The Food Almanac: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
In The Food Almanac, Tom Fitzmorris of the online newsletter, The New Orleans Menu, notes food facts and sayings.
Turning Points in Eating
Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas today in 1492. He didn't "discover" America — lots of people were here already. Perhaps even a few Europeans — Viking stragglers whose forebears arrived a few hundred years before. What Columbus instituted was a major cultural exchange between Europe and the Americas. Part of that was the greatest culinary revolution in human history, as hundreds of new ingredients from the New World made their way to Europe. Within a relatively few years, they changed the way most people cooked. Most noteworthy among these were potatoes, chocolate, the entire range of chile peppers, many strains of leguminous beans... and the tomato.
Today's Flavor
In honor of the arrival of Columbus on these shores, today is World Tomato Day. Of all the native American vegetables that made their ways to Europe after the voyages of Columbus, the tomato had the most widespread effect. Tomatoes are now eaten almost everywhere in the world, including the Far East. Imagine Italian cuisine without tomatoes!
Tomatoes were originally regarded as poisonous by Europeans. They were sort of right: Except for the tomato fruit itself, the plant is toxic, a member of the nightshade family (as are potatoes and eggplants). Once that myth was put to rest, a different one grew: that the tomato was an aphrodisiac. It became known as "pomme d'amour" — the "love apple" — in France.
The way in which overripe tomatoes become near-liquid is no doubt what inspired people to make sauces from them. There are hundreds, from ketchup and salsa to marinara and ragù. The makers of the first tomato sauces must have been delighted to employ their over-the-hill produce and that the result was delicious in an entirely new way, matched by few other food items.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Tomato Lake looks nothing like a tomato. It's about a half-mile long but only 200-feet wide. More like a zucchini than a tomato. It's in the northeast corner of Minnesota, famous for its thousands of glacier-scraped lakes. Whoever named the ones around there must have been a hungry vegetarian, because the adjacent lakes — all about the same five-acre size — include Turnip Lake, Peanut Lake, Celery Lake, North and South Bean Lakes, Carrot Lake, Squash Lake, Potato Lake, Pea Lake, Melon Lake, Parsnip Lake, Cucumber Lake, Onion Lake, Kraut Lake, and Strawberry Lake. All these are within about 20 square miles, most of which is marsh between low hills. Quite a wilderness.
Edible Dictionary
tomato aspic, n. — A kind of jam made with tomato purée and a highly reduced beef stock made with lots of bones to release gelatin. Sometimes it's made with unflavored gelatin or even Jell-O instead of stock. The final product is served cold as a savory garnish to a wide variety of dishes. Tomato aspic is most celebrated in the South, particularly in the river towns of Mississippi like Natchez and Vicksburg.
Annals of Weight Loss
Today is the birthday, in 1923, of Jean Nidetch, the founder of Weight Watchers. She started it after battling against her own weight problem. The original idea was that people trying to lose weight could get together and encourage each other, but it grew to a much larger effort — one big enough that, after 15 years of its existence, H.J. Heinz bought the company in 1978 for its line of food offerings.
Annals of Somethingfests
Today is the 200th anniversary of the first Oktoberfest celebration, in Munich, Germany. It started as a celebration of the marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. After skipping a year (Napoleon was active in the area), the festival resumed, and it's grown ever since. It's changed into a beer festival, and moved backward on the calendar. Most of Oktoberfest is just about finished when October arrives, since people drink more beer in the warmer weeks of September.
Annals of Creole Culture
Today is the birthday, in 1844, of George Washington Cable. He was a New Orleans-born journalist remembered for his progressive views of how freed slaves should become full members of the community. He wrote much about New Orleans Creole culture, including no small amount of commentary on the distinctive food of the region. His books — especially Old Creole Days — tell us how well developed Creole cuisine was, even in the late 1800s.
Deft Dining Rule #431
Despite their popularity, fried green tomatoes are not worth eating. Unless they're topped with something like shrimp remoulade. In which case the tomato will be the worst part of the dish.
World Food Records
Today in 1998, the world's record pumpkin weighed in at 974 pounds at the Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California. Lincoln Mettler, from Eatonville, Wash., grew the monster.
Celebrity Chefs
Today in 1950, Takeshi Kaga was born in Japan. He was the host of the original Iron Chef show, so long ago that all his shows were in Japanese. They dubbed them into other languages, and they're still being seen around the world.
Words to Eat By
"A number of rare or newly experienced foods have been claimed to be aphrodisiacs. At one time this quality was even ascribed to the tomato. Reflect on that when you are next preparing the family salad." — Jane Grigson, American food writer.
"A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins." — Laurie Colwin, American food writer.
Words to Drink By
"Early to rise and early to bed
Makes a male healthy, and wealthy, and dead."— James Thurber.