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The Virtual Museum of Narrative Art

By including these items on the menu in the Storyville Lounge and Cafe in the Virtual Museum of Narrative Art, I am not trying to make a case that food and drink are instances of narrative art. However, even though they do not “tell a story,” as the works in the museum do, the menu offerings do have histories, as the Willa Cather quote makes clear. And for the visitors to the museum, it is appropriate that, after they finish their tour of the museum,  they can appreciate the events that led to the creation of each item on the menu in the Storyville Lounge and Cafe.

The food and drink offering in the Storyville Lounge and Cafe reflect only my personal interest in the history — the “narrative” — of the nature and development of each item. If you have other ideas for the menu, please send them, with a write-up of their history and importance in the evolution of cuisine, to:

arthurc@sfsu.edu

Willa Cather French Onion Soup

On coming into the dining-room, Bishop Latour placed his candlesticks over the fire-place, since there were already six upon the table, illuminating the brown soup-pot. After they had stood for a moment in prayer, Father Joseph lifted the cover and ladled the soup into the plates, a dark onion soup with croutons. The Bishop tasted it critically and smiled at his companion. After the spoon had travelled to his lips a few times, he put it down and leaning back in his chair remarked, "Think of it, Blanchet; in all this vast country between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean, there is probably not another human being who could make a soup like this." "Not unless he is a Frenchman," said Father Joseph. He had tucked a napkin over the front of his cassock and was losing no time in reflection. "I am not deprecating your individual talent, Joseph," the Bishop continued, "but, when one thinks of it, a soup like this is not the work of one man. It is the result of a constantly refined tradition. There are nearly a thousand years of history in this soup." Father Joseph frowned intently at the earthen pot in the middle of the table. His pale, near-sighted eyes had always the look of peering into distance. "C'est ça, c'est vrai" he murmured. 

-- Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop

Texas Chili

Legend has it that the origin of chili started with a spiritual, out-of-body voyage in the early seventeenth century. Sister María de Jesús de Ágreda, a Franciscan Abbess in Spain, traveled in spirit across the ocean to convert the natives of America to Christianity. Returning from one of her spirit-flights, she recorded a recipe for chili given to her by her American congregation: venison, chili peppers, tomatoes and onions.

In the late nineteenth century, a group of women (called “Chili Queens”) in San Antonio Texas sold bowls of red in a local marketplace. Their fame spread, and so the Chili Queens were given space for their booths at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Chili was a popular dish in Texas throughout the Depression. It was inexpensive, and was often served with free crackers to mix into the bowl with the chili.

Other states began to offer their own versions of chili in subsequent years, but not always with success. President Lyndon Johnson once commented: 

"Chili concocted outside of Texas is usually a weak, apologetic imitation of the real thing,” Johnson is quoted as saying. “One of the first things I do when I get home to Texas is to have a bowl of red. There is simply nothing better.” 

Then, in 1967, race car driver and auto designer Carroll Shelby created the first chili cook-off in Terlingua, Texas, subsequently creating the International Chili Society, which hosts events throughout the United States today.

Pizza

“Foods similar to pizza have been made since the neolithic age. Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history.

“In the 6th century BC, the soldiers in the armies of the ancient Persian King, Darius I baked flatbreads with cheese and dates on top of their battle shields.

“The Ancient Greeks made a flat bread called plakous which was flavored with toppings like herbs, onion, cheese and garlic.

“The innovation that led to flat bread pizza was the use of tomato as a topping. The tomato was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century

“By the late 18th century, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and so the pizza began.The dish gained popularity, and soon pizza became a tourist attraction as visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city to try the local specialty.

“In the late 19th century, pizza was introduced by peddlers who walked up and down the streets with a metal washtub of pizzas on their heads, selling their pizzas at two cents a slice.

“13% of the US population consumes pizza on any given day.”

— Wikipedia article on the history of pizza (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza)

Mole Poblano

A common legend of its creation takes place at the Convent of Santa Clara in Puebla early in the colonial period. Upon hearing that the archbishop was going to visit, the convent nuns panicked because they were poor and had almost nothing to prepare. The nuns prayed and brought together the little bits of what they did have, including chili peppers, spices, day-old bread, nuts, and a little chocolate. They killed an old turkey, cooked it and put the sauce on top; the archbishop loved it. When one of the nuns was asked the name of the dish, she replied, "I made a mole." Mole was the ancient word for mix.

Mole poblano is the best known of all mole varieties and has been ranked as number one of "typical" Mexican dishes. It has also been called the "national dish" of Mexico. The state of Puebla is identified with mole poblano.

Mole poblano contains about 20 ingredients, including chili peppers and chocolate, which works to counteract the heat of the chili peppers, but the chocolate does not dominate. It helps give the sauce its dark color, but this is also provided by the mulato peppers. This sauce is most often served over turkey at weddings, birthdays and baptisms, or at Christmas.

Pastrami

I had always assumed that pastrami —in spite of its Italian-sounding name — came from Jewish culture. 

From the Carnegie Deli in  New York to Max’s in San Francisco, a pastrami sandwich always seemed like a wonderful contribution by Jews to the American culinary scene. So I  decided to make the pastrami sandwich a featured item in my virtual Storyville Cafe and Lounge.

Research soon revealed that pastrami did not originate in Jewish culture at all: the first people to make what evolved into today’s pastrami were Moslems: Ottoman Turks. Pastrima they called it, and used dried, salted and spices to create a tough but tasty kind of portable jerky.

The Jewish Romanians adopted the dish, often using goose flesh instead of the beef or mutton preferred by the Turks.

When Romanian immigrants came to New York late in the nineteenth century, they substituted less expensive cuts of beef and used a watery salt brine to make their pastrama (the Romanian term) softer.

The delicatessen (from the German delikatessen) came to America from Germany in the 1880s, primarily serving the German population on the east coast of America. Jewish immigrants, as well as newcomers from Italy and Greece, opened their own speciality delicatessens catering to their local clientele. It is probable that the term “pastrami” derived  from the Italian delicatessens that also offered pastrami, because the word was consonant with “salami.”

So: Turkey, Romania, Germany, Italy, America, Moslem, Jewish, Christian — a truly multicultural offering.

Westvleteren 12 Beer

Trappist monks from the Mont des Cats monastery in France founded the St. Sixtus monastery in 1831, and 1838, brewing began at Westvleteren.   It was the sole Trappist brewery to retain the copper vessels throughout the 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars — the other breweries having had their copper requisitioned by the German occupation forces. In World War I the abbey, which was caring for wounded allied troops,  was not occupied by the Germans.

Of the 26 Trappists who reside at the abbey, five monks run the brewery, with an additional five who assist during bottling. As with all other Trappist breweries, the beer is only sold in order to financially support the monastery and other philanthropic causes,  and they do no advertising. The monks have repeatedly stated that they only brew enough beer to run the monastery. Regardless of the high demand for their beer,  the monks make no more than they need to sell. As stated by the Father Abbott, "We are not brewers. We are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks."

Westvleteren 12 beer has been rated as World's Best Beer on: Ratebeer & Beeradvocate. 

The Martini

H. L. Mencken called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet" and E. B. White called it "the elixir of quietude.”

Wikipedia entry for The Martini

“There are many stories surrounding the invention of the martini, but it seems that the origins of James Bond's favorite beverage may never be definitively established.

“The history of the martini can easily be traced back to the late nineteenth century, when it was first consumed and listed in bartending manuals.  The famous example of this was the drink's appearance in the 1887 manual of bartender Jerry Thomas, of the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco.  This has led to the belief that the drink originated at the hotel bar, possibly as early as the 1860s, where it would have been consumed by travelers heading to the nearby city of Martinez.

“However, the city of Martinez has disputed this claim and has listed an alternate story on its website.  It suggests that the drink in fact originated in a prominent bar in Martinez, where it was known as a "Martinez Special." There it was served to a celebrating gold miner on his way to San Francisco, who, after enjoying the drink so much, delivered the recipe to San Francisco when he had to instruct a local bartender on how to make it.

The dispute between these two common theories has even gone beyond passing discussion, as the Court of Historical Review in San Francisco determined that the drink had been concocted in San Francisco.  In return, a court in Martinez overturned this decision.”

Click here for a history of the the martini glass

Tempura

When Portuguese missionaries and traders came to Japan in the sixteen century, they brought guns, flour and a fried bean dish called peixinhos da horta — so-called because the long beans resembled little fish (peixinhos). The Japanese adopted the dish, and even Portuguese words for cooking (temperas or temporo). They lightened the batter and added other ingredients. The preservative qualities of the batter made it especially suited for fish such as eel and shrimp.

In later years, small roadside booths called yatai appeared, offering the new tempura to travelers. Eventually, even the Japanese nobility featured tempura at their banquets.

Portuguese cooks today are proud that their national dis caught on so well in Japan. As one writer put it:

“Of course we like people to know that tempura starts with Portugal and that we gave Japan tempura, but we are completely satisfied they really did a nice job with it,” he says. “We don’t own it, so we share it, and after that they improve on it or use it in their own way, and it’s really good to see that things can evolve and have their own way in the world.”

Ice Cream

* 500 BC – People of Persian Empire were the first who started making ice cream. They would pour grape juice concentrate over snow, and eat it during the hot summers.

• 400 BC – Persians invented ice cream recipe for their royal families. It consisted of iced rose water, vermicelli, saffron, fruits and other sweet flavors.

• 37-68 BC – Historians have found records that Roman Emperor Nero liked chilled delicacies. He had a supply of ice from the mountains constantly brought to him so that he may eat it with fruit and honey toppings.

• 200 AD – Ancient Chinese records tell of frozen mixture of milk and rice that was consumed as a summer treat.

• 800- 900 – Arabs defined the modern recipe of ice cream by introducing milk and sugar as primary ingredient. By 10th century, ice cream made of milk, cream, flavored rosewater, dried fruits and nuts was used over entire Arab lands, especially in Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo.

• 1100 – Chinese royal families and wealthy citizens started regular use of several ice based summer treats.

• Late 13th century – Marco Polo returns to Italy, carrying with him the tale and recipe for ice cream.

• 1533 – Ice cream remained popular only in Italy, until marriage of Catherine de'Medici and Henry II of France introduced ice cream to continental France, and soon after that entire Europe.

• 1744 – Scottish colonists brought ice cream recipe to North America.

• 1813 – Dolly Madison, served ice cream at presidential Inaugural Ball of 1813.

• 1846 - Nancy Johnson of New Jersey invented first hand cranked and portable freezer.

• 1851 - Beginning of the commercial ice cream production in North America.

• 1904 – Tremendous ice cream demand at St. Louis. The World's Fair caused local ice cream sellers to make the world’s first ice cream cones. This early models were made by employing services of nearby waffle vendor.

• 1926 – First continuous and commercially viable freezer is perfected, marking the beginning of the worldwide ice cream industry.

— icecreamhistory.net

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