Mark Kurlansky wrote "Salt: A World History; 1968: The Year that
Rocked the World," and "Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World." His latest effort is a compendium of essays on regional food written by real people in real time. "Food of a Younger Land" is a dredging up of a 1939 WPA (Works Project Administration) effort.
Writers both famous and not, drill down on the seasonal and
sustainable food of the late 30's. The Northeast Eats, The South Eats, The Middle West Eats, The Far West Eats, The South West Eats rationalize the 132 chapters of recipes and recitation. "Food of a Younger Land," harkens back to an era when something as simple as a strawberry stayed put rather hauling ass clear across the country in a refrigerated truck.
Originally called, "America Eats," the WPA project was eclipsed by
Pearl Harbor only to be resurrected by Kurlansky. The book is a batch
of love letters to such dishes as Cape Fear Johnny-Cake (milk, flour,
salt, shortening and baking powder for the forward thinking) and
Montana Fried Beaver Tail ("Tail...is held over a fire by means of a
stick, pincers, or even the hand...."). Contributors include Eudora
Welty and Zora Neale Hurston as well as anyone else looking to make a
buck on FDR's FWP (Federal Writers Project).
Here is Edward O'Brien's rendition the "New York Automat": "A stranger
entering these precincts is led by the crowd toward a trim marble
counter, in which are several plate-like depressions. A nickel is the
unit of purchase, so coins or bills are here exchanged
forscintillating showers of nickels, which are miraculously never too
many, never too few. With a fistful of nickels, and wearing hat, coat,
carrying brief-case or handbag, the crowd moves on toward the walls of
food, assembling as they go trays, silver and napkins." Imagine what
he would do with the drive-through at Starbucks?
In "Mississippi African-American Recipes (William Wheeler Talks),"
illustrates how southern blacks ground huckleberries and corn husks to
make coffee. Written by Wheeler, in dialect, the chapter introduced by
editors as an example of "the slave and Negro narratives that the FWP
had been doing for years before America Eats." Wheeler's description
of a hot breakfast beverage is as follows: "We used to
gatherhuckleberries, put dem in a skillet, parch em real brown. Den
beat 'em up fine wid a hammer and use this fer coffee. We used to
drink bran coffee too. Dis wuz made by parchin' corn, takin' de husks
and making into a brew." For the hardcore locavore, this book is
essential. Eating locally can be a matter of desperate times requiring
desperate measures, depending on your whereabouts.
Whereas one Burger King or Starbucks don't differ so much regionally,
taking the time to talk locals reveals lots of local color, all of it
ineffably sustainable. Kurlansky's compendium covers the kind of
ground that radio journalist Studs Turkel might have if he had an MP3
Player and a gas card.
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