‘Food’ Archives
THIS IS GOOD OR I”'LL EAT MY CHRISTMAS TREE
By Jane Thomson My first recipe is from 97 ORCHARD , an Edible History of Five Immigrant Families, by Jane Ziegelman. This book interests me because my father grew up in a New York tenement (the word just meant “rental building” at the time; I don”'t know how shabby his family”'s apartment was, but I suspect it was not spacious). The building at 97 Orchard is on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and is now the Tenement Museum. It was built about 1860 and was abandoned after 1935. It has been preserved and restored. The first time I visited the building about 20 years ago, it was left just as it had been found. The tour started in the narrow dark front hall with a dingy frieze painted on the wall, a tin ceiling and rickety stairs going up to the next of several stories. We were then taken to an apartment composed of two small rooms with one window between them and one window to the outside. There were layers of old wallpaper peeling, and numbers on the wall [...]
Food Obsession: FOOD AND CLASS
Recently I read an article in the November 29 Newsweek that claimed that eating habits and tastes are the new dividers of social class in America. Well-off people can choose pure, organic, out-of-season and hard-to-find-foods, as they have access to high-end stores that carry these things and the money to buy them when they are there. These foods are usually nutritious, delicious and satisfying. One woman cited in the article felt she was doing her part to make the world a better place by demanding such foods for herself and her family. Meanwhile, the poor go to a convenience store or a huge supermarket and get the cheapest foods sold in quantity and featured in coupons and price deals, foods that give quick satisfaction, little real nutrition and a load of calories. It doesn”'t have to be this way. At Cedar Food and Grill, the grocery store at East 26th Street and Cedar Avenue, “Mo” is making sure that there are fresh fruits and vegetables and other wholesome [...]
Food Obsession: DEEP WINTER SWEETS
by Jane Thomson I don”'t aim to be a collector, but somehow have acquired at least 100 cookie cutters, of all sizes, some 100 years old, including shapes observant of almost any holiday. While on the subject of size, make cookies of all sizes; but for best results (all done, none burned) bake cookies of the same size and thickness on the same sheet. Grandchildren love to make cookies. We made some with my then 2 ½ year-old grandson last Christmas ”“ two adults were in charge, with plastic on the floor. The cookies were very interesting, and quite edible. I don”'t know where I got this recipe, but it is fairly recent. (more…)
