Origins and Development of the Food of Early German Immigrants to the Barossa Region, South Australia (1839 - 1939)
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A Food Culture TransPlanted origins and Development of the Food of Early German Immigrants to the Barossa Region, South Australia (1839 - 1939) Angela Heuzenroeder the Thesis presented as requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in School of Humanities, University of Adelaide 2006 Contents Declaration lv Abstract Acknowledgements vi Terminology vii Maps and Illustrations Maps of Europe and the route of the ships' voyages; map of the Barossa 22,23 Alexander Schramm, A Scene in South Australia, circalS1o 39 113 Minge family S chw eine s chlachten, l9l3 Cow horns and metal horns for cleaning sausage skins, Luhrs Cottage 124 Fermentation bowls of red gum and European timber in the Tanunda museum 124 Ceiling of a Schwarzeküche: Corrugated iron smokehouse 136 B ackofen exterior; B ackofen hearth t62 '"THE BAROSSA" improved oven 302 Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Focus and Methods 2 German Primary and Secondary Sources of Information 8 Australian Primary and Secondary Sources of Information 11 Sources Relating to Broader Themes t3 Origins of the Emigrants and Their Reasons for Leaving Europe 15 The Situation in the Barossa 20 Hypothesis 2t Chapter 2: Culture to Culture' Part One; Aboriginal Food 24 Introduction 24 Elkin's Stages of Encounter: Indigenous Inhabitants and European Invaders 25 Predisposition for Accepting a New Food 29 Adopted Ingredients 30 Shared Meals 37 Adopted Recipes or Cooking Methods 4t Spiritual and Cultural Values 50 Conclusion 53 Chapter 3: Culture to Culture, Part Two; People with Power 56 Introduction 56 Acculturation Models and the Situation in the Barossa 57 Predisposition For Accepting a New Food 61 Adopted Ingredients 69 Shared Meals and Recipes 72 Adopted Recipes or Cooking Methods 77 Spiritual and Cultural Values: The Example of Christmas Foods 80 Conclusion 89 Chapter 4: Pork and Sausages 92 Introduction 92 Settlers' Meat Consumption Before Departure 94 Enter: The Pig r02 The Family Production of Pork Smallgoods 108 Ham 110 Cooked Sausages 118 Mettwurst 122 The Symbolism of Sausages 127 Conclusion 133 Chapter 5: Bread t37 Introduction 137 The Seeds 142 Grinding Flour 152 Mixing the Dough t54 Baking 159 Conclusion t66 Chapter 6: Honey Biscuits 168 Introduction 168 A Simplified Recipe in a New Environment? t70 Combination of the Ingredients 174 The Sweeteners 177 The Flour and the Leavening 183 Spices and Other Flavourings 185 Presentation and Decoration 192 Serving Methods and Names 196 Conclusion 198 ll Chapter 7: Porridge, Fruit and the Dish Called Rote Grütze 203 Introduction 203 The Northern European Tradition of Grütze 205 The Northern European Tradition of Fruit 209 European Changes Affecting Fruit Porridges 212 Fruit Porridge in the Diet of Emigrants to South Australia 216 Ponidge in the Barossa 2t9 Fruit in the Barossa 224 Roîe Grütz¿ in the Barossa 229 Conclusion 232 Chapter 8: Taste Predilection; Sour and Salt in Ferment 235 Introduction 235 Sour Tastes - Pickled Vegetables From East of the Elbe 240 Sour Tastes and Body Needs 245 Sour Tastes and Long-standing Habit - Four Fermented Vegetables 247 Sour Tastes, Transit and Cultural Significance 256 Sour Tastes - An Organoleptic Pleasure? 264 Conclusion 269 Chapter 9: The Børosss Cookery Book; Local Food in the 1930s 273 Introduction 273 How The Barossa Cookery Book Came Into Being 275 The Cookery Book and the Barossa's German Background 277 Australia's First Regional Recipe Book? 285 A Comprehensive Account of the Region's Cuisine? 289 The Barossa Cookery Book: Portait of an Urbanising Society 294 Modernising the Peasant: The Arrival of Global Commodities 299 Modernising the Peasant: The Arrival of Industrialisation 301 Conclusion 307 Chapter L0: Conclusion 310 Bibliography JJJ Abstract The German-speaking Lutheran congregations who came to settlo in the Barossa Valley, South Australia, between 1839 and 1860 brought with them traditional food customs from Silesia, Brandenbulg, Posen, Mecklenburg and Saxony. Many foods that they prepared required skills developed over centuries in Europe and suited to European temperatures and climate conditions. The settlers transplanted these food practices to another part of the world and to a completely different set of environmental conditions. My thesis examines how this transplant affected the food prepared by the settlers and their descendants. Different climates and soils, new ingredients and other people's food customs tested the ancient practices. This study identifies the elements of people's food culture that endured and offers reasons for any changes. In the Barossa the settlers, their descendants and their food were in contact with two other distinct and culturally cohesive groups of people. I describe these cultural encounters and I discuss the extent to which they influenced the general food practices of the German-speaking immigrants. Of the foods still familiar to Barossa people in the early twenty-first century I examine five in turn, devoting each a chapter to discuss their origins, cultural significance and old ways of making them, and assessing how much these altered in the Australian setting. This culinary history evaluates the importance of cultural, geographic, religious, political and economic factors in the process of change. It illustrates fundamental elements of human behaviour and adaptation, all manifest in people's food. Acknowledgements My thanks and gratitude go to Dr A. Lynn Martin and to Dr Robert Dare, who as my supervisors have challenged and encouraged me at every opportunity. I value the amount of time that they have spent reading my work, and I have learned a great deal from their comments. I appreciate the hospitality of Lynn and Noreen Martin and the friendship of the other history post-graduate students as well. I should also like to thank Dr Barbara Santich for her insights and for indicating many valuable resources, and Dr Roger Haden for allowing me to read his thesis, Technologies of Taste. Margaret Hosking, history librarian at the Barr Smith Library, was helpful with suggestions and information. The resources on the Barr Smith library website have enabled me to work from my home in the country, for which I am most grateful. The Research Centre for the History of Food and Drink has provided many ideas and contacts through its conferences and seminars. That body and the History Discipline helped me to attend a conference on culinary history at Bologna and to gather materials in Europe in 2003. These experiences $eatly influenced my work. I am also thankful to the many people in the Barossa who were willing to be interviewed and for whom no question 'was too small or too insignificant. They invited me into their kitchens; they showed me their family documents, cookbooks and cooking equipment; they shared their food, and I made many new friends. The daunting task of gathering secondary source material in Europe would not have been possible without the help of Professor Dr Hans-Jürgen Teuteberg and his wife, Erika, who gave me their kind hospitality and access to Professor Teuteberg's library. Primary sources in the form of old diaries and cookbooks I acquired from my dear friend and relative Ursula Lynen of Stolberg, from Inge and Günter Hunecke of Schalksmühle and from Ulrich and Ute Brunnert of Uslar. I was indeed fortunate to have their friendship, interest and support. I am grateful to Paddy Carter and Frances Wells for checking the manuscript for punctuation and typographical errors. Finally, I thank my family for carrying on regardless and my husband, who spent solitary evenings while I worked away in front of the computer. vl Terminology A collective term for the immigrants to the Barossa from Brandenburg, Posen, Silesia, Mecklenburg and SaxonY: Although these people all spoke German, the kingdom of Germany did not exist when they migrated. To call them Germans does not make the important distinction that these people came from east of the Elbe and therefore lived in different conditions and under a different regime from the west. Many of them were Slavic Wendish people. Their food bore eastern European influences. Their common characteristic was that they were Lutheran. I therefore refer to them often as Lutherans, sometimes as Prussians, aS German-speaking people and as easteln Europeans or people from eastern central Europe, depending on the context. A term for the district in which they settled in South Australia: The area receives publicity as the Barossa Valley. Indeed, a shallow valley lies between the Barossa Range and a low line of hills to the west called The Moppa. The cultural area extends much further, however. Maps of the Barossa Wine Region, of the local food region defined by Food Barossa, and of the initial region by Lutheran congregations also cover the Barossa Range, lands to the east settled 'Williamstown. and north of the range, and the Lyndoch Valley as far south as Like other local people, I refer to this region as 'the Barossa'. German and anglicised words: Most foreign words in this thesis are in italics, but where the word is commonly in use in the Barossa I use the current spelling, for example, mettwurst, instead of Mettwurst.In the German titles in the bibliography, only the first word and nouns of each begin with capital letters, in accordance with standard German spelling. Australian words and spelling: I use Australian spelling and vocabulary. For example, the Australian word for 'cookies' is'biscuits'. vll Chapter L : Introduction At the opening of the food history conference run by the Institut Européen de l'Histoire d'Alimentation in Bologna in December 2003, a geographer and a cultural historian shared the opening address. The theme of the conference was 'Alimentary Frontiers'. On one side of the dais geographer Jean-Robert Pitte spoke of the power of the structure of the earth in determining what people eat in every different location.l The configuring of France, for example, with its several microclimates and the positioning of Paris, the nerve centre taking in food from the regions as a conduit to the rest of Europe, had ultimately given rise to French gastronomy, a phenomenon that greatly influenced western cooking.