Feb 23, 2009
Vegetables are for Lovers
Photos by Tasha Petty
“I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.” -Mae West
“I have now formed acquaintance with many Mexican dishes; mole, boiled nopal, fried bananas, green chile, etc. Then we invariably have the frijoles, hot tortillas – and this being in the country, pulque is the universal beverage. In Mexico, tortillas and pulque are considered unfashionable, though both are to be met with occasionally, in some of the best old houses.” – Frances Calderon De La Barca, from Life in Mexico, 1842
“Every thin woman wants to grow plump; that is an avowal which has been made to us a thousand times…Let us try to outline the day’s fare of a sylph, whether male or female, who has been seized by the desire to materialize into solid flesh…avoid all acids except salad, which refresh the digestion…and do not exhaust yourselves by dancing too much at the balls.” – Brillat Savarin, from The Psychology of Taste, 1825
“If you are sitting at a grand table, do not lick your lips and exclaim, “what a spread!” Remember it is a vice to have a greedy eye. There is no greater evil in creation than the eye; that is why it must shed tears at every turn. The moderate eater enjoys healthy sleep; he rises early, feeling refreshed. But sleeplessness, indigestion, and colic are the lot of the glutton. If you cannot avoid overeating at a feast, leave the table and find relief by vomiting.” – Ben Sira, from The Wisdom of Ben Sira, second century B.C.
“Why do you really dislike cabbage, Mrs. Davidson?” “Why does anyone dislike it? Surely you don’t believe that I think your earing it is anything more than a pose?” She smiled knowingly. “One night we missed the last train, we wondered down the wrong street. We were cold, miserable, we were suddenly almost overcome by a ghastly odour! When finally I could control myself enough to speak, I murmured, ‘What was that gas?’ My husband hurried me along, and I will say he did apologize for what he had done – and well he should have! – by saying, ‘It was cabbage, cooking.” – M.F.K. Fisher, from Serve it Forth, 1937
“In Italy our artichoke season is in the spring, unlike England, where you are fortunate enough to have them all the year round. We eat them raw or cooked. When they are about the size of walnuts they are good raw, with just salt and pepper and some mature cheese to bring out the flavour. Artichokes are not good to eat raw when they have grown as big as apples. We usually cook the larger ones on a grid over charcoal, having cut away the top halves of the leaves, and serve them with oil or melted butter, and salt and pepper to taste. We cook the very big artichokes, in water first; then we trim off the top halves of the biggest leaves and between them stuff oysters and some of their juices, morsels of beef, oil or bits of butter, salt and pepper. Then we case them in pastry, and bake them, and they are delicious beyond belief.” – Giacomo Castelvetro, from The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy, 1614
Menu for Journalists:
(1) a glass of vodka
(2) daily shchi (cabbage soup) and yesterday’s kasha
(3) two glasses of vodka
(4) suckling pig with horseradish
(5) 3 glasses of vodka
(6) horseradish, cayenne pepper, and soy sauce
(7) 4 glasses of vodka
(8) 7 bottles of beer
- Anton Chekhov, from Alarm-Clock’s Calender, c.1880
