A Few Literary (Movie Adaptation) Food References

I first crossed the idea of gastronomic literary references within the naturalism of Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening. The themes seemed conflicting and confusing, but the constant dialogue describing etouffee for dinner seemed to be the only tasteful thing that made sense. I began to despise this particular genre of literature, (especially Hawthorne and his disconnect with the Transcendentalists), but began to understand the different contexts of gastronomic terms regionally and historically. It seems the way MLA prescribes English disregards meta language and cultural geography—it somehow despises H.L. Mencken and the English lunacy of Rex Harrison. I am an American and understand American culinary terms in an American context! Etouffee in French literally means to smother and is a popular stew/soup in New Orleans. The different ways to prepare an etouffee (and I refuse to put the little French accent marks over the eeees) over the last century are quite fascinating—Shrimp is my favorite.

For darker dualism Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness explores the indigenous mercenaries eating hippopotamus after the ivory harvest. The idea of Kurtz screaming “MY IVORY” still vibrates chills down my spine. Francis Ford Coppola’s movie adaptation explores the saucier side of things with chef, and while looking for mangoes in the jungle, has made me obsessed with them. Chutneys and peaches somehow came to replace mangoes in many 19th century English cooking texts. (Trade routes, The East-India Company, Economics of J.S. Mill—might be some of the reasons for this.) The bloody English, and James Beard in Greenwich Village, thought peaches were the next best thing to mangoes for chutney since mangoes could not withstand the voyage from India. And—French colonialism brought superior culinary technique to Southeast Asia. Imagine all those names that sailed down the Thames then to America.

Pistachios, roasted monkfish, sake cured monkfish liver tourchon (tourchon means towel—before plastic wrap, food was steamed in a cloth towel), and Mornington Peninsula (Australia) pinot noir pushing 14% alcohol is a fun pairing. I by no means came up with this pairing masterpiece, but became delighted by the Book of Genesis 43:11 referencing pistachios as a gift to the King of Egypt. Pistachios are native to Asia Minor and are one of two nuts mentioned in the Old Testament. The other is almond. Pistachio trees thrive in the poor rocky soil conditions of Asia Minor with hot dry summers and mild winters. With centuries of oratory, the origin of pistachios may never be truly discovered, but here’s the best attempt at etymology this sommelier could find:
"Pistachio...The word originated in Persian as pistah, and reached the West via Greek pistakion. English originally borrowed if from French as pistace."
—An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 258)