruit cobbler recipe as one of your desserts at rehearsal dinner or the wedding reception. Find links to other stories weddings and food with related recipes below. I welcome stories about wedding food you member in the comment section below.