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Culinary Historians of New York• JC Forkner, the Smyrna • CULINARY HISTORIANS OF NEW YORK • Volume 21, No. 2 Spring 2008 J.C. Forkner, the Smyrna Fig, and His Fig Gardens By Georgeanne Brennan Photo courtesy Pop .C. FORKNER was a visionary developer in the early part of the L J aval 20th century who created a yeo- E man farmer’s paradise out of twelve ducational thousand acres of scrubby, hardpan, F country in Central California be- oundation. tween the young town of Fresno and the Sierra Foothills. Experienced in developing similar land elsewhere in the United States, he came West, looking for opportunity and dis- covered it. He could buy thousands of acres of parched land, subdivide them into 40 to 100 acre parcels, bring in water from the Sierras and J.C. Forkner, second from left, and one of his many fig trees, 1917. market the parcels as the American dream of the era—that of owning a only spindly weeds and tumbleweed small farm. And to make his offer could grow. In 1910 Forkner took more enticing, he added another an option on 6,000 acres of the land, IN THIS ISSUE component, a farming company and spent the next year researching that would plant figs, cultivate, and the land and its potential. Through From the Chair ...................... 2 market them for the owners. His drilling he discovered that trapped project manifested the curious mix of beneath the hardpan, which varied Amelia Scholar’s Grant .......... 3 capitalism, boosterism, and genuine from several inches to several feet in enthusiasm for community that dis- thickness, was rich, loamy soil. He tinguished much of California’s early realized that if a plant’s roots could The Oxford Symposium land development reach through the thin upper layer on Food & Cookery .............. 6 Forkner had a bent for taking of soil and through the hardpan to land which had been used for graz- the rich, sandy soil below, and be ir- Member News ....................... 8 ing, and turning it into farmland by rigated, almost anything would grow bringing in irrigation systems. He there. A Kosher Fish had honed his skills in the Midwest, He proved to be right. Today, the Tastes Like Pork .................. 10 Texas, and Southern California. San Joaquin Valley, of which Fresno He was not dismayed by the de- is part, is one of California’s richest serted block of ground near Fresno agricultural areas. Heavily irrigated, 2007–2008 Program that was called “hog wallow” and it is planted with tens of thousands Summaries ........................... 11 “outlaw country.” Rather, he was of acres of orchards, processing to- actually enticed by the uneven, rock- matoes, cotton, and wheat. solid hardpan, desert land where Continued on page 4 FROM THE CHAIR HOSE of you who use either business hours in advance of the Tour e-mail notices or our missed program at (212) 996-0644 website, www.culinaryhistoriansny. or [email protected]; we regret org., to keep track of the dates and that we cannot issue credits after the CHNY Board of Directors places of upcoming CHNY events program. 2007–2008 undoubtedly have noticed a recent Our website remains unchanged, Cathy Kaufman, Chairman innovation: you can now purchase at least on the surface. But many Kenneth Ovitz, Vice Chairman, tickets on-line. CHNY has started changes lurk beneath, as this fall, Membership Chairman using Brown Paper Tickets as a a group of our more techno-savvy Ellen J. Fried, Secretary quick, nearly effortless way to sign up members headed by Holley Atkin- Diane5 Klages, Treasurer for all our events. In addition to being son, with the help of Ken Ovitz, Kara Carolyn Vaughan, Director, good for the environment and saving Newman, and Carolyn Vaughan, Programming Liaison on postage, Brown Paper Tickets is worked furiously to find a host that Linda Pelaccio, Director the best way to guarantee seating at now allows us to more easily update Holley Atkinson, Webmaster some of our most popular events, the website. We will continue to Donna Gelb, Publicity and Public when attendance is limited because make the website more productive Relations of the size of the host venue. and flexible over the coming months, Helen Brody, Newsletter If you haven’t already tried pur- but here is a hearty thanks and deep Editor-in-Chief chasing on-line, I urge you to check debt of gratitude to all, especially out www.brownpapertickets.com Holley, for the tremendous effort. CHNY Information Hotline: for our next event. And don’t worry, Finally, the application period (212) 501-3738 www.culinaryhistoriansny.org if your plans change and you can- for the fourth annual $1,000 Amelia not make an event after registering, Scholar’s Grant to support research simply let us know before the event, in culinary history is now open. Please send/e-mail member so that we may open up your spot We are looking forward to another news, book reviews, text to last-minute requests; your ticket strong group of proposals, which are proposals to: purchase can be applied to a future due May 31. Further information and Helen Brody CHNY event simply by contacting application forms can be accessed at 21 Spencer St., #403 the programming committee about http://www.culinaryhistoriansny. Lebanon, NH 03766 the event you would like to attend. org/amelia.html. [email protected] Please note that you must contact (603) 727-9116 Carolyn Vaughan during normal (603) 727-9251 2 5 interesting. Dishes are described as 2007 Amelia Scholar’s Grant “delicious” and “quite fine.” Some, Proposal like Tomato Chowder, have many in- gredients (tomatoes, sugar, peppers, CHNY’s Amelia Scholar’s Grant is a How to Grow the Tomato and 115 Ways spices, onion, vinegar, horseradish) $1,000 stipend that supports research in to Prepare it for the Table. while others, like the Peanut Salad the field of culinary history. It is open to His target audience was the with Bananas, have just a few (let- anyone, whether student or established Alabama rural black farming com- tuce, bananas, peanuts, mayonnaise scholar, and comes with only one string munity in the counties surrounding or salad dressing). I don’t imagine attached: the recipient must present the the school. The bulletins were written that many of us would eat this par- results of his or her research in a CHNY in simple language in order to reach a ticular peanut salad today, but for session during the academic year follow- largely uneducated population. Carv- the poor black woman of the 1920s, ing the award of the grant. Membership er did much for agriculture, but I am the ingredients for this salad were in CHNY is not a prerequisite for ap- particularly interested in his selection on hand from the field, the farm, plication. of recipes for the black home cook. and the house garden. Before seeing In June (date and location to be an- Ingredients and preparation were this bulletin would she have made nounced), Elizabeth Simms will present simple but the dishes sound tempt- a salad composed of these ingre- her findings into the culinary aspects of ing: Tomato Bisque, Tomatoes as Olives, dients? Maybe the salad served as George Washington Carver’s papers at a springboard for a more complex Tuskegee University. To whet your ap- recipe—next time she could add petite for this concluding session of the v chicken and other vegetables, or even 2007–08 CHNY season, we thought more fruit, to make a heartier salad. we’d reproduce Simms’s winning pro- They [Tomatoes] can be pre- Could George Washington posal and to share our enthusiasm for the pared in so many delicious Carver’s bulletins have been the high level of scholarship that applicants first “cookbooks” for the black rural for the Amelia Scholar’s Grant have ways that one can eat them community? What was his selection demonstrated. every day of the week and process? Were the recipes used? Applications for the 2008 Amelia not get tired of them. Were they popular? Did they be- Scholar’s Grant are due May 31; please come integrated into the culinary —from How to Grow the Tomato and spread the word to anyone who might tradition of these part? Carver is 115 Ways to prepare it for the Table be interested. For further information, a part of culinary history, namely visit http://www.culinaryhistoriansny. for his work on sweet potatoes, org/amelia.html. —CK v soybeans, and peanuts, but I would like to incorporate him into culinary OR 45 years, until his death in Sweet Potato Nuts, and Sweet Potato history as a cookbook writer (of sorts) F1943, George Washington Carv- Doughnuts. It stands to reason that as well. Examining the bulletins and er’s Experiment Station at Tuskegee the recipes were specifically chosen researching this time in history will University issued 44 bulletins. At to highlight the food that was being lead me to better understand Carver’s their core, these bulletins were con- grown in the field, to offer tasteful involvement with food. As I have not cerned with agricultural matters of cooking ideas, to make it more worth- come across any specific material on interests, but for the publications while to grow the sweet potato or the the recipes contained within the bul- that dealt specifically with fruits plum if there was a demand for them letins, nor could the archivist of his and vegetables, Carver recognized at the dinner table. papers as Tuskegee refer me to any the importance in presenting these Carver’s recipes were not entirely secondary sources on this subject, products not just as food staples, innovative (he does acknowledge I believe that this project will be but as culinary staples as well.
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