Turntable Tuesday muses over Christmas gift ideas. Final top of the list choices include food poems to memorialize our tastebuds, possible collector products or/and sad jokes to share (this one’s without a doubt).
This weeks NY MAGAZINE mentioned beloved American foods going, not necessarily out of fashion, but perhaps suffering cultural (or elbow grease) amnesia. In Vanishing: The Endangered Foods of New York and Where to Get Them While You Still Can, The Brooklyn Seltzer Boys are featured among select goods/companies which remain, small, under the guise of “old fashioned” and independent.
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Images 2&3 VIA AUTHOR WEBSITE. N.1 VIA Brooklyn News 12 |
This is a bottling company delivering seltzer (super fizzy water) direct in Brooklyn for over 60 years. Best part is is that they also offer syrups and chocolate to inspire making old-fashioned recipes like NY CHOCOLATE EGG CREAM.
They are a hit mostly because they harken back, but I like the idea of trying something unfamiliar and sharing that which is new to most.
Another mention in the same article was BROOKLYN BLACKOUT CAKE. Apparently some recipes are on the out because of their labor intensity. So, this one seems fitting to try when one has a little more time to dedicate to home over the holidays. German native EBINGER tried his hand at baked goods like the Brooklyn Blackout Cake (super success) and it has an interesting history which dates back before WWII which entails neighborhood blackouts (homes covering their windows with black curtains to disguise any navy ship shadow).
Here’s a second (re-visited) RECIPE and other historical tidbits I found worth a try.
158 FOOD POEMS: The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food and Drink edited by acclaimed poet KEVIN YOUNG is divided into seasons and embraces food as our best protagonist to nourish our hearts, minds and souls. The book is divided into sections.//Spring welcomes-- W.B.Yeats' (Irish poet) contribution:
A DRINKING SONG
Wine comes in at the mouthAnd love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
<<According to Young, Williams’ poem THIS IS JUST TO SAY "is asking us to pay a little bit of attention to the language of food, the language of relationships — the kind of coldness, but also this precious sweetness.”>> audio snippet taken from NPR.
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
And finally, but not least...I’m the first one to tell a joke, maybe a bad one, but nevertheless a joke.
SCHADEN FREEZER FOOD JOKES: “Savour the sadness" melting popsicle animated GIFS which reveal something you may just laugh at with your food pals created by mad guys Matt Moore and Jason Kreher of Wieden and Kennedy.
