Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. (CHoW/DC)founded in 1996, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to the study of the history of foodstuffs, cuisines, and culi-nary customs, both historical and contemporary, from all parts of the world. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

www.chowdc.org

The New Southern Latino TableSpeaker: Sandra Gutierrez

Sunday, May 6 (Note change of location) 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Trinity United Methodist Church (Langley Hall)1205 Dolley Madison Boulevard

McLean, VA 22101(See page 6 for map and directions)

Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. May 2018 Volume XXI, Number 8

Save these futureCHoW Meeting Dates:

September 9October 14

November 11December 9

January 13, 2019February 10, 2019

March 10, 2019April 14, 2019May 5, 2019

NOTE: This is the last CHoW Line until

September.Have a nice summer!

See you after Labor Day!

Renew Your Membership in CHoW NOWfor 2018-19!

The membership year runs from September 1 to August 31. Annual dues are $35 for individuals, households, or organizations. Dues include e-mail delivery of the newsletter CHoW Line.

Dues are $50 for members who also wish to receive a mailed, paper copy of the newsletter.

Other Benefits: • Priority registration for field trips• GoogleGroups notices • Membership roster

Join CHoW as Sandra ex-plains the reasons why this new culinary movement was inevitable and discusses where it’s headed today.

She will speak about the “Latinx” influence in our foodways. Latinx refers to 21 different countries and 21 different cuisines, each one a result of global amalgama-tion. With Latinx estimated to become the majority ofAmericans by 2050, Sandra said this will be the largestethnic shift in the country since World War II, changingwhat ingredients people will buy, and the recipes theyseek.

Sandra Gutierrez of Cary, North Carolina, is is an expert on the subject of Latin American cuisine, a journalist, and a food historian. Her more-than 1,000 articles have been published in The Ox-ford American, People in Español, Cooking Club of America, Cooking Plea-sures, InStyle, USA Today, NBCLatino, Mamiverse, FOX Latino, Southern Liv-ing, and in newspapers across the country.

The former food editor of The Cary News from 1996 to 2004, Sandra is cred-ited with discovering a new culinary movement

and her book on the subject matter, The New Southern-Latino Table: Recipes that Bring Together the Bold and Beloved Flavors of Latin America & The American South, was on exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Mu-seum from 2016 to 2018. Her other books, Latin American Street Food; Empanadas: the Hand-Held Pies of Latin Amer-ica; and Beans and Field Peas, A Savor the South Cookbook, have received rave reviews from both that national and international press, including The Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

In October 2017, Sandra won the grand prize of $1000 in Les Dames d’Escoffier International’s M.F.K. Fisher Awards. Her winning story, “A Voice from the Nuevo South,” is about the Latino population’s influence on Southern food and the Gua-temalan author’s personal insight into assimilation, discrimination, and the birth of food trends. Read it at: www.oxfordamerican.org/item/977-a-voice-from-the-nuevo-south

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CHoW Programs 2017-2018September 10 John Kelly, “Small Plates: Historic Restaurant Tidbits from the Pages of The Washington Post”

October 8 Andrew Coe, A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression

November 12 Susan Benjamin, “Survey of the History and Changes in Food as it Relates to Candy…with Tasting” December 10 John McQuaid, “The Evolution of Taste”

January 14, 2018 Tom Croghan, “Why the Mid-Atlantic will Rival Bordeaux and Burgundy as a Great Wine Growing Region” February 11, 2018 Paul Anthony Brazinski, “Food Practices in Early Christianity” March 11, 2018 Cecilia Glembocki, “The White House Egg Roll History”

April 8, 2018 Cooperative Supper, Alexandria House May 6, 2018 Sandra Gutierrez, “The New Southern Latino Table”

What Happened at the April 8 Cooperative Supper?Theme: Sephardic Cuisine

What a great time we had at CHoW’s annual Cooperative Supper, hosted by Shirley Cherkasky, in her community room atop her condominium building in Alexandria, Vir-ginia. As it has been at our suppers in years past, the view of the Potomac and the city from the 22nd floor of her building was spectacular. Thank you to Shirley for making possible our annual celebration.

The theme of Sephardic Cuisine led us all over the globe: India, Mexico, Morocco, Curaçao, the U.S., and France, to name a few of the places to which the Sephardic Jews fled. They brought their food traditions, blended them at times with new ingredients at the new locations, and introduced the world to their old and new glorious food creations. Below is a list of CHoW members and their contributions to the April supper.

Photos by Claudia Kousoulas and Dianne King.

Contributors to the CHOW Community Supper

Francine Berkowitz: Orange and Pomegranate Salad. Francine remembers her mother, whose family came from Poland, introducing pomegranates to Francine’s childhood neighbors in Riggs Park, Washington D.C. It is likely that Eastern European Jews imported pomegranates from the Middle East for Jewish celebrations.

Randy Clarke: Boston Baked Beans. Rabbi and food historian Gil Marks writes in The World of Jewish Cooking and Encyclopedia of Jewish Food that beans were first cooked by Sephardic Jews, and that the Pilgrims picked up the recipe in Holland en route to the New World. The Jews living in the Netherlands adapted their Middle Eastern stew to use local ingredients like fava beans, honey or mo-lasses, and goose fat. The Shabbat meal that could cook in residual heat from a hearth or oven appealed to the Pilgrims, who, as Puritans, also refrained from lighting fires on the Sabbath.

Felice Caspar: Tirshi. Pumpkin salad/ spread. A Tunisian dish served with bread and olive oil. Adapted from Ronit Treatman’s blog: http://handsonhol-iday.wpengine.com/2011/08/symbolic-sephardic-foods-for-rosh-hashanah/ Sephardim serve symbolic foods at the Rosh Hashanah Seder; some have a double-meaning and are called “simanim,” or “signs.” Special blessings are chanted over these dishes. Squash or gourd is called “qara” in Aramaic and Hebrew. Qara can mean “to call out” and it can also mean “to rip or tear up.” The follow-ing prayer is recited over the gourd: “May it be your will Adonai our God that our harsh decrees are torn up and our merits are proclaimed before You.”

(Continued on page 3)

Claire Cassidy and John Rosine: Leeks with Olives and Currants from The Sephardic Kosher Kitchen by Suzy David. Claire’s family is Irish/French/Por-tuguese of Protestant and Jewish faiths. The family was forced out of Portugal, to Holland, and from there to Curaçao. The island has Dutch, Indonesian, and African dishes. Claire and John also brought Tutu, made with cornmeal, black-eyed peas and cheese sauce. The recipe is found in the Sisterhood Cookbook, compiled by members of the Mikvé Israel-Emanuel synagogue in Curaçao. It is the oldest (consecrated 1732), continually used synagogue in the western hemisphere.

Shirley Cherkasky: Mìna de Expinaca. Adapted from Cook-ing the Sephardic Way by the Sephardic Sisterhood: Temple Tifereth Israel; Los Angeles, 1971. Reprinted in “Jewish Recipes” from the 1976 Smithsonian Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife. The baked dish is made with spinach, eggs, mashed potatoes, sharp cheese, matzo and oil. No photo available

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Laura Gilliam: Ginger Almond Sponge Cake with Cardamom and Pistachios. From King Solomon’s Table by Joan Nathan. Cardamom is used extensively in the foods of India and Scandinavia. Guatemala is now the largest producer of cardamom.

Sandy Hoexter: Eggplant Flan (Almodrote de Berengena) from Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food. This recipe comes from the Turkish Sephardim in England. Based on classic Spanish tortilla (fritatta) which is based on frying together vegetables and eggs. Eggplants were brought by the Arabs to Spain and Italy. The addition of the cheese to the tortilla made it a dairy dish to be used on the Sabbath. During the Inquisition, eating this dish gave away the Christian converts (conversos) still attached to their Jewish faith, and they were thrown into prison. The classic dish consists of eggplant, eggs, bread, feta and kashkaval cheeses. The Turkish Sephardic who went to England substituted cheddar for kash-kaval, which I did as well.

Barbara Karth: Sumac Chicken and Rice with Barberries and Pine Nuts, an Iranian dish.

Dianne King: Chicken with Tamarind, Apricots, and Chipotle Sauce. A recipe provided by Pati Jinich at www.jewish-foodexperience.com/recipes/chicken-tamarind-apricotes-chipotlesauce/. Some Sephardim Jews went to Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries such as Ar-gentina. The Sephardim spoke Ladino, a Judeo-Spanish language, sometimes called literary Spanish, based on Old Spanish, which made communication with the local populations in the new world easier. A few of Mexico’s famous specialties, dishes such as Bunuelos, the deep-fried balls of cheese-infused dough, originated as a Sephardi Hanukkah dish. The oil used to fry these savory snacks was originally meant to invoke the miracle of the oil. Today, there are about 40,000 Jews in Mexico, about 37.000 of them in Mexico City.

Claudia Kousoulas: Beef Meatballs with Onions. (Boun digaz aux Oignons.) A Mo-roccan dish from The Scent of Orange Blos-soms: The Sephardic Cuisine of Morocco, by Kitty Morse and Danielle Mamane.

Tina Lima: Almond Sponge Cake. Served in India, among many other countries. As a side note, Indians didn’t drink tea until after the arrival of the British.

Judy Newton: Masapan (Homemade Marzipan). Spain is the birthplace of marzipan and was first created in the 15th century. Jews adopted this candy as a Jewish dessert after

a meat meal. Real Sephardic marzipan will include a few bitter almonds. Unfortu-nately, those are illegal in America because of the high content of cyanide (though you only need a tiny bit of bitter almonds for marzipan). https://jewishfoodexperience.com/recipes/homemade-marzipan-masa-pan/

Clara Raju: Malida: Bene Israeli Style Sweet Pohe – India. There were three groups of Jews who settled in India. This dish containing flattened, dried rice (pohe or poha), coconut, jaggery, pomegranate seeds and other ingredients, served by the Bene Israeli Jews, could be shared with both Hindu and Muslim neighbors.

Liane Rosenblatt: Persian Haroset. From Jewish Holiday Kitchen, by Joan Nathan. The haroset includes dates, pistachio nuts, almonds, raisins, apples, pomegranates, orange, banana, wine or juice, cider vinegar, cayenne peppers, cloves, cardamom, and black pepper.

Angela Silverman: Spanish Inquisition Matzas. From A Drizzle of Honey: Lives and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews, by David Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson. “This rec-ipe is recreated from records of the Spanish Inquisition, based on reports by neighbors who reported them as suspiciously Jewish behavior.”

Pamela Simon: Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse (Mousse au chocolate et à Huile d’Olive). This is a non-dairy dessert from Ana Bensadón, that complies with the laws of Kashrut. The recipe is found in Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking, by Joan Nathan. Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal brought cocoa beans to Bayonne, France, where they developed a skilled chocolate trade. No photo available

Amy Snyder: Eggplant Salad and Marinated Olives. Eggplant was brought to the Middle East and Africa by Arab traders 600 Common Era. However, earlier carvings of eggplant have been found in two ancient Greek cit-ies, Phrygia and Iassos, now within Turkish borders. Amy remembers her grandmother making a salad with raw diced eggplant mixed with other ingredients.

Olive is one of the seven species named in the Torah: wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranate, olive, and date. If exiled Jews couldn’t plant a tree on the 15th day of She-vat, they tried to eat fruits from the trees found in the Land of Israel. Tu B’Shevat is sometimes celebrated now as an Israeli Arbor Day, with an ecological emphasis on replenishing the earth.

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Cultivating America’s Gardens

A Smithsonian Libraries, Smithsonian Gardens and Ar-chives of American Gardens exhibition

Through May 18Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition GalleryNational Museum of American History, 1 West14th St and Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001

Better Said than DoneComing up in June are two food-related storytelling themes. Better Said Than Done, Inc. is a community of professional storytellers based in Fairfax, VA. They produce themed, true, personal storytelling shows throughout Northern Vir-ginia and beyond, featuring experienced performers from their team of spoken word storytellers. With stories rang-ing in length from 7-10 minutes, the shows are energetic, engaging, and highly entertaining. They may be funny, poignant, silly, or unbelievable, but they will convince audiences that life is better in the telling. www.bettersaidthandone.com

Storytelling at the Lake:June 20 – Top Chef: stories of dining, wining, and winning (or trying to).Lake Anne Coffee House & Wine Bar, 1612 Washington Plaza, Reston, VA 20190 (703) 481-9766 www.lakeannecoffeehouse.com6:00 p.m. Doors Open7:00 p.m. ShowFree AdmissionFull drink and dinner menu available for purchaseSeating is on a first come, first served basis.

Last Saturdays at The Auld Shebeen (Downstairs):June 30, 2018 – S’Mores: stories about camping, food, and wanting more.3971 Chain Bridge Rd. Fairfax, VA 220306:00 p.m. Doors Open 7:00 p.m. Show$15 at the Door (cash preferred)$10 Advance Tickets at www.bettersaidthandone.com St. Nicolas Greek Church of Baltimore’s Folk FestivalJune 7-10, noon to 10 p.m. Thursday and Sunday, or noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 701 Ponca St. Baltimore, MD 21224 410-633-5020. Free admission www.greekfestival.org or www.stnicholasmd.orgFood service is available all day at the Vegetarian Cafe in the large social hall of the church, and a variety of Greek specialty foods and desserts are available at the Greektown Square and Event Center, which is within walking distance of the church.Free Food Demonstrations of preparing foods such as Keftedes, Dolmades, and Baklava with samples at the St. Nicholas Church’s main level, Greek School wing. http://stnicholasmd.org/churchlife.php?page=Folk Festival-Eats#boxes

How to Post to the CHoW Google Group

The CHoW-DC Google Group is for communicating culinary history matters ONLY. It is not intended to be an open forum.

You must be a member of CHoW, and your email ad-dress must be in the CHoW database.

It’s important to remember that if you change your email address, you need to inform the CHoW Membership Director so that it can be updated and you will continue to receive messages and newsletters.

The easiest way to post a message to the Group is simply through an email. Here’s how.• Open a new email• In the address line or “To” box, enter chow-dc@googlegroups.com• Enter a subject in the subject box• Enter the text of your messageo NOTE: If you are announcing an event, please make sure you include all relevant information, plus a website or phone number for additional information. • Please sign your message as a courtesy to everyone.• Add your email address for replies.• Send the message! DONE!

Upcoming EventsSmithsonian Folklife FestivalJune 27-July 1 & July 4-8 on the MallThe Smithsonian Folklife Festival, established in 1967, hon-ors contemporary living cultural traditions and celebrates those who practice and sustain them. Produced annually by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heri-tage, the Festival has featured participants from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. The 2018 festival will feature the cultures of Armenia and Catalonia. On July 8, celebrate women artists at an evening concert tribute to the Sisterfire music festivals that Roadwork produced in D.C. from 1982 to 1989. Daytime presentations will include poetry, spoken word, and reflec-tions from activists on the fortieth anniversary of Road-work. https://festival.si.edu/

ReadingsThe New Yorker: The Travel & Food Issue, April 23.There are some interesting articles in this issue, such as “Bean Freaks: On the hunt for an elusive legume,” by Bur-khard Bilger and “The Maraschino Mogul,” by Ian Frazier.

Felice Caspar forwarded a link to an article about Frank E. Buttolph, the woman who collected more than 25,000 menus that are now housed in The New York City Library. Born in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, in 1844, she was first known as Frances Editha Buttles.www.atlasobscura.com/articles/frank-buttolph-menu-new-york-public-library-collection

BOOK REVIEWPrison Food in America

By Erika CamplinRowman & Littlefield, 2016. Hardback, $38, 140 pages

Claudia Kousoulas is an editor, writer, and educator whose topics include

architecture, urbanism, and culinary history. Her blog is

appetiteforbooks.wordpress.com

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Like most topics prison-related, food is approached from two points of view. Prisoners are there to be pun-ished and don’t deserve decent food; or good food contributes to rehabilita-tion.

With all the talk about food cost and calories, it’s easy to overlook the fact that we are free to choose what we eat. In prison, however, food is an element of control just as powerful as guards and bars. It marks passing time and is one of the few sources of pleasure. And because of that, it is used to pun-ish, to self-define, and to trade.

In Arizona, infamous sheriff, Joe Arpaio withheld meat from prisoners, reserving hot dogs only for incarcer-ated military veterans. And, just as on airplanes, prisoners request kosher meals, which often include more fresh fruit; except in prison, you have to follow-up by attending services.

In all prisons, food becomes a tool for barter, but prisoners trading mayon-naise packets for phone privileges is small beer compared to the money to be made off feeding almost 2 million inmates a year. Generating more than $34 billion in annual revenue, it’s a business shot through with corrup-tion.

We are regularly shocked by the high amount spent per year on inmates by federal, state, and local correctional facilities—averaging $30,286 nation-wide. But facilities provide extensive service—housing, health care, and meals for a national population that is larger than most American cities. But Camplin points out, even though these costs are “shockingly high,” the cost per meal remains low. On average, the $1.85 per meal hasn’t increased in 14 years. Most food is

blast-chilled, carefully portioned, and re-purposed. The jargon is “re-racking,” gleaning uneaten food to be frozen and served again.

Some states allow wardens to keep any money they save from their food budget. Others have privatized prison meal service, where more corners cut means more profit. The result is cheese that won’t melt, cold noodles day after day, and watered-down soda.

But the control of food can be a dou-ble-edged knife. While most lawsuits about prison food are thrown out of court, some have shaped prison food-ways. Cases in 1979, 1981, and 1991 affirmed that facilities must be run in a way “compatible with the evolv-ing standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” In other court cases, those standards have allowed vermin-ridden food, two meals a day, and did not uphold

Oklahoma City bomber, Terry Nich-ols’s request for fresh food and whole grains.

Another means of control are hunger strikes. In 1917, suffragist Alice Paul leveraged her hunger strike to gain support for her cause. As a result of his hunger strike, John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman was transferred to a psychiatric unit.

To pursue rehabilitation, some prisons offer culinary training, from kitchen work to gardens, farms, and animal husbandry. Programs like the Insight Garden Program and others “are be-ing recognized for multiple levels of effectiveness,” reducing recidivism, developing self-control, and foster-ing community. And sometimes, they grow so much produce that it can be donated to local food banks.

No book on prison food would be complete without a final chapter on final meals. Death row inmates can request lobster and steak, but they are most likely to get a simulacrum from the prison kitchen—a slab of fish or chopped ground beef. Perhaps that’s why many ask for a fast food meal, not something made in the prison kitchen.

Trinity United Methodist Church (Langley Hall)1205 Dolley Madison Boulevard

McLean, VA 22101

From Interstate 495 (Beltway): Take Rt. 123 East Exit #46B, approximately 2 miles towards McLean. Trinity UMC is east of Old Dominion Drive on the right side of Dolley Madison Blvd. at Buchanan Street.

From George Washington Parkway: Take Rt. 123 West towards McLean. Drive about 1.7 miles. (You will pass the Central Intelligence Agency on your right.) Trinity UMC will be on your left.

From Washington, D.C., over Chain Bridge: Stay in the right lane of the bridge. After crossing the Potomac River, turn right at the signal light. That is Rt. 123. Drive 3 miles (you will pass the Central Intelligence Agency), and the church will be on your left.

Parking: Free.

Metro: Take the Silver Line to the McLean Station (1824 Dolley Madison). From there, you would need to take a taxi 3 miles to the church.

DIRECTIONS TO THE MAY 6 MEETING

Chain Bridge

Trinity United Methodist Church

O

I-495 Beltway

GW Parkway

GW Parkway

Langley Hall

Enter here

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