CH W Line Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. April 2010 Volume XIV, Number 7

COOPERATIVE SUPPER

Indigenous Pre-contact New World Foods

Sunday, April 11, 2010 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. (Note time change)

Alexandria House 400 Madison Street Alexandria, VA 22314

CALENDAR HoW will be holding its annual For new members or those who were CHoW Meetings CCooperative Supper on Sunday unable to attend previous suppers, in the afternoon, April 11. This dinner is an ChoW Line newsletters below there are April 11 informal potluck where you have a ideas, photos and descriptions of food Cooperative Supper (Note: chance to talk to people, view the skyline brought to some of our recent potlucks time change 4 to 6 p.m.) from high above Alexandria, and eat based on various culinary history themes: great-tasting historic recipes. Plates, cups, bowls, eating 2009: “Hail to the Chef! Presidential utensils, and napkins will The winning culinary history dining Recipes,” CHoW Line, April 2009, be provided. theme chosen at the March 14 meeting Volume XII, Number 7. was “Indigenous Pre-contact New World But please bring anything Foods. Please see pages 6 and 8 for 2008: “Good Food for Bad Times,” CHoW needed for serving your research ideas. Line, May 2008, Volume XII, Number 8, contribution, as well as a pp. 2-4. copy of your recipe, the On April 11, everyone brings a prepared name of its source, and any recipe to share that is somehow related to 2007: “Foods of Virginia Through Time,” interesting information our chosen theme. CHoW Line, February 2007, Volume XI, related to the recipe you Number 6, pp. 2-3. have chosen.

May 2 Directions to Alexandria House are on page 8. Barbara G. Carson, “Ambitious Appetites” — To see an extensive list of indigenous foods and political aspects on dining references, see page 5. in D.C. during the Federal period. (Note: first Sunday)

Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. (CHoW/DC) www.chowdc.org founded in 1996, is an informal, nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to the study of the history of foodstuffs, cuisines, and culinary customs, both historical and contemporary, from all parts of the world. What Happened at the March 14 Meeting? GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

President Katherine Livingston called the meeting to order at about 2:40 p.m. Approximately 45 people were present.

A vote was taken for the theme for the April Cooperative supper. “Indigenous Pre-contact New World Food” won with 18 votes. The dinner will be held on April 11 in Alexandria, Virginia. See page 1 for details.

We have an active CHoW Board nominating committee: Bryna Freyer, Katy Hayes and Francine Berkowitz. The committee will present its slate at the April meeting and will also ask for nominations from the floor. Felice Caspar has reached the term limit for Membership Secretary. Send your suggestions for Board nominations to Francine at [email protected]. The election will take place in May.

Katherine Livingston and Shirley Cherkasky announced a new addition sent to the CHoW Culinary History Collection, housed at the Smithsonian American History Museum. Gina Jenkins procured the last 25 of a 56 volume Mexican regional culinary booklet series, Cocina Indigena y Popular, published by La Direccion General de Culturas Dr. Fred Czarra autographs his books for Catherine Populares del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. Pressler, and Quentin Looney. Photo by CiCi A few years ago, Gina brought back from Mexico City about half of the series of booklets based on the culinary research red Czarra, an international education consultant, is an on various communities throughout Mexico, such as FAdjunct Professor of World Geography and World Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Chiapas. History at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He is the author or co-author of seven books. He based his talk on his most Program: Vice President CiCi Williamson introduced recent book, Spices: A Global History. Professor Czarra grew today’s speaker, Dr. Frederick Czarra. His talk was based up in Washington, D.C. where his family owned a food on his book Spices: A Global History. market. By the 1970s in Manhattan, he was already interested in spices and how they had changed the world. Refreshments: He decided that food and its culture were a good way to Francine Berkowitz brought Dates from Iran that she had teach children about history, geography, and the world. bought in India the previous week. Felice Caspar brought Spiced Garbanzo Beans. His talk, accompanied by beautiful images, covered five eras Elisabetta Castleman brought Corn Muffins with Jalapeno of the history of spices: in the ancient world, the medieval peppers and onions. world, the age of exploration, the age of industrialization, Kari Barrett brought Spiced Pecans. and the twentieth century and beyond. Czarra recounted all Claire Cassidy brought Spicy Green Pea Salad ( blanched sorts of stories such as ones about Roman routes, the East frozen peas, celery, cumin, fennel, cayenne, salt, sesame Indian trade, the Crusades, the economic dominance of the seeds, toasted sesame oil, cider vinegar). Portuguese and the Dutch, and stories about adventurers Zina Pisarko brought Bird’s Milk (Polish Marshmallow such as the Moroccan Ibn Battuta (1304-1368/1377) and Candy), Hummus and Pita chips, and a “Dark & Stormy” Admiral Zheng He with his Chinese armada in the early highly seasoned Bundt cake from Dupont Farmer’s Market. 1400s. Clara Raju brought Batata Nu Shaak (Spiced Potatoes). In addition to telling about the several thousand-years-old Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m. by President history of the spice trade, Czarra also devoted part of his Livingston. presentation to what he refers to as “The Premier Spices,” Respectfully submitted by Clara Raju for absent which are the five following ones: cinnamon, clove, chili David Bender, Recording Secretary. pepper, nutmeg and mace, and pepper. Each spice, as did others, had a part in bringing cultures together, in ways Keep Those Refreshments Coming! sometimes peaceful and sometimes not; each stimulated globalization of trade; and each changed the way people ate as the spices moved from one part of the world to another. --Dianne Hennessy King

2 CHoW Line CHoW Members View Rare Cookbooks at Library of Congress

By CiCi Williamson Rare Cookbooks from CHoW Vice President Two Collections

Thanks to Shirley Cherkasky’s The cookbooks on display were mainly arrangements with Mark Dimunation, from two collections in the Rare Book Chief of the Rare Book and Special and Special Collections Division. The Collections Division since 1998, about 4,346-volume gastronomic Bitting two dozen CHoW members were Collection was amassed by Katherine privileged to view more than 30 of the Golden Bitting (1868-1937), a food Library of Congress’ rare cookbooks, chemist for the Department of including the first one ever printed. Agriculture and the American Canners Association and author of nearly fifty On Thursday, March 4, we were pamphlets and articles on food escorted to the handsome Rosenwald preservation and related topics. Room located upstairs in the Thomas Jefferson Building, which was modeled The Bitting Collection contains after the Beaux Arts Paris Opera House numerous English and American in France. publications on food preparation from the 18th and 19th centuries and a sampling of notable French, German, and Italian works. American regional Library of Congress Reading Room as viewed from Rosenwald Room overlook. cooking is well-documented. We (Unless otherwise noted, all photos viewed the treasure of the collection: by CiCi Williamson) a mid-15th century Italian manuscript entitled Libro de arte coquinaria of Maestro Martino, a source for the Guide to the Female Sex, from the age of earliest printed cookbook, Bartolomeo sixteen to sixty. London (1735); and Platina’s De Honesta Voluptate Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s (ca. 1475). Physiologie du gout (1852).

The Elizabeth Robbins Pennell Collec- Also from the Bitting Collection, we tion provided four books in the dis- Left to right: Mark Dimunation, Chief, saw an original 1747 copy of Art of Rare Book and Special Collections play. Writing extensively on gas- Division, LoC, witih Dan DeSimone, Cookery Made Plain and Easy by tronomy, Elizabeth Pennell (1855- Rosenwald Room Curator, and CHoW Hannah Glasse; The Forme of Cury, 1936) amassed a large collection of Treasurer Bruce Reynolds. 1390, by Samuel Pegge, printed by J. European cookbooks. My Cookery Books Nicols in 1780; an early Tudor cook- (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1903) is Our co-host was Dan De Simone, book, Sir Thomas Elyot’s Castel of a personal account of her cooking Curator of the Rosenwald Room. Health; a Japanese text on carving, activities and describes many of the Formerly the Woodrow Wilson Ryori Shitsuke-sho (Manner of Cookery), 433 volumes on cookery from the Library, the Lessing J. Rosenwald 1642(?); Whole Duty of a Woman or a Pennell bequest. Room is named for this bibliophile, businessman, philanthropist, and former chairman of the board of Sears from 1910 to 1925. The Rosenwald Left to right: estate gave 28,000 items to the Library Judy Newton, of Congress in the early 1980s. Mary Sebold, Peggy Gartner, From the side vestibule of the room, Katherine Livingston, we could look over the spectacular Kari Barrett and Connie Hay view rare cookbooks Library of Congress Reading Room on display in the with its 195-foot high domed ceiling. Rosenwald Room. Across the hall, according to Mr. Dimunation, there is a book vault and “in this building, everywhere there’s a lockable door there are books.”

CHoW Line 3 The Pennell collection is strongest in French and Italian cookbooks from the Left to right: Dan DeSimone, 16th through 18th centuries and Rosenwald Room includes a fully illustrated edition of Curator, with Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera (Venice: CHoW members 1574). The culinary treatise, which Bruce Reynolds, makes the earliest mention of mozza- Francine rella, contains more than 1,000 recipes, Berkowitz, and numerous menus, and – exceptional at Don Hay. Don is this period – woodcuts illustrating the looking at a kitchen, cooks at work, utensils and framed Dutch broadside, Luy- meal service. Lekkerland (1790), a children’s Other books we viewed from this journey to a collection were The queen-like closet, or, gastronomic Rich cabinet by Hannah Woolley (1672); paradise.

Gassicourt (1809). The latter contains Related to our CHoW Cooperative a magnificent, foldout, gastronomic Supper, the author adapts numerous map of France, the first in book form. traditional recipes by substituting native American ingredients, such as Both the Katherine Golden Bitting corn, squash, and pumpkin, printed Collection on Gastronomy and Eliza- here for the first time. Simmon’s beth Robins Pennell Collection are primarily concerned with gastronomy and the history of the kitchen and, (Below) Les Delices (1662) by The Gastronomic Map of France (1809) between them, have amassed several Nicolas de Bonnefon. by Charles-Louis Cadet de Gassicourt, thousand European and American names the dish for which each place is imprints. famed. Photo by Abby Brack, Library of Congress Photographer. More “firsts” on display from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division included the first original Mexican The accomplisht cook by Robert May cookbook, Novisimo arte de cocina o (1588), which includes a pastry ship escelente coleccion de las mejores receta by with marzipan guns, pastry cattle, and Manuel N. de la Vega (1845); and the pies filled with frogs and birds; and first cookbook of American authorship Cours gastronomique, ou, Les diners de to be printed in the U.S., American Manant-ville by Charles-Louis Cadet de Cookery by Amelia Simmons (1796).

“Pompkin Pudding,” baked in a crust, is the basis for the classic American pumpkin pie.

The entire bibliography of rare cook- Left: Mark books viewed during this visit will be Dimunation; reprinted in CHoW Line. Right: Pat Reber.

LOCATION The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress 10 First Street, S.E. Washington, D.C.

4 CHoW Line New World Indigenous Foods Pre-Contact Shirley Cherkasky provided this list Roots and Tubers Claire Cassidy, who is a nutritional from the Smithsonian’s American arrowroot anthropologist, sent these references: History 1991 conference, “Good As groundnuts Gold: Foods the Americas Gave the Jerusalem artichokes Mitsitam restaurant at the Amerocan World.” jicama Indian Museum is a source of malanga (yautia) inspiration, and they may have Fruits: oca published a cookbook—I don’t know, atemoya potatoes but if they haven’t, they should! avocado sweet potatoes ( North American, berries boniato) Books from my shelf: blueberries, highbush and yuca (tapioca, cassava, manioc) The recipe books are old, but similar lowbush books must be available today, and Cape gooseberry Vegetables these might be available used…. You cranberry capsicums (bell and other sweet can see by the dates when I stopped huckleberry peppers, chili peppers and pimento) collecting and stopped teaching. Juneberry (serviceberry) chayote raspberries, American red and gherkins (Jamaica cucumbers) (old) The Art of American Indian American black pokeweed Cooking. Yeffe Kimball and Jean strawberry pumpkins Anderson. This has both recipes and cassabanana ramps historical discussion. Doubleday, ceriman squashes 1964. cherimoya winter: Hubbard, buttercup, cherries winter crookneck, butternut, acorn, (old) Pueblo and Navajo Cookery. chokecherry kabocha, golden nugget, calabaza Marcia Keegan Earth Books, 1977 pin cherry summer: spaghetti, yellow crook- rum cherry neck, zucchini and patty pan Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian custard apple tomatillo Indigenous Peoples, Nutrition, Botany feijoa (pineapple guava) tomato and Use. Harriet Kuhnlein, and Nancy granadillas, giant and sweet Turner. Gordon and Breach, 1991. grapes (American varieties: Concord, Cacti This is a technical book, dense, and scuppernong and others) cactus pear (prickly pear) fascinating. No recipes, but with food guanabana (soursop) nopales (cactus pads) names and uses you can figure one out. guava mamey Nuts The Sunflower, Charles Heiser Jr., mamey sapote black walnut University of Oklahoma Press, naranjilla Brazil nut Norman, 1976. Same author also papaya butternut, wrote on gourds and nightshades. passion fruit cashew pawpaw hickory nut Gathering What the Great Nature pepino (melon pear) pecan Provided, Food Traditions of the persimmon, American Gitksan. By the people of ‘Ksan. pineapple Seeds [Northwest Coast Indian people] plums (American, beach) pumpkin Univ. of Wash. Press, Seattle, 1980. sapodilla sunflower sugar apple (sweetsop) A few of Claire’s indigenous options: tamarillo (tree tomato) Spices, Flavorings, and Extracts Mammals: buffalo, deer, elk, raccoon, white sapote allspice beaver, squirrel, porcupine, rabbit, capsicums (chili peppers) woodchuck Grains and Grasses cayenne, paprika Sea creatures: turtle, drumfish, amaranth cassareep buffalofish, other fishes, snails, corn, popcorn chocolate, cocoa mussels, clams, abalone, halibut, red quinoa maple syrup and sugar snapper, seaweed wild rice sarsaparilla extract Poultry goose, duck, swan, crane, sassafras leaves heron, passenger pigeon Legumes spicebush beans: All beans, except fava, soy, vanilla Your own research might uncover mung, garbanzo and broad beans, are other indigenous foods you would like American in origin. Poultry turkey to prepare for our Cooperative Supper. peanuts

CHoW Line 5 Upcoming Events Culinary Humor Forty Second Annual Used Book Sale 14 miles of books for readers and collectors By Tom Weiland Stone Bridge School, 9101 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 29814 April 16-19, Friday 8 a.m.—8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.—6 p.m., It is St. Patrick’s day as I write this, Sunday (Half-Price Day) 12 p.m.—6 p.m., Monday ($10 so let’s look at an Irish writer: Bag-of-Books Day) 5—8 p.m. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). www.stoneridgebooksale.org 301-657-4322, ext. 372 A forerunner in his time, Swift had satirical thoughts on many subjects, not the least of which were food and drink, oft mixed with politics and human vice. Here is a sampling: Workshop: Strawberry Jar Herb Garden United States National Arboretum ’Tis an old maxim in the schools, 3501 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, D. C. 20002-1958 That flattery’s the food of fools; Yet now and then your men of wit May 8, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Will condescend to take a bit.--”Cadenus and Vanessa” (1713) Meet in arboretum lobby www.usna.usda.gov 202-245-4521 Poor Nations are hungry, and rich Nations are proud, and Pride and Hunger will ever be at Variance. Grow fresh herbs for all your favorite recipes right --Gulliver’s Travels (1726) outside the door. Chrissy Moore, curator of the National Herb Garden, will guide you through the process of And he gave it for his opinion, that whosoever could make planting an herb garden in a strawberry jar. Select ten herbs two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better from a mix of annuals and perennials, and create your own of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, perpetual herb garden. Great for a small space, and makes than the whole race of politicians put together. an excellent Mother’s Day gift. Fee covers all plants and --Gulliver’s Travels (1726) materials. Fee: $69 (FONA $55). Registration required.

Finally, one-liners from “Polite Conversation” (ca. 1738) Nominating Committee for She watches him, as a cat would watch a mouse. 2010-2011 Board Members He was a bold man that first ate an oyster. The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, Francine Berkowitz, Bryna Freyer, and Katy Hayes and Doctor Merryman. have agreed to serve as a nominating committee for next Better belly burst than good liquor be lost. year’s officers. Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken. Fingers were made before forks, and hands before knives. Per the by-laws, the committee will present its slate at the Cheers!-TW April meeting and will also ask for nominations from the Zina Pisarko sends this: Bennett Cerf, in “Out on a floor. The election is in May. Limerick,” attributes the following to Edmund Lear’s Book of Nonsense, London 1846. All the existing board officers are eligible to serve again in their current capacity except for Felice Caspar who has There was a young lady of Greenwich, pioneered the position of Membership Secretary and has Whose garments were border’d with spinach. reached the term limit for that office. Please volunteer or But a large spotty calf send a nomination to Francine Bit her shawl quite in half, Which alarmed that young lady of Greenwich. Although the number of Board officers is few, the tasks of the Board are many. We would welcome volunteers who, Spinach had quite an important place on Victorian tables, even if they are not interested in a Board position, would being widely used not only in dishes “a la Florentine,” but like to occasionally volunteer their time according to their also in dessert puddings and ices. Spinach juice was a favored own schedules. coloring agent, which leads me to wonder about the recent decision of Necco Wafers to drop artificial colors from its CHoW events can always use a helping hand with candies, announcing that while beet juice would be used for organizing field trips, monthly hospitality, publicity, pink, green would be dropped because no natural color mailings, information gathering for the newsletter and a could be found for it. Perhaps our present-day idea of green variety of other assistance. as a food color is not the same as that of the 19th century? 6 CHoW Line Book Review

By Claudia Kousoulas A plant’s leaves are the herb, while spices come from every other part of he allure of spices used to draw the plant. So leafy cilantro is an herb, explorers and merchants, now it while its dried seeds are a spice. Tdraws authors and cooks. Hemphill educates with chapters on history, essential oils, growing, drying, The two volume set of Spices by buying, and storing spices. He follows Fabienne Gambrelle (Flammarion, up with cooking techniques, including 2008), available in the CHoW dried vs. fresh, and grinding and collection at the Smithsonian Museum roasting to develop flavor. of American History Library, traces the history of the spice trade from a Silk Most useful to the cook is Hemphill’s Road luxury to New World plunder. discussion of herbs and spices in major cuisines, with the combinations In the Middle Ages, Europeans that give each cuisine its distinct and believed that spices were a product of authentic flavor. paradise and thus had miraculous Spices by Fabienne Gambrelle properties. Spices had an aura of Hardcover: 192 pages, $29.95 Most of the book is spice notes, an tropical romance, enhanced by the Publisher: Flammarion; illustrated alphabetical listing beginning with mystery of their sources. But like all edition (October 21, 2008) Ajowan (relative to parsley, but with luxury products, when the fog of ISBN-10: 2080300652 peppery notes, native to India, and for mystery burns off, so does the allure. Size: 8.8 x 8.7 x 1.4 inches many years used in toothpastes and When pepper was discovered to have mouthwashes, now used in curries) come from Africa, its fire dimmed. As In the second volume, Gambrelle and ends with Zedoary (of the ginger travelers, merchants, and explorers explores individual spices, from family, with musky overtones that mapped the world, they discovered the Aframomum malagueta - Malagueta thrives in tropical regions, but sources of spices. Peppercorns, curls of Pepper to Zinziber officinale - Ginger, unfortunately takes two years to fragrant bark, and perfumed seeds describing their particulars and harvest after propagation). changed from miracles to merchandise. history. For example, Fenugreek is the seeds of a grass the Romans called After its profile, each herb or spice gets Plants and propagation were observed Greek hay that was once used for a recipe and they are incredibly and recorded from Africa, across India, animal feed. Its slightly bitter celery creative choices. Mace is featured in and into China. Beyond African flavor is used in Indian curries but Green Ricotta Ravioli with Burnt Sage pepper, came cardamom from India, also in Russian soups and North Butter, horseradish appears in Green cinnamon from Ceylon, and nutmeg African bread. Tea Noodles with Wasabi Dressing, from Malacca. Even the Americas and the various hot peppers come to offered cacao, canella, and pink In the Herb and Spice Bible (Robert fore in Roasted Almonds with Chili pepper. Rose Publishers), author Ian Hemphill and Sea Salt, Chili Chocolate Black takes the same categorizing approach, Beans, and Thai Chili Dressing. It’s hard to imagine, looking at neatly though in his case, from Ajowan to Nuanced and alluring, these recipes labeled and stacked jars on Zedoary. Hemphill works out of showcase the herbs and spices, but are supermarket shelves, but the spice Australia and can offer a bit of never the obvious choices. business was cutthroat. Spices became romance by offering unusual herbs “the stuff of barter and voyage,” and and spices like lime leaf granules, Even with the passage of time, trade as a commercial product they were the candle nut, and gula melaka. You can and science, herbs and spices retain cause of slavery and wars. The use the contemporary Silk Route and their romance. After all, what other Portuguese dominated the spice trade, buy them online at: www.herbies.com. ingredient can pack such power into a but nearly every European country- teaspoon? Spain, France, the Netherlands, and While Hemphill naturally includes England set up colonies in familiar European and Middle Eastern Claudia Kousoulas is a freelance food competition. herbs and spices, he also digs up and features writer. Her stories and varieties from South and Central cookbook reviews appear in Stealing plants, altering nautical America, Southeast Asia, and some Washington Woman, Cookbook Digest, completely unfamiliar Australian maps, subduing and enslaving native and online at AppetiteforBooks.com spices. But even with all its exotics, the populations, all for an elusive and at booksforcooks.com. She is a book helps you appreciate the simple perfume. past President and current Director of pleasure of cinnamon rolls and vanilla CHoW. ice cream.

CHoW Line 7