• CULINARY HISTORIANS OF NEW YORK • Volume 22, No. 1 Fall 2008 From Raw Beef without Salt to Freedom Fries Haute Cuisine, the White House, and Presidential Politics W By Mark McWilliams illiam J. Clinton Presidential N politics, food makes news. Be- Ifore the Iowa caucuses, we learned that Barack Obama munched a corn dog, Bill Richardson ate pork chops, L Mike Huckabee sampled pork-on-a- ibrary stick, and Hillary Clinton enjoyed a Women’s Wonder Bar. Consuming food, notes Walter Scheib, White House Chef for the Clintons and the first Bush administration, says, “I’m one of you. Vote for me.” This at- tempted connection can go horribly wrong, as with John Kerry’s request for Swiss on his Philly cheese steak or Gerald Ford’s attempt to eat tamales without removing the wrappers. But even when candidates pull off the culinary feat, not all locals feel con- Continued on page 4 Hillary and Bill Clinton at the New York State Fair, September 2000. Shaker Culinary Traditions IN THIS ISSUE By Mary Rose Boswell remain to practice “Gospel Order” at Sabbathday Lake in Maine. While N 1774, a small group of religious their membership has dwindled, they From the Chair ...................... 2 Idissenters sailed from England to still fascinate us for unique faith, America and settled in New York beautifully crafted items, high quality A Podcast History City. They were called “Shakers” agricultural products, and nutritious, of Cooking ............................. 3 because of their ecstatic devotions, flavorful meals. and they practiced celibacy, pacifism, Living in separate communi- confession of sin, and communal ties allowed the Shakers to practice Recipe for Literacy ................ 3 property. their religion in peace. Cultivating By 1827, the numbers of this little their own produce became necessary Member News ..................... 10 group had had grown to nearly five to feed their growing numbers of thousand, with 21 communities in converts. Program Calendar ............... 12 New York, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, The first Shakers in America Georgia, Florida, and most of New sought the aid of indigenous peoples England. Today only four Shakers Continued on page 8 FROM THE CHAIR HILE we have had a respite speaking about the “Tomato Lady Wfrom programming during of San Joaquin” at our November the summer, the Culinary Historians’ program. Signing up is easy (I am a board of directors has been hard at Luddite but breezed through it on CHNY Board of Directors work to shore up housekeeping mat- the first attempt) and will open a 2007–2008 ters and to extend our reach into the whole network of contacts. growing food history world. Other opportunities involve Cathy Kaufman, Chairman Thanks to the diligent efforts our growing relationship with the Kenneth Ovitz, Vice Chairman, of our web-savvy Holley Atkinson, National Arts Club, located in Membership Chairman we have moved our website to an the fabulous Tilden Mansion on Ellen J. Fried, Secretary improved host. The site continues Gramercy Park. Marc Levy, the Diane5 Klages, Treasurer with its beautiful design, but should Chair of NAC’s Culinary Arts Com- Carolyn Vaughan, Director, be more user-friendly. In addition, mittee, graciously extends invitations Programming Liaison Holley has created a Facebook page to our members for many of the Linda Pelaccio, Director for CHNY; what is most exciting events, which often go unpublicized about this development is the ability otherwise. To learn about these and Holley Atkinson, Webmaster to network in cyberspace with folks other events of interest to culinary Donna Gelb, Publicity and Public who are not part of our membership historians, you need to agree to Relations but are active in culinary history. receive notices by e-mail (unfor- Helen Brody, Newsletter Within the first 24 hours of activat- tunately time constraints make it Editor-in-Chief ing the Facebook site, we had new impossible to do postal mailings). friends such as Rachel Laudan (who I am also pleased to announce CHNY Information Hotline: spoke to us last January on the mo- that Willa Ying Zhen is the recipi- (212) 501-3738 rality of cooking) and Professor Ken ent of the 2008 Culinary Historians www.culinaryhistoriansny.org Albala, who has spoken previously on of New York Scholar’s Grant (for- Italian Baroque cookery and will be Continued on next page Please send/e-mail member news, book reviews, text proposals to: Helen Brody 21 Spencer St., #403 Lebanon, NH 03766 [email protected] (603) 727-9251 (D) (603) 727-9116 (E) CHNY Board and advisors: (L to R) Diane Klages, Cathy Kaufman, Linda Pelaccio, Donna Gelb, Holley Atkinson, Kenneth Ovitz. (Missing: Ellen J. Fried and Carolyn Vaughan) 2 5 From the Chair annual business meeting, members we hope this evening provided some Continued from page 2 had the chance to share information recognition of the splendid work of about recent books and projects in CHNY members. merly known as the Amelia Scholar’s the field of culinary history through We hope to see you at many Grant). Ms. Ying Zhen will be trav- short presentations designed to raise of our wonderful programs in the eling to Canton, China to study the awareness of our talented member- coming year. Please do not hesitate transmission of culinary knowledge ship’s diverse activities. We have to contact me or any board mem- in Chinese cooking schools. always regretted that, in our limited ber with questions, comments, or Finally, we were excited to program year, we cannot accommo- suggestions that will help us make start the new season at Culinary date all the wonderful work done by CHNY better serve your needs and Historians of New York with our our members in formal programs, as interests. second annual “Celebration of Our well as bringing in outside scholars Members” last month. As part of our to present in their areas of expertise; A Podcast History of Cooking HE Oxford University Press sense of storytelling to bring widely Tis sponsoring a Podcast His- diverse disciplines—natural history, tory of Cooking, a series which economics, the history of trade, lin- will be featured on its upcoming guistics, political history, and the art culinary studies website. CHNY of cooking—to bear on a narrative member Jesse Browner is researcher, that follows the evolution of the writer, narrator, and producer of the culinary arts in Western civiliza- history. tion from their prehistoric origins The first two episodes are a brief in Africa and the Middle East to introduction to the series and a specu- twentieth century American cook- lative essay on Stone Age recipes. ing. Although of interest to culinary Three more episodes are in produc- historians, the History’s target audi- tion with estimates that the complete ence is a more general one. series will be twenty episodes. The first versions of the potcasts The Podcast History of Cook- are available at www.jessebrowner. ing draws on novelist Browner’s com and for free on iTunes. Recipe for Literacy ECIPE for Literacy is a new partnerships as they go nation-wide wellness manager with his healthful Rprogram conceived by CHNY to all ages, and welcomes inquiries French-fry recipe, and the mayor, member Mary Jo Weinig of the about volunteering. who prepared latkes. Weinig Foundation. This novel The misson of this community- Each week the children taste a program promotes literacy by using oriented program is to excite children new dish and write about it in their literal and figurative recipes. about writing and language by incor- Chef’s Journals. The program culmi- The seven-week-long program, porating culinary and local history, nated with a well-attended public presented to children last year in nutrition, and the environment in reception. All sorts of potato dishes Greenport, Long Island, and Jupiter, its curriculum. Last year the topic in were served and the chef-writers Florida, will be offered this fall at five Greenport was the potato because of took the stage and read from their locations in Florida and New York its long history on the North Fork journals. with the children in each location, and Long Island. Guest speakers To learn more, please contact communicating via the internet. The included a town councilman/farmer, Mary Jo Weinig at mjm95@mac. Weinig Foundation hopes to form who explained how potatoes grow, a com. 3 Raw Beef Thomas Jefferson’s appreciation of April 14, Representative Charles Continued from page 1 haute cuisine as “an effete taste […] Ogle, a Pennsylvania Whig, rose which had led [Jefferson] to ‘abjure to the floor of the U.S. Congress to nected. One Iowa voter compared his native victuals.’ ” While Henry’s ridicule a recent Van Buren White such antics to faking a local accent: comment grew out of his fears of a House menu. Trying to give cor- “They’ve tried to become the people country which itself was in political rect French names, Ogle worked that they’re talking to just to gain and social upheaval, the terms of his through seven courses and almost their votes.” critique—placing rustic American thirty dishes, including soup (Potage Indeed, food has a political food against the sophistication of au tortue, Potage à la Julienne, et Potage history in America going back to haute cuisine—have proved useful to aux pois), fish Saumon,( sauce d’anchois, the Revolution. Surprisingly, it in- American politicians ever since. et Bass piqué à la Chambore), chicken cludes denigrating the food of an Henry’s comment echoes the (Supreme de volaille en bordure à la ally, France. Patrick Henry attacked period’s celebration of “native vict- gelée), meat (including Filet de boeuf T uals.” Simple, wholesome food was piqué au vin de Champagne and Filets homas Jefferson coded as a sign of republican virtue mignons de mouton en chevreuil), and while European cuisines were con- game (Pigeons à la royal aux champi- sidered overly luxurious and morally gnons).