Well before 1776, women and girls delighted in decorating the everyday objects they used in their living and working space. Their work reflected the spirit of the times. Utility came first, beauty followed.

Samplers were not only for decoration; they were used to teach children reading, writing and arithmetic.  Sewing was no hobby in those early days but a necessity. All the clothes had to be made at home. Mothers and grandmothers made quilts and rugs to keep themselves warm with no inkling they were creating art.

Men and women have always been artisans, using whatever materials they had at hand; metal and wood, tin and pewter, rags and bones, clay and scraps of cloth.  Neither fancy nor frivolous, their work is filled with the exuberance of experimentation. It may be described as naive, but its very innocence is the essence of its charm.  Small wonder, then, that these many objects, these heirlooms, have endured and become part of our heritage.

This tradition continues today. A new handmade gift is cherished every bit as much as an heirloom. Like the work of those who came before us, we can get by with little or no formal training.

Courtesy of theheritagecook.com

The important thing is to continue to create our own unique gifts to share with those who will appreciate them.

To express your love for a friend, you could give a basket of heirloom tomatoes or a collection of your favorite recipes tied with a bow (or a bottle of nicely crafted bottle of gin!).

ICDT! (I Can Do That!)

Santa's 2011 Chocolate Sleigh Contents Courtesy of CIA Student Clara Krueger

Clara Krueger, a charming young CIA (Culinary Institute of America) baking and pastry arts student, arrived fresh from her baking class. She brought with her this enchanting chocolate sleigh filled with festive fondant packages. I was delighted and astonished and greatly admired her accomplishment.

I was happy indeed when she gave it to me.

Clara’s gift reminded me of the time when we lived in a small suburban community in Long Island. It was an interesting neighborhood, a dormitory town for New York set around a bay.

It appealed to a wonderfully diverse group of people.

Some had lived there for ages and others were more recent arrivals. Many were from other countries, mostly European. The family living on one side of us was Austrian and neighbors on the other side were from Israel. There were French, Swedish and Irish families, and a lot of lovely mixtures. I, being British, formed one of these with my American husband.

Our first year, a quite spontaneous thing happened.

I remember that we, our children and two dogs, went next door carrying a lighted ship’s lantern that I had given my husband for his birthday a year or so before. We knocked on the door and sang a carol while we were waiting for our neighbors to answer it. I can’t sing at all, so this must have been a daring thing to do. I don’t remember now who even thought of it.

I do remember though, the delight in our friends’ faces and how we all decided to go to the next house together and sing another carol.  And so we did. The snowball snowballed until there were perhaps 60 or more of us.

We still talk about those times, with memories of little kids happy to be up late, dogs let off the leash, and flickering candles and lanterns and pockets full of warm gingerbread cookies one of the families had just baked.

The following year we organized things a little — though not too much — and when we got cold and had had enough, everyone came back to our house. We had a big pot of French onion soup and some Beaujolais Nouveau — it was the “in” drink at that time — and everyone brought the traditional treats of their own country.

I remember one of the older kids had made a lute, and she sat on the floor in front of the fire and the younger children sang with her.

Last evening, we had another little party to invite our neighbors to meet each other, many for the first time for our very own “tree lighting”. It was a simple affair — just hot chocolate (with the offer of a spike of bourbon or other spirit of the season) and, gingerbread cookies, mincemeat tarts and cider doughnuts. While the Christmas carols were ready for the singing, we decided to leave that tradition for next year.

What is old is new again: a tradition has begun. Onion soup next time!

Introduction by Arient Mack to 1999 NYU Conference Food: Nature and Culture:

“What we eat and why we choose the foods that make up our daily diet; the ceremonies that surround food; how it underscores our sameness and differences; its mythic and symbolic importance; the joy of plenty; the fear of famine and deprivation — all are occasions for reflections on the human condition.

Why do we tolerate the prevalence of widespread hunger in a world of abundance? What roles do culturally determined food preferences or the power of science, politics, or global trade play in determining who will be well fed and who will starve?”

There is an unending trove of material available, if you want to enliven your cooking classes with some food stories, or enrich your copy if you write about food, or even develop a syllabus for a new  high school or college level course.  For example, this is how I approached a unique series of gastronomy lessons.  I developed some menus and used the prism of food to talk about several areas that I personally found interesting.  Happily the students did too. This is one of my menus:

Oysters Garnished with Sevruga Caviar

Roast Beef

Or

Spiced Crispy Chilean Sea Bass in Ginger-Cardamom Broth

Locally Grown, Organic Mixed Green Salad Seasoned with Salt & Pepper

Lemon Juice and Virgin Olive Oil Dressing

Red Wine and Imported Sparking Water

Cheese Platter and  French Bread

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Tea  or Coffee

This menu provides the framework for discussing the following:

The history of oysters: trade issues involved in banning of imported caviar

The carnivore and the vegetarian diet

Role of chefs in boycotting endangered fish i.e. bass and politics of foie gras

The discovery of fire and its role in the evolution of the human race

Organic farming and genetically engineered crops

The impact of citrus fruit on the global economy

The symbolism of olive oil

The history of the spice trade

The physiology of taste and smell

An examination of issues related to appetite and hunger

The changing face of wine and the influence of advertising and packaging

Water: the most vital issue facing the world

The reasons behind the recent interest in artisanal cheeses and slow foods

The history of bread

Flourless chocolate cake as it relates to fads and trends

The impact of tea and coffee on the health of the consumer

The inevitability of change and present and future impact of technology on upscale dining.

What fun!