. CuTTNARYHrsroRnr{s oF Npw YoRr . Volume24, No.2 Spring2011 Touring;Shopping, Cooking, Equals Banquet Text:Donna Gelb I LindaPelaccio Photos:Donna Gelb \ fOLUNTEERING has its V perLs as a few ofus discovered in February. We had agreed to make some Chinese recipessent in by our scholarship program speaker,Willa Zhen, to be served at her February 17th CHNY program tided, "Can- tonese Cooking Schools: tansmit- ting Knowledge and Ti'ansforming Cuisine." Sincewe neededhelp translating and shopping for ingredients like Volunteerc(. to r) Anne Mendelson,Carolina Capehart (with her backtarned), Kinn Larn Kho, Charity Robey,Linda Pelaccio,and Andy Coe,aisit a dried store in Chinatown. osmanthus flower honey and facing- food heaven chilies, blogger and cooking Chinatown: a large swath south of Our first stop was outside a mar- instructor Kian Lam Kho agreed to Canal Street; a section farther East ket on Mott Street where rows of lead us on a shopping tour of Man- under the Manhattan bridge which basketsfilled with dried mushrooms, hattan'sChinatown and then assistin focuses on regional specialties; and fruits, and fish awaited identification the meal's preparation a week prior an areaNorth of Canal Street from and descriptions for use. Next door to the event. Mulberry to Chrystie between Hes- was a vegetable stand where we dis- Kian explained that there are ter and Grand, which is where we covered fresh water chesrruts looking three different shopping areas of spent the day. Continued.on page 6 Wing Fat Company,on Grand Street. :]:::j l.i:= ::::i| ll itl\,1 illi llll ;1ii:l ::= iIiiL ,lii the two clich6s that us, and all the glitches E\ORGIVE have been I' will form the core of this chair- addressed.My thanks to everyone man'sletter: "silenceis golden" and for their cooperation and especially CHNY Boaid of Directors "a picture is worth one thousand to Kathrym and Holley for their hard 2010-2011 words." work. On the "silence" front, all the This edition of the CHNY , very diligent efforts of the indefati- Newsletter is a departure from our gable KathnTn McGowan and Hol- normal, highly verbal format. Rather ley Atkinson have paid off with our than attempt to summarize so many switch to our on-line renewal system of the events that have contributed for memberships. The transition to the successof the 2010-11 sea- from paper to e-commerce has saved son, we are sharing pictures of our the organization time and money two trademark events, the CHNY (helping to keep your membership Scholar's Grant presentation and feesdown, hint, hint), hasminimized the 2010 Amelia Award program. our impact on the environment, and The Scholar's Grant program this has made it possibleto time renew- year included some of the behind- als more accurately,so that each the-scenes action that folks who member gets the full benefit of her are not part of the Programming or his annual membership, rather Committee would have missed: a than using an arbitrary September Chinatown shopping adventure with renewal date. cooking instructor and chef Kian All of this was accomplished in a Lam Kho and master cooking class transition that was both gentle and with Kian and Zhen in www culmaryh rstofl ansny.org Willa advance i quiet: the few members who dis- ofher program on Cantonesecook- covered bugs in the software before ing schools. These photos ought to Pleasesend/e-urad;;, we did whispered the problems to encouragefolks to contribute time to ,l&*::"ry't*' , T:T:l.Spenceil:lt",-- -":$ ' (603)2 (oolti{N$.r16;m) theArnelia Award at theAstor Center. the Programming Committee. Our Searchingfor the AmericaEats most elaborateprogram of the season Archive was a panel discussion tided Heir- and Gettinga Thsteof 1930sAmerica loom Seedsand Heritage Breeds: CamilleB€gin How Our Agricultural Past Informs the Way We Eat Today. Held in the spring of 2007 JN honor of Betty Fussell'sreceipt of the Ithe CHNYheld a one- 2010 Amelia Award, it brought out day symposium on the a huge crowd and some of the most 1930spioneering gov- influential actors working today in ernment-sponsored food heri tagelheirloom foodways. study entitled America Eax. A,project of the New Deal's Federal Writers' Froject (FWP) the book aimed at documenting To invoke one more clich6, I American regional food- wish I could report that "no news is ways. Yet, America Eats good news." IJnfortunately, I have never reached publica- the sad chore of reporting the death tion and, although pre- of Rheda Brandt, a member of the cious files are archived at Programming Committee as well as the Library of Congress, the National Arts Club's Culinary state and local archives Arts Committee, after a brief ill- still hold the bulk of the ness. Rheda's signature sryle will be groundbreaking FW?'s sorely missed, as well as her energ'y food writing. and enthusiasm for making every The goal of the CHNY event a success.No iob was 2007 srrmposiumwas the ever too large, or, asimportandy, too launch of an ambitious Cookingspaghetti and frying chickenfor spaghenisupper at GrapeFestiaal, Tbntitown, small, for the elegandy coifed Rheda project aimed at establish- Arkansas,Aagust 16, 1941. to undertake with gusto, whether it ing a comprehensive survey of the The demanding task of unearthing was brainstorming program ideas or America EaB archive throughout the the entire collection was daunting picking up the trash after an event United States.Notonlyis rheAmerica to do alone so I decided to consider while managing, somehoq to main- Eats archive a record of culinary tra- the America Eats project in connec- tain a flawless manicure. Wb will miss ditions and regional cuisine, it is a tion with the FWP's folklore collec- her. vivid and crucial historical document tion. The resulting dissertation is a eTva for understanding the evolution of sensory narrative of 1930s America American taste in the 20th century. attentive to the role food and taste The full record of the American Eats played in the making of race, ethnic- papers would enable historians to ity, and nation in the interwar United i further researchthe assumption that States. I ScHor-entsGnRr.m WWII and the post-war advancesin Photographsprepared for the Dneornw food processing were key causesof Americn Eats project encapsulate The deadline for filing for change in contemporary American the culinary pluralism of Americans the 2011 Culinary llistorians tastes. and ethnic Americans in the inter- Scholar'sGrant is Tuesday, As a first year doctoral student, war period. Consider for instance Mry 31, 2011. Information I attended the CHNY symposium the above picture of the annual and applicationsare available and exchanged conversation with Grape Festival's spaghetti dinner in at www.culinaryhistoriansny. scholars, students, gourmets, and Tontitown, Arkansas. The caption orglamelia.html. connoisseursabout the scopeand the and image reveal that the Italian- I location of {te Americn Eats archive. I Continuedon page 10 I i l_.. dinner's venison shoulder (he finally buys one). My favorite section con- BOOKREVIEWS cerns a cow's head, in which he man- agesto shove everything you'll ever FervNrr'sLesr Supprn: the wrong side of the tracks. Never need to know about the purchasing, Rn-cnnerrNc ONp AMAZTNG mind. Kimball was in love and soon skinning, cleaving and cooking of MBar-FRoM FarvNrn FanuBn's discovering treasures in the once said head,just in caseyou lose your 1896Coornoox elegantstreets, including the Boston marbles and want to try. by ChristopherKimball (Hyperion Cooking Schoolfromwhich Farmer By the time Kimball escorrs us 2010) ruled. This led to what can only be to the anticipated evening, you will Reviewedby PatWillard called a happy mania as a seemingly feel like a true Victorian, knowing saneidea takesshape: recreate from not just about cooking but life itself llACH issueof Cook'slllustrated, scratch a classic Victorian dinner in the late 1800s.The dinner prepa- LChristopher Kimball'sidio- menu from Farmer's cookbook. He rations, which are tackled by five syncratic, wonderfully democratic would prepare all twelve coursesfor assistantsand Kimball over several magazine, is a great ball of recipes, twelve very lucky guests. days, encompassmore drama, near techniques, and cultural and culi- Where would the humor be in disasters,and vaudeville skits than nary history. But for all its virtues, such a chore? From the first page to the average food book reveals. But it's not a magazine that has ever the last, as it turns out. Minutes into by the time the guests-all lumi- seemed to acknowledge, let alone his pursuit, Kimball admits that he's naries dressed to the nines-arrive, embody, what I think is essentialin over his head. But then he'stoo fabu- everything is miraculously in place, a kitchen-a sense of humor about lous a reporter to let go of the fun including a fanciful ice swan. The the glorious absurdity of cooking. he'shaving researching and speaking last courseis clearedby one a.m. and Without humoq cooking can turn with everyone he can find that may the photographs provided proved into drudgerywhich leadsto resent- know something about anything that they all had an inordinately ment, which often results in a table touching on the dinner. Most of all, swell time. Even the kitchen help, full of anything but a generous feast. Kimball sinks into a true writer's exhaustedas they should be, claimed Kimball. asmuch asI admire him passion-bringing to life what is lost it was the most fun they ever had. and his magazine, has never seemed and gained by the passageof history. And that's the beautyof Kimball's to be someone I would like to horse In telling Farmer's personal story book Fannie'sLnst Sapperreminds us around with in the kitchen and be he accomplisheswhat is often left what the Victorians knew very well, certain there would be a joyfr:l dinner out of culinary history: endowing and which Farmer's cookbook, in its at the end.