The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook, Volume II : Complete Meals from Around the World 9780203780930, 9780415838665

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The Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook, Volume II

The Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook, Volume II is a second collection of recipes and essays from musical cultures from around the globe, contributed by world music scholars. The cookbook combines our love of great food and great music, and acknowledges that in working with the world’s finest music, one can never ignore the presence and importance of food at performances, festivals, rehearsals, and private lessons. Several dozen regions of the world are covered, with each chapter including a proverb about food and/or music, a set of recipes for a complete meal for six people, an essay about the relationship between food and music in that area, a list of recommended recordings, and sources for further information. For some of the contributors, these recipes are from their home traditions; for others, the recipes come from years of experience of working with musicians and their families in various parts of the world. Written in a lively and engaging style, the book is simultaneously informative and entertaining as it explores the connection between two of life’s greatest pleasures. Sean Williams teaches ethnomusicology at The Evergreen State College in Washington State. Her publications include Focus: Irish Traditional Music (2010), and The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music (2008), both by Routledge.

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The Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook, Volume II

Complete Meals from Around the World

Edited by

Sean Williams The Evergreen State College

First published 2016 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Taylor & Francis The right of Sean Williams to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The ethnomusicologists’ cookbook. Volume II : Complete meals from around the world / [compiled by] Sean Williams, The Evergreen State College.   pages cm   Includes bibliographical references and index.  1. International cooking.  2. Ethnomusicology.  I. Williams, Sean, 1959–  II. Title: Complete meals from around the world.   TX725.A1E8623 2015  641.59—dc23  2015002562 ISBN: 978-0-415-83866-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-83867-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-78093-0 (ebk) Typeset in Minion by Apex CoVantage, LLC Senior Editor: Constance Ditzel Editorial Assistants: Elysse Preposi and Aurora Montgomery Production Editor: Abigail Stanley Marketing Manager: Umar Masood Project Manager: Lynne Askin-Roush Cover Design: Jayne Varney

Contents

List of Illustrations

ix

I Prelude

Preface—The Joy of Improvisation Sean Williams

How to Use This Book

1

2 5

II Africa

7

Senegal8 Patricia Tang

Zimbabwe (Shona)

12

Claire Jones

Seychelles17 Marie-Christine Parent

Mauritius and Réunion

22

Basil Considine

III  Asia and the Pacific Hong Kong (Cantonese) Colin McGuire

27

28

Gujarat, India

35

Northeast Thailand

39

Niyati Dhokai

Supeena Insee Adler

Vietnam44 Lonán Ó Briain

Minangkabau, West Sumatra, Indonesia Jennifer Fraser

v

47

vi • Contents

Bali53 Sarah Willner

Highland Papua New Guinea Gabriel Solis

IV  The Middle East Eastern Turkey

Songül Karahasanoğlu

Thracian Roma, Western Turkey Sonia Tamar Seeman

60

65

66 70

Armenia76 Jonathan McCollum

Uzbekistan81 Tanya Merchant

V  The Americas

Western Prairies in North America Sarah Quick

85

86

Trinidad and Tobago

90

Trinidad and Tobago

94

Andrew Martin

Gage Averill and Giovanna Perot-Averill

Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic

102

Sinaloa, Mexico

107

Otavalo, Ecuador

112

Sydney Hutchinson Helena Simonett Jessie M. Vallejo

Colombia118 Edmundo Murray

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Colin Harte

VI Europe

The Limousin, France

Marc Benamou, Françoise Étay, and Anne Lavaud

Galicia, Northwest Spain Lucy M. Long

123

127

128

138

Portugal 144 Katherine Brucher

Contents • vii

Republic of Georgia

149

Georgia, The Caucasus

153

Skopelos Island, Greece

159

Kálymnos Island, Greece

164

Jeremy W. Foutz

Andrea Kuzmich Yona Stamatis

Panayotis (Paddy) League

Cyprus 169 Michalis Poupazis

Carpathian Mountains, Hutsul Region, Ukraine Maria Sonevytsky

VII Encore

Nusstorte (Nut cake) Bruno Nettl

About the Contributors

174

179 180 181

How to Make These Meals Suit You 187 Sean Williams

Index 191

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List of Illustrations

 2.1: Senegalese ceebu jën, photo courtesy of Patricia Tang 8   6.1:  Cantonese barbecued ribs, photo courtesy of Colin McGuire 28   6.2:  Cantonese homestyle tofu, photo courtesy of Colin McGuire 29  7.1: Gujarati sabudana khichadi, photo courtesy of Niyati Dhokai 35  7.2: Gujarati sabudana kheer, photo courtesy of Niyati Dhokai 36 10.1: Talempong musicians and the offerings for the procession to escort the wedded couple to the bride’s maternal home, photo courtesy of Jennifer Fraser 50 10.2: Eating bajamba style, Paninjauan, photo courtesy of Jennifer Fraser 51 12.1: Papuan kakaruk long mambu on the cooking fire, photo courtesy of Gabriel Solis 60 12.2: Prepared Papuan kakaruk long mambu dish with sweet potatoes and SP beer, photo courtesy of Gabriel Solis 61 14.1: Romani şaraşura, photo courtesy of Sonia Seeman 70 14.2: Romani dolma, photo courtesy of Sonia Seeman 73 16.1: Uzbek osh, photo courtesy of Tanya Merchant 81 19.1:  Ingredients for Trinidadian jerk chicken, photo courtesy of Gage Averill 94 19.2: Trinidadian jerk chicken, peas and rice, and green mango slaw, photo courtesy of Gage Averill 95 21.1: Making albóndigas in Sinaloa, Mexico, photo courtesy of Helena Simonett 107 21.2:  Use of metate and mano, photo courtesy of Helena Simonett 110 22.1: Ecuadorian chuchuka soup, photo courtesy of Jessie M. Vallejo 112 23.1: Colombian ajiaco stew, photo courtesy of Edmundo Murray 118 26.1: Galician pimientos de Padrón, photo courtesy of Sean Williams 138 26.2: Galician torta de Santiago, photo courtesy of Sean Williams 139 29.1:  Preparation for mokharshuli (eggplant salad), photo courtesy of Andrea ­Kuzmich 153 29.2:  Frying onions for kharcho (beef walnut stew), photo courtesy of Andrea Kuzmich 153 30.1: Greek psari plaki, photo courtesy of Yona Stamatis 159

ix

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I Prelude

PREFACE—THE JOY OF IMPROVISATION Sean Williams When the first volume of The Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook was published in 2006, I found myself revisiting the concept of improvisation in both cooking and musical practice. In the first volume’s introductory article, “World Food, World Music” (Williams 2006: 2–5), I quoted Harvey Steinman’s wise words: “A good recipe is closer to a musical notation than to a blueprint” (Steinman 1997:179). As I utilized the cookbook over the next few years, I found myself growing in confidence about my ability to improvise as a cook, substituting similar ingredients when I happened to be out of one that was called for in a recipe. Over time, my cooking practices reminded me of the many times that I (or the musicians I was playing with) substituted one instrument for another. In each case, the “look and feel” of the result was similar to the original intention, but new characteristics were incorporated. In cooking, I once substituted three spices in a stew because the substitutions were fresher, and I ended up with Moroccan food rather than Indonesian. In music, I recall performing the Bee Gees’ 1977 disco hit “Stayin’ Alive” with my bluegrass band at the time. The basic elements of the song were firmly in place, and all the lyrics and chords and melody were correct, but the instrumentation and genre were radically different. In food as in music, when the bones of the meal or the tune are in place, changes can sometimes lead to surprising and delightful results. Two of the essential skills in becoming a good musician are to know one’s instrument, and to understand what musical elements work well together in a particular musical genre. It is no stretch at all to point out that knowing one’s equipment in a kitchen and understanding what culinary elements work well together are two of the essential skills that one needs in order to become a good cook. It is one thing to be able to play a scale and to play or sing a tune, and quite another thing to improvise over a jazz progression. Similarly, it is one thing to be able to follow a basic recipe, and quite another thing to simply know what will happen to the flavor when adding lime juice, coriander, or toasted pine nuts (for example). Know your equipment and your genre, and nothing can stop you!

Features Contributions by ethnomusicologists An Ethno-WHAT? Ethnomusicologists study, listen to, write about, and play and sing all the world’s musics. We do not limit ourselves to a particular time period; instead, we focus on the connections between people and music. Ethnomusicologists submitted all of these recipes and their accompanying essays about the links between food and music, based on their work and their connections with musicians and cooks all over the world. Recipes feed six people Each chapter includes a set of recipes that will feed six people, with the understanding that how much people eat varies from place to place. Readers who work with the different recipes in this volume may find themselves surprised to be eating different proportions (and amounts) of food than what they are accustomed to. The concept of improvising, then, applies just as much to how we conceive of food as it does to cooking or to playing music. Options! This volume is connected to volume I in that it uses the same format, but it covers different areas of the world than most of those covered in the first volume. In several cases, more than 2

Preface—The Joy of Improvisation  •  3

one person covered a particular area of the world. For Trinidad you have the option of creating bake and shark or jerk chicken; for the Republic of Georgia you may wish to make chicken with walnut and cilantro sauce or walnut beef stew. For Greece you may create baked fish or chickpeas with caramelized onions. One tactic that works well is the creation of a potluck centered in a particular place; each guest brings one item on the menu and everyone present enjoys the results. Opening proverbs Each chapter includes a food-related proverb from the area for you and your guests to ponder and discuss as you enjoy your meal. Proverbs can reveal much about the values of a group of people . . . including the attendees at your dinner party. The essays Each contributor has developed an essay discussing food and music locally, with the individual emphasis that each area required. In some parts of the world, music and food are perceived as a form of entertainment requiring long hours spent in the pursuit of each. In other areas, they are created by “others” who are barely acknowledged for their efforts. Each essay offers an interesting window into the norms of places such as Ecuador, Cyprus, and Senegal. Additional resources At the end of each essay is a list of resources for recommended listening, and a short list of online and in-print resources for the reader to pursue for further information. Photos Within many of the chapters, the contributors have taken photographs of the ingredients, of food in preparation, and of completed dishes. Although the photographs are in black and white, the “real thing” as it appears on your own plate will be absolutely vivid! Furthermore, the incomparable aroma of delicious food can be fully appreciated only as it arises from your own kitchen.

Acknowledgments I would like to express my joyous thanks, not only to the contributors for the present volume, but to the many hands, hearts, and minds among the musicians and their families who taught these ethnomusicologists to cook. Few of these recipes were formally written down or measured precisely, so it has been up to these writers, often in collaboration with others, to figure out the key act of translation so that we can all enjoy the fruits of their labor. The brave people who tested the recipes and sent back their comments deserve our collective thanks as well, because each of them tried something completely new (as we hope you will in your own kitchens). Constance Ditzel, Senior Editor in Music at Routledge Publishing, has been a staunch believer in the fact that an interdisciplinary book such as this cookbook (and the first volume as well!) can belong firmly in music. Yes, Routledge publishes interdisciplinary cookbooks, and I wish to offer my warmest gratitude to Constance for making way for something genuinely new in academic publishing! Her assistant Elysse Preposi was responsible for shepherding the project through to its completion, and my gratitude can be measured only in delicious quantities such as one might find in teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, quarts, baking dishes, and large cooking pots. My parents, Alan and Julian Williams, challenged me to learn to cook well at an early age (I made a complete meal of Japanese food for them when I was eleven), and my daughter Morgan

4 • Sean Williams

Black has been one of the (mostly) happy beneficiaries of my skills, even when she had to try something radically different. Thank you for the challenges, Mom, Dad, and Morgan! My boyfriend and culinary coconspirator, David Nelson, thoroughly enjoys our creations, and I appreciate his feedback and expertise in everything we do. Since it is through both the challenges and the compliments that our cooking and our musicianship can improve, I dare you to try out some of these recipes for your friends and loved ones and to write directly in its pages as you come up with ideas of your own. Happy improvising to you, and may delicious food result from your efforts!

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK One of the biggest challenges in developing a cookbook is to create a specialized kind of language that all cooks can use. In the case of this cookbook, the measurements and spellings conform to the standard used in the United States. We understand that most of the world uses the metric system; if you are one of the lucky adherents to the metric system, then the conversation chart below should suffice. Beyond that, one’s ability to scan what is required and improvise is a known skill for most cooks and musicians (see “Preface—The Joy of Improvisation,” above). Skimming over any of the recipes on your way to a shop will let you know what you need to pick up. Recipes here are presented using the standard North American cookbook shorthand of c. (cup), t. (teaspoon), and T (tablespoon). Inches are represented with quotation marks, as in 2" fresh ginger root. Temperatures are all in Fahrenheit. Many of these recipes are vegetarian or vegan; modifications are fairly easy to make so that you may adhere to your preferences or dietary restrictions. Note also the final chapter (“How to Make These Meals Suit You”) with suggestions for making recipes gluten-free or dairy-free. Please remember that being adventurous and inviting friends or family to help you cook is much more fun than solo perfection. Every meal you make will yield results of one kind or another. Most cooks have their favorites that they can put together from memory, just as most musicians have their own favorite pieces that they know by heart. You will find your favorites in this book just as others will. Cooking times are approximate; after several tries you may find that something is more easily prepared the night before, or simply takes less time. Be brave in your efforts! Make substitutions if necessary. Read through each recipe carefully before you begin. Some recipes require you to do some preparatory work the night before, such as soaking dry beans or cooking and cooling a particular type of meat. You may also have to locate unusual ingredients. You may wish to consider establishing a friendly relationship with the people at your local Mexican, Indian, Vietnamese, and other shops and restaurants, because some ingredients (such as curry leaf or salam leaf or particular kinds of chilies) are difficult to acquire without an inside source (restaurant owners can be your allies). And don’t let anything stop you! Good luck and happy cooking!

Quick Conversions: 1 teaspoon = 5 milliliters 1 tablespoon = 15 milliliters 1 cup = 236 milliliters 1 quart = 946 milliliters 1 pound = 454 grams 1 inch = 2½ centimeters 300°F = 149°C 350°F = 177°C 400°F = 204°C Your creations are only as fresh and interesting as your ingredients. Wars have been fought over spices; featuring them on the cover photograph in all their beauty is a testament to how dramatically the fundamental ingredients of food—common all over the world—can change with their addition or subtraction. The simple act of using fresh spices such as turmeric, ginger, cayenne, black sesame seeds, paprika, star anise, cinnamon sticks, parsley flakes, or nutmeg can fill the house with such 5

6 • Sean Williams

rich aromas in the air that it can be fragrant for days. Your home, too, could be fragrant for days if you simply threw out the spices that have sat unused on your shelf for several years and replenished them with small amounts of fresh ones. It wouldn’t occur to me to bring this up except that three weeks before I wrote this prelude, I made a disastrous pumpkin bread pudding with an expired can of pumpkin purée and years-old spices at a relative’s house . . . simply because that was what was available. Alas, it went the way of all inedible food: into the compost. You would never use old meats and vegetables; why use stale spices?

II Africa

SENEGAL Patricia Tang Fu ngeen jëm? Ceebu jën! (Where are you heading? Fish and rice!)

Figure 2.1  Senegalese ceebu jën, photo courtesy of Patricia Tang

Menu: Ceebu jën / Thieboudienne (main meal consisting of fish and rice with vegetables) and mango (for dessert). Preparation Time: 3 hours. Cooking Process: Ceebu jën is a one-pot dish that involves a preliminary step of stuffing and frying fish, then cooking the fish and vegetables for an extended time in a large pot of broth. Eventually the fish and vegetables are removed and set aside, and the rice is added to the pot and cooked in the broth. First prepare the roof (stuffing for fish) and fry fish before making the ceebu jën proper. Most vegetables can be peeled and cut while bringing broth to a boil. The maccàt (tamarind mixture) should be made after removing the fish and vegetables from the broth. When rice is cooking in the broth (the final step), cut up the mango for dessert.

8

Senegal • 9

The Recipes Ceebu jën / Thieboudienne (Fish and Rice) 1 c. parsley, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 scallions, white parts sliced thinly dash red pepper flakes salt and pepper to taste 1½ lb. whitefish steaks (halibut, sea bass, or red snapper) 1 small chunk smoked fish (optional)1 ½ c. oil (vegetable or canola) 1 small onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, crushed tomato paste (two 6 oz. cans) 1 t. salt 2 bouillon cubes (fish or vegetable flavor) 2 quarters of a small cabbage 1 large carrot, cut into 2'' long chunks 1 daikon, cut into 2–3 pieces 1 manioc/yucca, peeled and cut into 2–3 pieces 1 small Italian eggplant, sliced in half lengthwise 8 whole fresh okra ½ acorn squash, peeled and deseeded and cut into 4 large pieces 2 scotch bonnet (habanero) peppers left whole 1 roma tomato, chopped fresh tamarind (optional, can be found in Asian stores) 3 c. broken rice (rice bit)2 1 lime, sliced into 6 pieces (for garnish) Using a mortar and pestle or food processor, combine the first five ingredients (parsley, 1 clove garlic, scallions, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper) and mix into a rough paste. This will be the roof (stuffing) for the fish. Wash and pat dry fish with a paper towel; season with salt and pepper. Poke a hole near the center bone of each steak with your finger, making a sort of small tunnel for the stuffing. Put roof (stuffing) into the hole in the fish. Heat ½ c. oil on medium-high heat in large pan; fry fish until browned on both sides, about 8 minutes per side. If using salt cod or smoked fish, add to the oil at the same time as the fish steaks. Remove all fish from oil with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add chopped onion to the remaining oil in pot; sauté for several minutes until it begins to brown. Add 3 cloves garlic and fry for another 2 minutes. Then add tomato paste, stirring to make sure it does not stick too much to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with one t. salt (or to taste). 1  In Senegal, a small piece of géjj (dried fermented fish) and yéét (fermented mollusk) would be used to add “fishiness” to the dish. Because these ingredients are not readily available outside of Senegal, you may substitute a small chunk of salt cod or dried/smoked fish if available. 2   Broken rice, or rice bit, can be found in many Asian grocery stores. It is in fact simply broken jasmine rice (i.e., lesser quality). If broken rice is not available, substitute with regular jasmine rice.

10 • Patricia Tang

When the tomato paste onion mixture starts to brown slightly, add 7 c. water. Add 2 bouillon cubes; then gently add fish, cabbage, carrot, daikon, manioc, eggplant, okra, acorn squash, hot peppers, and chopped tomato, and bring back to a boil. Simmer, covered, on low heat for 30 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove hot peppers and set aside in a small bowl. Simmer for 15 more minutes; remove acorn squash, eggplant, okra, and fish, placing them on a spare platter, taking care to keep the fish as intact as possible. Simmer 15 more minutes, or until remaining vegetables are very soft; with a slotted spoon, remove all remaining vegetables and place on spare platter. If using tamarind, peel hard shell off of tamarind and rinse; put aside tamarind in small bowl. Remove ½ c. of the broth and pour over the tamarind; mix and set aside. This is the maccàt (literally, the “sauce you suck on”) that will be poured over the dish before serving. If not using tamarind, simply remove the ½ c. of broth and set aside. What remains in the pot should be a simmering broth, thick and full of flavor from the vegetables and fish. Taste the broth; add salt or water to taste, if needed. Turn up to high heat; when broth is at a full boil, add 3 c. of broken jasmine rice, stirring gently to distribute evenly. After bringing back to a boil, cover and simmer on low heat until rice is fully cooked (about 35–40 minutes). After 30 minutes, you may want to gently stir the rice so that it cooks evenly in the broth, but do not stir too vigorously or it will make the rice mushy. When rice is fully cooked, fluff a layer of rice evenly on a large platter. Place fish on top of the rice in the middle of the platter, and arrange vegetables around the fish. Sprinkle tamarind sauce (or reserved broth) on top of the fish and vegetables; garnish with lime wedges and hot peppers. If there is burned rice on the bottom of the pot, scrape it off with a metal spoon and serve it on the side for guests who have strong teeth and enjoy some extra crunch. (This part is called xooñ—it is considered a delicacy.) Ceebu jën should be served and eaten communally out of one platter, with guests using large spoons or their right hands. Those who enjoy some extra heat may take a hot pepper and gently squeeze some juice from it onto the rice with the back of a spoon.

Màngo (mango) 3 ripe mangoes Using a sharp knife, cut each mango into two halves, taking care to cut around the pit. Gently score the mango halves into a grid pattern. Invert skin to expose small squares; serve. Eat with hands straight off of the skin.

The Tastiest Dish and the Tastiest Rhythm Ceebu jën (pronounced “cheh-boo-jen”—literally “fish and rice” in the Wolof language) is the national dish of Senegal, West Africa. The Senegalese are very proud of this one-pot dish and love to serve it to guests as a way of showing proper teranga (hospitality). The dish is so popular that it has spread beyond its borders to Anglophone West African countries, where versions of it have come to be known as “Jollof rice” (from the Wolof people or Jolof Empire.) In Senegal, ceebu jën is the most common dish served for lunch, the most important meal of the day. After spending the early morning hours in the market buying the fish and vegetables, Senegalese women will spend several hours preparing and cooking the meal, which is usually served in the early afternoon around 1–2 p.m. Because ceebu jën contains rice, fish, and vegetables, it is considered a complete meal in itself, and would typically only be accompanied by a glass of water. However, when hosting special guests, one might serve fresh fruit (such as mango) for dessert after a meal.

Senegal • 11

In addition to being the national dish, ceebu jën is also the name of a sabar dance rhythm. Sabar is the primary form of drum and dance among the Wolof people of Senegal. People say that ceebu jën is the tastiest dish and thus the tastiest rhythm; the griots, hereditary musicians/oral historians, named the rhythm after the dish. Ceebu jën is the fastest rhythm in the sabar repertory, and requires the greatest stamina and skill on the part of both drummers and dancers alike. It also requires a good deal of skill to cook ceebu jën well; women will often compete for bragging rights for being the best ceebu jën cook in the household. In many ways, the close relationship between this spectacular drum and dance rhythm and its culinary namesake should come as no surprise, since both music and food are the traditional purview of griots, a caste of musicians and oral historians, and—in the case of the Wolof—masters of the sabar drum. Although griots are primarily known for their role as musicians and praise singers, they are also typically hired to cook for baptisms, weddings, and other celebrations. Griots are generally thought to be better cooks than nongriots, perhaps due to their extensive involvement in cooking for these important life-cycle events. In 2013, at his famed Grand Bal concert at Bercy in Paris, Senegalese superstar and griot singer Youssou N’Dour released a new song entitled “Thiébou Dieune Penda Mbaye.” Backed by his band of modern Senegalese mbalax musicians, N’Dour sings praises to the national dish, outlining the steps for how to prepare a most delicious ceebu jën, and even claiming it as a national treasure. Thus the relationship between food and music in Senegalese culture continues to be mutually affirming.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Doudou N’Diaye Rose. 1994. Djabote. Real World Records. Lamine Touré & Group Saloum. 2005. Lamine Touré & Group Saloum. Nomadic Wax. Youssou N’Dour & Le Super Etoile. 2013. Le Grand Bal Bercy 2013. Jololi. [Senegalese release.]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION N’Dour, Youssou. “Nouveauté-Youssou Ndour Bercy 2013—Thiébou Dieune Penda Mbaye.” https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Sbp_voN-KO0 O’Connor, John. “Senegal: A  Feast For All.” Saveur May  23, 2011. http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/ Senegal-Cuisine Tang, Patricia. Masters of the Sabar: Wolof Griot Percussionists of Senegal. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2007. Thiam, Pierre. Yolele! Recipes From the Heart of Senegal. New York: Lake Isle Press, 2008.

ZIMBABWE (SHONA) Claire Jones Usasvora mbodza neinozvimbira. (Do not despise badly cooked sadza as it may make you overfed.) Menu: Sadza Nehuku (Stewed Chicken with Maize Porridge), Muriwo Unedovi (Peanut Butter Greens), Mutakura (Corn and Beans), and Mahewu (Fermented Millet Drink). Preparation Time: 2½ hours on the day of the meal plus 3 days for the mahewu. Cooking Process: If you are going to make the fermented mahewu beverage, begin preparing it three days before the feast. After allowing it to ferment for two days, check the mixture, and if it tastes sour, it is ready to drink; store it in the refrigerator. Dried corn kernels and black-eyed peas for the mutakura should be put to soak the evening before, or at least 8 hours before, the meal. On the day of your feast, prep the greens first, and then start the chicken stew. Put the greens on to cook, and then the mutakura. Make the sadza last of all. All recipes were developed with the collaboration of Tsitsi Maraire Smith.

The Recipes Huku (Zimbabwean Chicken Stew) 1 medium-sized chicken water 2 T. olive or other vegetable oil 1 onion, finely chopped 3 tomatoes, chopped (or 1 can diced tomatoes, drained) 2 cloves minced garlic (optional) 1 c. chicken broth or water salt pepper Cut the chicken up and wash it well. Put in a large pot with salted water not quite covering the chicken pieces and cook on high heat until the water is boiling. Turn down to medium and continue to cook until the water is nearly gone. Add oil and brown the meat. Stir in onions and tomatoes (and garlic if you like) and sauté for a few minutes. Add 1 c. chicken broth or water, bring back to a boil, and cook on medium low for 15 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with sadza or rice.

Sadza (Stiff Maize-Meal Porridge) 2½ c. ground white cornmeal (Alber’s brand in the blue and orange box works well; masa is not recommended) water Sadza (chiShona), known as isitshwala in isiNdebele or pap in South Africa, is a stiff cooked porridge that is the dietary staple of many ethnic groups in central and southern Africa. The most popular 12

Zimbabwe (Shona)  •  13

sadza in Zimbabwe is made from finely ground white maize meal called mealie-meal or upfu in chiShona. Before the introduction of maize in the 1890s, indigenous grains, including various types of millet and sorghum, were the main carbohydrate sources used to make sadza. You will need a large pot with a handle. Set 6 c. water to boil. While the water is heating, put 1 c. of the cornmeal into a small bowl and mix in a small amount of cold water until it forms a thin paste. Make sure there are no lumps. When the water in the pot is boiling briskly, stir in the cornmeal paste with a wooden spoon or traditional mugoti (a wooden utensil with a flat spoon-shaped head). Stir like crazy to make sure no lumps form! Once the paste starts to thicken into a porridge, turn the heat to medium and put the lid on. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. When you take the lid off, you should see volcanic bubbling, like a boiling mud bath. Be careful not to burn yourself; the porridge is hot and can stick to your skin! Start stirring in more cornmeal, either directly from the box or using a cup. You will need to keep stirring, using a folding motion, to blend in the dry meal without allowing lumps to form. This is a splendid workout for your arm muscles! Once you have added approximately 1½ c. more of meal, the mixture should form a stiff porridge somewhat thicker than grits. At this point, turn the heat down to the lowest setting, put the lid back on, and allow it to cook for 10 more minutes. Serve the sadza with a wet wooden spoon so that large dollops taken straight from the pot do not stick to the spoon. You can use the spoon or a small plate to shape the sadza into individual spheres.

Muriwo Unedovi (Peanut Butter Greens) 3–4 bunches leafy greens—collards are closest to the rape commonly eaten in Zimbabwe; mustard greens may also be used 1 c. plus ½ c. water 1 T. olive or other vegetable oil 1 c. onion, finely chopped 2 tomatoes, chopped ½ t. salt cayenne pepper (optional) ¼ c. peanut butter (smooth, no sugar or additives please!) Wash the greens well, cut off the stems, and cut out the midrib of each leaf. Shred the leaves finely or chop them using the chiffonade technique: make a stack of leaves, roll tightly into a cigar shape, and then slice perpendicular to the roll. You will end up with long thin ribbons of leaves, which help to speed cooking by exposing maximum leaf surface area. Cook the chopped greens over high heat with 1 c. water until the water has almost boiled away. Turn down the heat; add the oil, onion, and tomatoes. Add salt and cayenne pepper if you wish. Cover and steam on low heat for approximately 15 minutes or until the greens are tender. While the greens are cooking, put the peanut butter in a small bowl and mix with up to ½ c. water to yield a smooth paste. Add the peanut butter paste to the greens and stir well. Cover and simmer on very low heat 5 minutes more to get rid of any raw peanut taste.

Mutakura (Black-eyed Peas and Corn) 1 c. dried black-eyed peas 1 c. dried maize kernels water, salt, and pepper

14 • Claire Jones

OR ½ large can hominy 2 bags frozen black-eyed peas water, salt, and pepper This dish was a favorite of Dr. Dumisani Maraire (the renowned Zimbabwean musician who spent years of his life in the United States teaching mbira and marimba), and he used to cook it himself. In Zimbabwe it is made with nyemba, or cowpeas, a close relative of black-eyed peas, sometimes with groundnuts (nyimo) added. Mutakura can be served as a main dish or side dish; the corn and peas together make a complete protein. If you are using dried peas and corn, rinse both in water, and then cover. Soak 6 hours or overnight. Drain, cover with fresh water, and bring to a boil. Cook about 45 minutes until both are soft and just starting to disintegrate. Mash some of them with the back of a spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you are using canned hominy, drain and pulse in a food processer for just a second or two to break up the large kernels a bit. Cook the frozen black-eyed peas in about 1½ c. water on high heat until the water boils; turn down and continue boiling until the peas are just getting tender. Add the hominy and continue to simmer together until both are starting to disintegrate. Mash some of them with the back of a spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mahewu (Nonalcoholic fermented beverage) 1 c. white cornmeal (or use leftover sadza mixed with water into a thin porridge) 2–3 c. hot water 2–3 T. malt (ground finger millet and/or sorghum; whole wheat flour will also work. If you buy whole grain, you can grind it to a meal in a food processor.) 1 package yeast (optional) cold water sugar to taste Mix cornmeal with a small amount of cold water to make a paste. Bring 2 to 3 c. water to a boil and pour the cornmeal paste into it, stirring to prevent lumps from forming. The mixture should be a thin gruel, like the first step in making sadza. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes and remove from heat. Allow it to cool. Stir in the malt until thoroughly blended. Yeast is not traditionally used as the mixture will ferment by itself if it is warm enough, but if you want to speed up the process, dissolve yeast in a small amount of warm water and add to the porridge mix. Add 6–8 c. water; pour the mixture into a covered pot and put in a warm place. Traditionally it would be brewed in an earthenware pot called a hari; a plastic container or cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid will work just as well. Allow it to ferment for two to three days. When it is ready, it should taste a little sour. Serve sweetened to taste (or not!) with a little sugar. A sediment called masese will be present; always stir or shake the mahewu before drinking so that you take in the masese with its valuable nutrients. Store the pot in the refrigerator to stop fermentation. If you don’t, after a week you might end up with doro—traditional seven-days beer!

Food and Music Nourish Daily Life and Ceremonial Occasions Zimbabweans are well known for their hospitality. You can expect to be served something to eat whenever you show up for a visit. During the day it might be British-style tea with milk and sugar, accompanied by buttered bread or perhaps biscuits (cookies) if your host can afford it. For dinner

Zimbabwe (Shona)  •  15

the women prepare sadza with some sort of relish (accompaniment): greens, beans, or meat cooked with the ubiquitous onion and tomato. Even in the townships, Zimbabweans grow various types of leafy greens; pumpkin is valued for its flesh and seeds in addition to its leaves. Sweet potatoes, white potatoes, okra, rice, and several types of beans are widely available in urban areas. Many Zimbabweans enjoy dried mopane worms (spiny caterpillars) and in the summer, flying ants. Chicken, beef, goat, and freshwater fish are the most common protein sources, along with fermented or soured milk. During these difficult economic times, it is a sign of respect to be served meat. In preparation for a meal, a dish of water is placed on the dining table for everyone to wash his or her hands. Alternatively, a young woman of the household may offer the bowl of water along with a towel to each guest in turn. Once his or her hands are washed, each diner should clap hands respectfully before taking a bite, to thank those who have provided and prepared the food. Zimbabweans traditionally eat with their fingers, and it is still acceptable to do so in many urban homes. Use your right hand (chi Shona: rudyi—“the one used to eat”) to take small chunks of sadza. It is considered impolite to eat with the left hand, even if you are left-handed. Taking care not to burn yourself, roll the sadza into a little ball and dip it into the relish. Remold the rest of your sadza in your hand and dip again. Sadza that is well cooked does not stick to the fingers when eating. Sadza that is sticky is called mbodza, which means, “not properly cooked.” There are many ways to prepare delicious sadza, but there are many more ways to make sadza mbodza! According to pasichigare (chi Shona: custom; traditional way of life), men, women, and children eat separately, with each group sharing a common bowl. Guests, however, are often served their own plates instead of eating from communal dishes. During the late 1980s, I was a member of the professional mbira group, Mhuri yekwa Muchena (Family of Muchena), and we frequently traveled to rural homes to perform in spirit possession ceremonies. Served sadza upon arrival in these settings, I was always given my own plate and ate with the (male) musicians rather than the women; my status as mbira player and visiting murungu (white person) trumped my gender. Many Zimbabweans are unaccustomed to seeing a woman playing mbira, a gender disparity that is slowly changing as more women pick up the instrument. Ideas about women’s work are resistant to change, however, and aspiring women mbira players are often disparaged by implications that playing music is inappropriate for their gender: “She will not be able to cook sadza; she will burn all the food” (Irene Chigamba interview 1999). Zimbabweans usually gather in their rural ancestral homes (kumusha) for holidays and celebrations, as well as family ceremonies. In all these contexts, food and music are equally important to a sense of togetherness and conviviality. All agree that sadza cooked over the fire tastes better than when it is cooked on a stove. Women brew traditional doro beer for either secular or religious gatherings. An ox, cow, or goat may be slaughtered, depending on the type and significance of the event. Rice is associated with celebrations, and a meal of roasted or stewed chicken and rice is common at auspicious occasions such as Christmas—75% of Zimbabweans are Christian and many subscribe to both pasichigare and Christian beliefs. On the occasions when an ancestral possession ritual is held at the rural homestead, it takes place in the kitchen, the center of most daily activities as well. The traditional Shona kitchen is a round thatched hut that is separate from the other buildings. At the center of the hut is the cooking fire. Upon entering, your eyes are drawn to the chikuva, or pottery display shelf. Neatly stacked on these shelves are clay pots—hari—one for each deceased ancestor. Smaller pots balance on the shoulders of larger ones, as descendants ride on the shoulders of their antecedents. Thus the space is marked as belonging to all the living and dead members of the family. When formal or semiformal speech and praises are called for, family members address the hari so that their ancestors may hear. A number of Shona rituals involve spirit possession, and the most common is known as the bira (Shona: plural, mapira), an all-night ceremony for an ancestral or tribal spirit. Music is integral to

16 • Claire Jones

these ceremonies, one of a number of elements that must be present and/or correctly performed for possession to occur and the ceremony to be successful. To the elder women falls the task of brewing the doro traditional beer, a procedure that takes seven days and close attention to proper ritual detail. At the opening of the ceremony, a junior man in the lineage will make a ritual offering of the beer that has been blessed by the matriarchs. So important is the ceremonial offering of the beer, a transformed and transforming substance, that Zimbabwean dance troupes regularly perform a choreographed “Welcome Dance,” in which women dance with small hari pots on their heads. Accompanied by mbira music, they act out the offering of the doro to welcome both the living and deceased ancestors to the gathering. During the course of the ceremony, the music that is played must be that which was familiar to the ancestors if they are to come. Accordingly, drumming and singing, or whichever type of mbira indigenous to the region, will be called upon. The attendees are all participating performers, adding voices, clapping, whistling, ululation, and, most importantly, dancing. Everyone is urged to get up and move, and rattles (hosho) provide a driving beat compelling the dancers. If all goes well, and the participants bring the proper attitude and collective spirit to the ceremony, the medium(s) will become possessed by the spirit. In the morning following a successful ceremony, the musicians are likely to be resting, but the women of the compound are busy. There is meat from the sacrificed beast(s) to be cooked, and sadza to be prepared in large oil tins over open fires. Late in the morning, all gather once again to give thanks and share one last meal together before dispersing and returning to their urban homes.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Tales of Zimbabwe. Compiled by Richard Woodin, Two CD set. Sheer Sound, South Africa, SLCD 085, 2005. The Soul of Mbira: Traditions of the Shona People. Compiled by Paul Berliner. Nonesuch, 79704–2, 1973. Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited. Chamunorwa (“What Are We Fighting For”). Mango Island Records CD 162-539 900–2, 1991.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION An expansive website on Zimbabwean cooking: http://www.zimbokitchen.com/ including a helpful video for making sadza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r8ffWDNomU. And a website with mbira recordings: http://mbira.org/ Berliner, Paul. 1978. The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe. Berkeley: University of California Press. Turino, Thomas. 2000. Nationalists, Cosmopolitans and Popular Music in Zimbabwe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

SEYCHELLES Marie-Christine Parent Vye marmit i fer bon kari (Old cooking pot makes better curry) Menu: Satini Papay (Papaya Chutney), Lantiy (Red Lentils), Diri (Rice), Kari Poul (Chicken Curry), and Ladob Banan (Bananas in Coconut Milk) Preparation Time: About 2½ hours (or about 4 hours if each meal is prepared one after the other). Cooking Process: If your time is restricted, try to make all recipes at the same time. I suggest preparing ladob (bananas in coconut milk) first. While it is cooking, you can chop, crush, or pound ingredients for other recipes. When ladob is ready, put it aside. Wash the lentils and, as they stand, start preparing the curry. While the curry is cooking, you can prepare the papaya chutney. Don’t forget to put on some rice to cook at about this time. Watch your lentils at the same time and add water when necessary. Add final ingredients to the curry and lentils last. If you have more time, you can prepare each meal separately in this order: ladob, papaya chutney, curry, and lentils. Rice can be cooked sometime along the way. Everything, except ladob, is served at the same time, on/with rice. Serves four to six persons.

The Recipes Satini Papay (Papaya Chutney) 2 papayas (these need to be slightly underripe) 1 small onion 1 T sunflower oil 1 or 2 fresh chili (to taste), finely chopped juice of 2 lemons 1 T sea salt, or to taste 1 T pepper (optional) Peel and deseed papayas and grate finely. Mix salt in grated papayas and leave for 15 minutes. Then squeeze the water out of the papayas until well dried. Peel the onion and use a mandoline to slice thinly. In a saucepan, heat the oil and add the sliced onions. When the onions are transparent in color, add chili and fry for 2 more minutes. Add the grated papayas to the onion mix and cook about 5 to 7 minutes until soft. If the mixture looks close to burning, add some lemon juice. Turn into a bowl and set aside to cool. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add lemon juice. Serve as an accompaniment.

Lantiy (Red Lentils Purée) 2 c. red lentils 2 T vegetable oil 1 medium-size onion, finely chopped 3 cloves garlic (crushed or pounded in a mortar) 17

18 • Marie-Christine Parent

1 t. grated ginger salt and pepper to taste Rinse lentils under tap water a few times to remove any dirt, then let them stand in a bowl with about 3 c. water for about 1 hour. In a nonstick saucepan, heat the oil. Once hot, add the onion and cook until transparent. Add the lentils to the onion and sauté for about 15 minutes. Add water if it tends to stick to the pan; the lentils should remain mushy. Add more water (about 2 c.) to loosen the lentils and cook it. Reduce the heat and simmer for ½ hour. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another 7 to 10 minutes. At this stage, make sure to stir a spoon in the dish constantly to avoid sticking to the pan, and to help the lentils to become creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve as an accompaniment.

Kari Poul (Chicken Curry) 1 small-to-medium-size chicken 2 medium-size potatoes 1 medium-size tomato 2 T coconut or vegetable oil 4 cloves garlic (crushed or pounded in a mortar) 1 t. grated ginger 1 or 3 fresh chili finely chopped (to taste) 1 large onion 3 T turmeric 5 T curry powder 2–3 chopped curry leaves (optional, possible to find in some markets; ask for kari pile in creole) 1 bay leaf 2 cinnamon leaves or 1 T cinnamon powder 1 t. chicken broth base 1 to 2 c. water or (fresh) coconut milk ½ green pepper Clean and cut the chicken into bits (around 1.5–2 inches. Most Seychellois keep the skin, but you might prefer to take it off in part or totally). Chop potatoes and tomato into small pieces. Heat the cooking oil in a big pot. Put in half of the garlic, then add the ginger, fresh chili, onion, green pepper, and chicken bits and cook 1 or 2 minutes until chicken is brown. Add turmeric, curry powder, curry leaves, bay leaf, cinnamon, chicken broth base, stirring constantly so that the spices stick to chicken. Add potatoes and tomato. Cover with 1 c. water or coconut milk. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, then allow to simmer for about 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced to half the initial amount. Add the rest of garlic around 10 minutes before it’s ready. Make sure to stir and to add water if necessary if it tends to burn in the pot. Serve with plain rice, the papaya chutney, and a lager beer. It’s ok to eat chicken pieces with hands and to lick fingers after!

Ladob Banan (Bananas in Coconut Milk) 3 large plantains or green bananas 1 t. fresh grated nutmeg 1 vanilla pod 1 t. salt

Seychelles • 19

3 T brown sugar 6 cinnamon leaves or 4 cinnamon sticks 2½ c. coconut milk Peel the bananas (or plantains) and split them in half lengthways, and then cut each half in half lengthways again. Use a large, heavy-based saucepan. Put cinnamon in it and banana pieces on top of the cinnamon. Add nutmeg, vanilla pod split in half lengthways, salt, and brown sugar. Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Leave some coconut milk to pour over the bananas. Bananas must be covered by the coconut milk. Cook for 10 minutes over a brisk heat without covering the pan, then reduce to a simmer and cook for another 30 minutes or until the bananas are tender. Remove the vanilla pod and cinnamon leaves or sticks. Divide the mixture between four small bowls and serve. You can eat it hot or cold. Serve with citronella or black tea or with rum.

Byen Manze Kreol (Eat the Good Creole Food) Seychelles’ rich creole culture comes from a mix of French, English, East African, Malagasy, Indian, Chinese, and other neighboring creole islands Mauritius and La Réunion [see the next entry], among others. All of these influences are present in Seychellois music and food, as in other aspects of culture. Music and food are, however, the easiest way to get in touch with Seychellois culture for the visitor, since most hotels organize a “creole night” every week with typical traditional food and music. “Creole food” in hotels is similar to what a certain class of Seychellois eat, especially on Sundays. “Creole traditional music” appears to be played mostly on special occasions and for tourists. By the end of the 18th century, the first French colonizers came to Seychelles. This was the beginning of new music and culinary traditions born from different influences on the plantations. Food integrated local products like tropical fruits and vegetables, but also a wide diversity of fishes from warm seas. From the beginning of the colony, the French administrator of Isle de France (now Mauritius) and Bourbon (now La Réunion), Pierre Poivre, introduced spices planted in a big garden in the actual site of the famous Jardins du Roy in Anse-Royale, south east of Mahe Island. At the same time, slaves coming from eastern Africa integrated the consumption of roots, such as cassava and sweet potato, in cooking. Seychelles share with neighboring creole islands the production and consumption of vanilla, ginger, and garlic, which are now part of Seychellois food. Cinnamon trees, which are not endemic to Seychelles, are now everywhere on Mahe and have displaced other native vegetation. Seychelles’ cooking was enriched with the advent of Indian merchants and their curries. More recently, Chinese shopkeepers brought other flavors to combine with Seychelles’ traditional food. Sunday family gatherings with a traditional meal are still a very important occasion. This day is for family and home work (travay lakour). While men do various kinds of work in the yard, women prepare an elaborate meal. As I was staying with a family during my first two fieldwork trips to Seychelles, I would spend most of my Sundays, when not meeting musicians, in the kitchen with my “Seychellois mother,” Josianne. I learned a lot about Seychellois cooking from her. In the family, these activities start after late breakfast, very often accompanied with a SeyBrew or an Eku, local lager beers, or sometimes a Guinness. My “Seychellois father,” Egbert, liked to listen to old black American music and reggae on vinyl while working in the yard on Sundays. According to him, a lot of Seychellois of his generation (i.e., born in the 1950s) like this music. The music meant a lot to them in their twenties, due to the social and political movements in favor of independence (1976). Seychellois appreciate grilled fish, puree of red lentils, mashed squash, chicken, bat or octopus curry, shark and papaya chutneys, and octopus salad, among others. Sunday meals include at least two of these dishes, served with rice . . . usually a lot of rice. A rice cooker is part of almost all Seychellois families. Rice is always the first ingredient mounded in the plate. The first creole

20 • Marie-Christine Parent

word I learned in Seychelles was “en ti git” to say “just a little bit” when Seychellois were serving me (especially rice). A salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, and lime juice generally accompanies hot dishes. And the final and essential touch: chili sauce or fresh chili as a chewed accompaniment throughout the meal. Chili sauce is made of small crushed chilies, a little bit of oil, juice of one lime, salt, and pepper. On other occasions, a staple Seychellois diet is pwason ek diri (fish and rice). There is a big variety of fishes in Seychelles, the most famous being bourzwa (emperor red snapper), viey (grouper), kordonyen (rabbitfish), bekin (pickhandle barracuda), reken (shark), and ton (tuna). Even though there is a big diversity of fishes, most Seychellois can only afford karang (trevally or kingfish), a coastal fish that local fishermen catch and sell. Food prices in Seychelles are inflated with tourism, and some Seychellois still barter with fishes, fruits, and vegetables. Fishing is still a working occupation for some locals. There is also industrialized fishing and exporting of tuna, such as the tuna “Petit Navire.” The industrialization of fishing, mainly by foreign companies, has had an impact on the old practice of small boatmen singing, which seems to not be practiced anymore. A part of the traditional repertoire of Seychellois music comprises these songs. One of the last recordings was made at the end of the seventies (see B. Koechlin recordings, published by Ocora in 1989). Fishermen sell their catch at the bazaar, the main market in Victoria, the capital, or in small stands along the road. Many Seychellois grow vegetables and fruit trees, such as mango, papaya, carambola (star fruit), banana, and coconut. When harvesting is plenty, they share with family, neighbors, and friends or take it to laboutik (general stores, mostly operated by Indians or Chinese immigrants) to be sold. Some also sell products from their gardens to hotels as a means of earning additional income. They buy other fruits, vegetables, and spices at the Bazar, but official prices don’t allow most Seychellois to eat a big diversity of food or to fully enjoy local production. The wide choice of local products is mainly reserved for tourists, tourism being the first industry in Seychelles, while most Seychellois consume fruits and vegetables from their garden. Seychellois are very proud of, and grateful for, what nature gives them. I will always remember what Egbert, who is an artist and also a biologist, told me proudly during my first days in Seychelles: “We have some 58 varieties of bananas in Seychelles. The smallest is bannann Taiti, largest is Sen Zak, while the most prolific is the mil. Sweet mignonn is my favorite though . . . but gro Misel is not bad either.” When looking at young Seychellois’ lifestyles, it is easy to understand that Seychelles, even though far away in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is not immune to the changes experienced by all societies. Eating habits are changing. Workers eat “take-away” (which can be local or international food) for lunch, and students have a tendency to consume more fast food, which appeared in the country within the past five to ten years. Seychelles is still one of the few countries in the world without a McDonald’s. Music consumption is following a trend with a musical landscape in which local and Jamaican ragga dancehall is dominant. Behind this phenomenon of being part of the modern and global world, Seychellois of all ages are very proud of their creole identity and culture. In my opinion, the link with “traditional culture,” even though not expressed by youngsters, is part of the everyday life of Seychellois. The smell of a good curry, and the sound of the moutya drum, will always evoke something special among Seychellois, at home and abroad. Seychellois’ imaginary is full of myths and legends. One of them says that you should eat breadfruit in Seychelles so you are guaranteed to come back to the islands.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Musiques populaires des îles Seychelles, Buda Musique, 2002 Seychelles: Musiques oubliées des îles, recorded by Bernard Koechlin, Ocora / Radio France, 2002

Seychelles • 21 Since most Seychellois music is available only online outside Seychelles, I  suggest here some online radio, YouTube channels, or artists’ names: http://radiosesel.com, and https://www.youtube.com/user/KozKreole KwenKomedi Jean-Marc Volcy, 20An Apre, concert during Creole Festival 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQPx PeM2e1c&list=TLOQayKdFogZo Some famous contemporary Seychellois artists can be found on YouTube: Patrick Victor, Jean-Marc Volcy, Jany de Letourdie, Brian Matombe, Norville Ernesta, Keven Valentin, Joennise Juliette, Mercenaire, Elijah.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Campling, Liam, Hansel Confiance, and Marie-Therese Purvis. 2011. Social Policies in Seychelles. Case History. Social Policies in Small States Series. London: Commonwealth Secretariat and United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. Egbert Marday’s artistic work (which has some links with music too): http://www.seychelles-art.com/marday. htm Series of documentaries on Seychelles’ culture and history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYAnBLwfAqA Short documentary by CNN on Seychelles’ culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmRKgSKkSQw

MAURITIUS AND RÉUNION Basil Considine A good curry burns twice. (Mauritius) People always want more. (Réunion) Menu: Curry de Chou avec Mangues (Cabbage Curry with Mango), Manioc aux Lentilles (Stewed Lentils with Manioc), Riz (Basmati Rice with Onions), Craft Lager Beer, Rhum (Vanilla Rum), and Bananes au Lait de Coco (Coconut-Braised Bananas). Preparation Time: 1½ hours (premeal), 15 minutes (dessert). Cooking Process: Start the curry first; while it is simmering, prepare the lentils and the rice. Serve the three main course pieces with the beer; as the main part of the meal comes to an end, distribute the rum to your guests and begin braising the bananas for dessert. Serve the bananas hot. Serves six people.

The Recipes Curry de Chou avec Mangues (Cabbage Curry with Mango) 3 T vegetable oil 2 large yellow onions, sliced 6 cloves of garlic, finely sliced 1 lb. fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped 1½ lbs. potatoes, cubed 4 large carrots, sliced 2 jalapeno peppers, finely sliced 1 cabbage, roughly sliced ¼ c. garam masala powder (or Jamaican curry powder) ½ t. dried basil ½ t. dried parsley ½ t. dried oregano 1 dried bay leaf 1 T black pepper 2 t. salt (or to taste) 2 fresh mangoes, cubed (or 1 bag of frozen mango) Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the sliced onion, garlic, and tomatoes, then stir-fry for 3 minutes. Fill the saucepan ¼ full with water and bring to a low boil. As you add additional ingredients, add additional water as necessary to keep the water level with your heavier ingredients. Slice/cube and add the following in this order: potatoes, carrots, jalapenos, and cabbage. Bring the pot back to a boil and add all spices and herbs. Cover and let boil for 30 minutes, then add the mango. Boil for 15 additional minutes, then let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Manioc aux Lentilles (Stewed Lentils with Manioc) 2 c. dried lentils 2 T vegetable oil 22

Mauritius and Réunion  •  23

1 t. black pepper 1 t. cumin 1 t. salt 6 c. water 1 lb. sweet cassava or white sweet potatoes, cubed 2 t. hot sauce Note: The most traditional version uses what is normally labeled manioc in Mauritius and Réunion, cassava in mainstream American supermarkets, and yuca or yucca in Mexican American and Asian American grocery stores. If this isn’t available (remember to check the freezer section), you can freely substitute white sweet potatoes with no other alterations to the recipe. Place the lentils in a fine sieve and rinse them under room temperature tap water for 1 minute. Combine all ingredients except the sweet potatoes and hot sauce in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil; while the water is heating, peel your sweet potatoes or cassava and chop into ¾" cubes, and then add to the pot. After reaching a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer and let cook for 45 minutes or until all ingredients are tender. Strain and serve on a plate, adding a dab of hot sauce on the top as a garnish.

Riz (Basmati Rice with Onions) 1 large white onion 3 c. white basmati rice 5½ c. water 1 t. salt Finely chop the onion. Place the rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under room temperature tap water for 1 minute. If you have a rice cooker, transfer all of the ingredients to the rice cooker, mix, and start the cooker; this should take 15–25 minutes, depending on your cooker. If you do not have a rice cooker, fill a large saucepan with 6 c. water (not 5½), add all ingredients, and bring the pot to a boil. Then turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. When the rice is ready, turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to a serving bowl and fluff with a fork.

Bier (Craft Beer) The traditional Mauritian brew is a Phoenix, named after the central town that hosts its primary brewery; on Réunion, the traditional beer is a Dodo. Outside of these islands, you can substitute a local craft lager; a high-ABV lager will come closest to approximating the taste and kick of these island brews.

Rhum (Vanilla Rum) Vanilla-flavored rums are the traditional hard liquors of Mauritius and Réunion, both of which are major sugar producers and minor vanilla producers. If you don’t have access to store-bought vanilla rum, take a 750-mL bottle of 80-proof rum, pour out and drink one shot, then add 1 t. of vanilla extract and a pinch of nutmeg to the bottle. Shake vigorously before serving. To make a more rustic rum with a raw vanilla flavor, take 1 dried vanilla bean and split it lengthwise with a knife to expose the seeds. Take a 750-mL bottle of 80-proof rum, pour out and drink one shot,

24 • Basil Considine

and then add the vanilla bean to the bottle. Let stand for one week, shaking once daily and shaking vigorously before serving.

Bananes au Lait de Coco (Coconut-Braised Bananas) 6 large bananas, peeled 1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk 1 t. vanilla extract ⅜ c. brown or turbinado sugar Slice the bananas lengthwise, then into 2" chunks. Grease and heat a skillet, then add the bananas, flipping regularly. Mix the coconut milk with the vanilla and ¼ c. of sugar, then add the mix to the skillet when the bananas start to brown. Stir for 3 minutes then turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve the banana-coconut mixture hot in individual bowls, sprinkling 1 t. of sugar on top of each.

Rum, Drumming, and Dancing The islands of Mauritius and Réunion are home to ethnically diverse populations united by common cuisines and a shared fondness for music and dancing. Both islands were settled by the French East India Company in the 18th century and were home to the infamous dodo bird, which proved to be too tasty for its own good. The French colonists imported slaves from Africa and Madagascar, who gathered in the countryside at night to share food, sing, and dance what became séga (Mauritius) and maloya (Réunion). The colonists traded extensively for India-flavored local cuisine with curries and hot chili peppers, both to the excitement and profuse sweating of Europeans at the dinner table. Although Great Britain conquered Mauritius from France in 1810, the islands have continued to be musically and culturally intertwined. A major change to the makeup of the islands occurred in the mid-19th century, when slavery was abolished in much of the British and French colonial empires. At the same time, both Mauritius and Réunion had evolved into some of the greatest sugar producers in the world, an industry with a constant and near-insatiable demand for labor. Streams of Indian indentured servants and Chinese migrant workers left their homes to try and make their fortunes on the islands, many of whom ultimately stayed to settle and build families. Although strong traces of French culture and cuisine remain on the islands today, a mix of Creole and Indian food dominates. Western and Indian music are both quite popular, and the popularity of the local séga and maloya music and dancing cuts across ethnic divisions in the same way that a Creole curry seizes the diner’s taste buds. This culinary and musical unity despite ethnic diversity traces back to the social routines of slaves on these islands in the 18th century. The high slave-to-free population ratio meant that slaves were often given considerable latitude to manage their own affairs, including managing other slaves. Within a few decades of the French colonization, new slaves were immediately assigned to a plantation or work detail to be welcomed by their fellow slaves, who would become companions and friends over the coming years. The coming of new arrivals was celebrated with a night of eating, singing, and dancing; even the most melancholy were soon swept away with singing and dancing competitions after a few distributions of rum. Later, slaves who had been on-island longer would introduce the new arrivals to a custom of sneaking off the plantation at night to gather with slaves from other plantations to sing, dance, and court the opposite sex. With slaves hailing from wherever the fortunes of war had plucked them from, many disparate musical practices mashed together, eventually coalescing into the antecedents of séga and maloya today.

Mauritius and Réunion  •  25

The same latitude (and sometimes laxity) that enabled slaves to sneak off the plantations at night also had a strong influence on the islands’ current cuisines. Most slaves were charged with growing their own food, but given only limited time to do so; crops that were both easy to grow and highly nutritious—such as manioc, pumpkins, and cabbages—were strongly encouraged. Rice was mostly imported and more expensive and, thus, treated as a luxury good by slaves; on holidays such as Easter and Christmas, some of the more benevolent plantation owners distributed sacks of rice and sugar as well as meat for roasting on the bonfire. This distribution was not entirely altruistic, however, but also voyeuristic: providing gifts of free food enticed the slaves to celebrate these holidays (some of the few times where they were given a free weekend and license to travel across the island) on the plantation itself, where the owners and their guests could watch the musical and dancing revels by daylight. This practice of eating meat primarily on select holidays has contributed to the ongoing vegetarian theme of many Mauritian dishes—although meat of some sort is often added for special occasions such as a birthday or wedding. In Réunion, a dish like the manioc aux lentilles is often identical to its Mauritian counterpart, except for the addition of hot dogs or other sausages to the pot. Mauritius, with its younger coral reefs and protective shoals, leans more toward fish; a tuna or parrot fish steak is a prized addition to a curry de chou. This vegetarian-by-default leaning was further reinforced by the arrival of Muslim and Hindu workers from India in the 19th century who eschewed pork, beef, or meat altogether. The global market for seafood has made ocean fare—once a relatively inexpensive component of even poor diets—something of a luxury for the inhabitants of these islands. Visitors to a Mauritian or Réunionnaise home who bring a present of fish will find their gift well-received and often slipped right into the dinner pot for immediate enjoyment. One of the surprising aspects of the music that typically accompanies these meals at festive occasions is that it has survived and even thrived despite determined efforts by local governments to stamp them out. In the 1910s, for example, several towns in Mauritius effectively banned the playing of séga—a deeply percussion-driven music—using noise ordinances that allowed playing Western instruments such as the violin and flute but strictly regulated drumming. Maloya was so strongly associated with protest songs in Réunion that a ban on the genre existed until 1970. During this period, many maloya bands openly performed their music under the alibi that they were playing séga, relying on the musical ignorance of police officials who couldn’t tell the difference between the beat patterns. Today, however, both music genres are proudly trumpeted by their local governments, prominently advertised by their tourism industries, and are points of local pride. Much of the current politically active music on both islands has moved to reggae, often with a few traditional instruments in tow.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Booming tourism industries on both islands have buoyed a diverse spread of interests in Mauritian and Réunionnaise music. Look for traditional séga CDs by Jean Alphonse Ravaton (Ti Frère) and Michel LeGris, for seggae (a hybrid between reggae and séga) by Kaya and Menwar, and contemporary recordings by groups and performers such as ABAIM, Cassiya, Grup Latanier, and Sandra Mayotte. For the séga of Réunion, look for CDs by Baster and Le Club Rhythmique, and for maloya, Nathalie Nathiembé, Christine Salem, and Daniel Waro. Hybrid bands that mix in a strong Indian influence and instrumentation include Ziskakan (Réunion) and the Bhojpuri Boys (Mauritius).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Barnwell, P.J. and Auguste Toussaint. 1949. A Short History of Mauritius. London: Longmans, Green. Lee, Jacques K. 1990. Sega: The Mauritian Folk Dance. London: Nautilus. Macmillan, Allister. 2000. Mauritius Illustrated: Historical and Descriptive, Commercial and Industrial Facts, Figures, and Resources. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.

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III Asia and the Pacific

HONG KONG (CANTONESE) Colin McGuire The Master heard the shao in Qi and for three months did not notice the taste of the meat he ate. He said, “I never dreamt the joys of music could reach such heights.” Confucius, The Analects 7.14 (trans. D.C. Lau)

Figure 6.1  Cantonese barbecued ribs, photo courtesy of Colin McGuire

Menu: Yàuh Choi (Vegetable with Oyster Sauce), Gà Sèuhng Dauh Fuh (Homestyle Tofu), Chà Sìu Pàaih Gwàt (BBQ Pork Ribs), Jíng Gài Dáan Yuhk Seui (Steamed Eggs with Ground Pork), Sih Jàp Chói Sìk Jìu Gài (Chicken and Peppers in Black Bean Sauce), Baahk Faahn (Steamed Rice), and Tòhng Séui (Sweet Soup). Serve with Chinese tea or Tsingtao beer. Preparation Time: 2–2½ hours. Cooking Process: Start by simmering the ribs and the dessert soup. Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients and sauces. Drain the ribs once they are tender, and start steaming the eggs and the rice. 28

Hong Kong (Cantonese)  •  29

Figure 6.2  Cantonese homestyle tofu, photo courtesy of Colin McGuire

Deep-fry the tofu and stir-fry the chicken, and then set them aside. To prepare for the final push, remove the eggs, rice, and dessert soup from the heat, and then preheat the oven broiler and bring a large pot of water to a boil. Finish the chicken and tofu dishes while broiling the ribs and blanching the veggies. Transfer all dishes to serving plates/bowls and place on the table (except for the sweet soup) for family style dining where people help themselves. Dish up the sweet soup for dessert after the meal. Serves six people.

The Recipes Yauh Choi (Vegetable with Oyster Sauce) 1 lb. Chinese gaai láahn or Western broccoli 1 T salt 1 T oil 2 T oyster sauce This is a classic Cantonese side dish. Wash and cut the vegetable into bite-size chunks. In a pot, boil enough water to cover the vegetable (without overflowing) and add the salt and oil. Add the vegetable to the pot and blanch it until the water just starts to boil again (½–1 minute). It should be cooked through but remain crunchy. Drain, plate, and serve with oyster sauce on the side for dipping.

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Ga Seuhng Dauh Fuh (Homestyle Tofu) 1 lb. tofu (aka soy bean curd) 3 c. cooking oil 1 T minced garlic 1 T minced ginger 1 large Chinese baahk choi (aka bok choy) or Western cabbage 1 green onion (aka scallion) pinch of dried chili flakes 3 T liquid cornstarch (1 T. cornstarch in 2 T. of cold water)1 Sauce: 2 T soy sauce 1 T rice cooking wine or sherry 1 t. sugar 1 c. chicken stock 1 t. sesame oil This was originally a Sichuan dish, but it has been modified to suit the Cantonese palate. Prefried tofu is available in some supermarkets, but this dish is better if you do it yourself. Use regular tofu, which is medium-firm in places that offer different grades. First rinse the tofu, and then carefully cut the cakes into bite-size pieces. To remove excess moisture, place the tofu on a plate covered in paper towels and put additional paper towels on top. Heat the cooking oil in a wok (or deep-frying pan) on maximum heat until just starting to smoke, and then deep-fry the tofu in batches. Remove the tofu from oil with a slotted spoon when golden brown and set on fresh paper towels to remove excess oil. The fryer oil can be reused, so allow it to cool and then remove all but 1 T to a glass jar. Combine the soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar, chicken stock, and sesame oil. Peel and mince the garlic and ginger. Wash and chop the vegetable. Wash and dice the green onion. Reheat the wok over maximum heat. Stir-fry the garlic, ginger, and chili flakes for about 30 seconds and then add the vegetable. Stir-fry for another few minutes until the veggie is tender. Add tofu and sauce, stirring until heated through. To thicken the sauce, add liquid cornstarch a little bit at a time while stirring until desired consistency is reached. Remove from heat, put on a serving dish, and garnish with green onions.

Cha Siu Paaih Gwat (BBQ Pork Ribs) 2 slabs of side/spare pork ribs (approximately 8 lb.) 2 c. tomato ketchup (aka catsup) 2 c. plus ¼ c. honey 2 c. soy sauce 3 cloves garlic 1 t. ńgh hèung fàn (Chinese five-spice powder) Traditional BBQ pork is boneless, but this version has ribs and is finger-licking good. One theory on the origin of the word ketchup is that it is derived from the Cantonese word for tomato sauce: kéjàp. Five-spice This amount of liquid cornstarch may be enough for both this dish and the chicken with peppers, depending on how thick you like your sauce.

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Hong Kong (Cantonese)  •  31

powder is available premixed, but you can make your own from a selection of black, white, or Sichuan pepper; cloves or allspice; star anise, anise seeds, or fennel seeds; cinnamon; and ginger. Cut ribs into even pieces with one or two bones. In a large pot, combine ketchup, honey, soy sauce, peeled garlic, and five-spice powder. Add ribs and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook until ribs are tender (approximately 1 hour), adding water if necessary to keep ribs submerged. Drain ribs, arrange on a baking tray, and brush with remaining honey. Finish by broiling on the top rack of an oven or on a flame grill. Broil/grill for 1–2 minutes per side. Remove to serving dish.

Jing Gai Daan Yuhk Seui (Steamed Eggs with Ground Pork) 4 eggs ½ t. salt ½ t. white pepper 1 t. soy sauce 1 green onion (aka scallion) ½ lb. ground pork A bamboo steamer basket placed in a wok is ideal for cooking this dish, but a round metal cooling rack inside a large pot also works. In a pinch, you can even use a small bowl in your wok or pot; the idea is just to stand the ingredients above boiling water so that they can steam. In a heat-proof bowl, beat eggs with seasonings. Wash and dice the green onion. Fold the green onion and pork into the egg mixture. Bring a small amount of water to a boil in a wok or pot, place the bowl with the egg and pork mixture on the steamer basket/rack/stand, cover the wok/pot with a lid, and steam for approximately 30–35 minutes. Check occasionally and add water if it is starting to evaporate. You can serve this in its cooking bowl, but warn diners to be careful because it will remain hot!

Sih Jap Choi Sik Jiu Gai (Chicken and Peppers in Black Bean Sauce) 1 lb. of boneless skinless chicken thigh 1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper 1 green bell pepper 2 cloves garlic 1–2 T cooking oil Marinade: 1 T soy sauce 1 T rice cooking wine or sherry Sauce: 2 T black bean sauce ¼ c. chicken stock 1 T soy sauce 3 T liquid cornstarch (1 T cornstarch in 2 T of cold water) As with many Cantonese dishes, the same sauces and cooking methods can be applied to many different combinations of ingredients. This recipe would be just as good with beef and broccoli or shrimp and celery. When it comes to chicken, Cantonese people tend to prefer dark meat because it is

32 • Colin McGuire

more flavorful and less prone to drying out, but feel free to use chicken breast if you prefer. Preserved black beans can be found at Chinese grocery stores, but this recipe calls for the premade paste that comes in a jar, which is diluted slightly by adding extra wet ingredients. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and mix with the marinade. Let stand for at least 10 minutes. Wash and cut the peppers into bite-size pieces. Combine ingredients for the sauce. Peel and slice the garlic. Heat 1 T oil in a wok or a deep frying pan on maximum heat until just starting to smoke. Discard excess marinade. Add chicken to wok/pan. Stir-fry by stirring and flipping vigorously with a long handle spoon or ladle until the chicken turns white (approximately 3 minutes). If your stove is not hot enough, the liquid will come out of the chicken and result in braising. In such situations, it is better to cook the chicken in smaller batches to maintain sufficient heat. When cooked, set aside. Reheat the wok/pan with the second tablespoon of oil. Add garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add peppers, stir-fry for 1 minute. Add sauce and cook for 1–2 minutes more until peppers are soft. Add chicken to reheat. Add a bit of liquid cornstarch to thicken the sauce, if necessary. Remove to a serving plate.

Baahk Faahn (Steamed Rice) 3 c. jasmine rice 6 c. water Rice cookers are convenient and, if you have one, follow the manufacturer’s instructions. I used the stovetop method for years until someone bought me a rice cooker. The basic proportion is 1:2 rice to water, so adjust according to your needs. Put dry rice in the pot and add cold water to wash, swirl, and then drain. Add fresh water, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, stir once to make sure it does not stick to the bottom, recover and cook for 20 minutes. No peeking or the steam will escape! Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes before fluffing with a fork. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Tohng Seui (Sweet Soup) 9 c. water 1 c. brown sugar 1 large sweet potato (aka yam) 1 knob of ginger There are several types of sweet soup (literally sweet “water”), but this one is easiest to get ingredients for and to make. Many larger Cantonese restaurants provide free sweet soup after a large evening meal. In a large pot, bring the water to a boil and melt the sugar in it. Meanwhile, peel the sweet potato and the ginger. Cut the sweet potato into bite-size cubs and slice the ginger into rounds. Add both to the pot, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the sweet potato is very soft, but not mushy (approximately 30–45 minutes).

Food of the Fragrant Harbor Hong Kong is a food-lover’s paradise. Located at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta in southeastern China, the name in Chinese means “Fragrant Harbor.” Today, that moniker could be a reference to the many delicious odors emanating from the city’s plethora of restaurants. Hong Kong is one of the

Hong Kong (Cantonese)  •  33

most densely populated places on earth. With over seven million people sharing a mountainous area of just over a thousand square kilometers, or a little more than 400 square miles, living space is at a premium. People thus rarely cook at home, and the restaurant industry is highly developed. Prior to 1997, the city was under British rule for 155  years, which had a formative influence on it. Nonetheless, Hong Kong is a Chinese city and is now a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. The vast majority of the population are Cantonese-speaking, and the neighboring Guangdong province has had the biggest impact on the culture, but people from all over China have emigrated to Hong Kong. As a relatively free port that serves as a hub for travel and business, expatriates from all over the world live there. The result is that almost every style of food imaginable—ethnic, regional, or national—can be found in Hong Kong. This cosmopolitanism has also given rise to a host of dishes from other places being filtered through the Cantonese culinary aesthetic and ending up on the menu of local restaurants. Morning, noon, and night, Cantonese food is served with tea. A Hong Kong specialty is a fusion of tea-drinking practices called náaih chàh (milk tea). Regular Chinese tea is typically taken without dairy or sugar and is thus brewed less strongly than in the West or India; otherwise, it would be bitter. Hong Kong–style milk tea is a potent brew that features a blend of strong black tea and condensed or evaporated—rather than fresh—milk. It is drunk either hot or cold. Many Cantonese-style restaurants offer free Chinese tea to customers, and the better places will have a small assortment to choose from. The typical range includes black tea (bóléi, aka pu’erh from the Mandarin), semioxidized oolongs (tit gùn yàm, iron goddess of mercy), green tea (lùhng jíng, dragon well), white tea (sauh méih, longevity eyebrows), and flower-enhanced teas (hèung pín, jasmine). When a pot of tea is finished, just turn the lid upside down and/or move it aside so that it half covers the opening and a server will know to refill it. Hong Kong cuisine is closely related to that of Guangzhou (aka Canton), which is the capital of Guangdong province. In general, Cantonese food is based on emphasizing the flavor of fresh ingredients, rather than focusing on sauces and seasonings. This works well in a coastal city that boasts abundant seafood and a steady stream of foodstuffs arriving daily. Fresh off the boat is not fresh enough, however, and many restaurants have tanks for the fish, crustaceans, shellfish, and mollusks that grace their menus. I have also eaten at places that keep their own chickens too. The Cantonese expression, “Everything with its back to Heaven is edible” (Bui jek heung tīn, yàhn gài hó sihk) means that not only is the food fresh, but it is also diverse. Between living in Hong Kong, visiting Guangzhou, and spending time with Chinese friends in my Cantonese-dominated local Chinatown in Toronto, I have had the pleasure of eating not only relatively common meats like fish, chicken, beef, pork, crab, lobster, shrimp, prawn, mussel, clam, scallop, and squid, but also more rare delicacies like sea cucumber, offal, pig ears, frog, cuttlefish, eel, snail, abalone, snake, and shark’s fin. Tropical fruits are available year round in Hong Kong, as are plenty of fresh vegetables. A valued trait of social situations in Chinese culture is that they should be yiht naauh, which literally means “hot and noisy.” It suggests a lively atmosphere bustling with people. Given the population density in Hong Kong and the popularity of dining in restaurants, a hot and noisy place with good food is never far away. Music can play an important role in creating such an atmosphere. Recorded music is commonly played in the background of restaurants in Hong Kong (as it is in many places around the world), but there is a more striking example of a hot and noisy performance that is found at special occasions. I am referring to the Cantonese lion dance, which I have considerable experience performing in both Hong Kong and Toronto. It is a hot and noisy performance par excellence. The lion dance combines entertainment with a ritual blessing and exorcism, and it is considered especially auspicious for new beginnings and yearly cycles. The most common event for lion dancing is Chinese New Year, but it is also popular for weddings, store openings, and annual banquets.

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The costume itself does not look like a natural feline. It uses a large horned mask with a mirrored forehead, blinking eyes, a chomping mouth, sequins, and fur, which goes over the entire upper body of the person manipulating it. A fur-trimmed, cloth cape in the same color scheme as the head extends from the mask to drape over the bent back of the person playing the role of tail. Chinese martial arts clubs are often the ones who perform the lion dance, and so the striking look of the costume and the vigorous movement of the performers combine for a very lively effect. The instrumental ensemble that accompanies the lion dance gives an intense sonic impact to the performance. It consists of one or more pairs of handheld cymbals, a hanging gong struck with a knobbed stick, and a large, single-sided barrel drum played with a pair of short wooden sticks. In a common aesthetic dichotomy of Chinese music, this type of percussion is considered martial, rather than literary, and it is very loud. In ancient times, armies used these instruments to send signals to troops on the battlefield, so the sound of the instruments is designed to cut across other noise. The lion dance—with its percussion music—is wonderfully hot and noisy. It is usually performed at the start of events, but not until a critical mass of attendees has arrived. The effect is electrifying and takes the energy of the crowd up to another level. As much as the lion dance has a supernatural function of dispersing negative energy and spreading good fortune, it is also a social ritual. The performance catalyzes a hot and noisy atmosphere that ensures a positive feeling among the members of the crowd, which is sure to make the evening more enjoyable and makes the food taste better too.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING/LISTENING: Once Upon a Time in China. 1991. Directed by Hark Tsui. Hong Kong: Golden Harvest Company and Film Workshop. Once Upon a Time in China II. 1992. Directed by Hark Tsui. Hong Kong: Golden Harvest Company, Film Workshop, and Paragon Films. Once Upon a Time in China III. 1993. Directed by Hark Tsui. Hong Kong: Golden Harvest Company and Film Workshop.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Hu, William C. 1995. Chinese Lion Dance Explained. San Francisco, CA: Ars Ceramica. Slovenz, Madeline Anita. 1987. “ ‘The Year is a Wild Animal’: Lion Dancing in Chinatown.” The Drama Review 31(3): 74–102. Young, Will Robin. 2006. “Southern Chinese Lion Dancing in Canada: James Lore’s Martial Art Influence.” Journal of the Asian Martial Arts 15(2): 70–79.

GUJARAT, INDIA Niyati Dhokai A blessed life is to eat in Surat and to die in Varanasi.

Figure 7.1  Gujarati sabudana khichadi, photo courtesy of Niyati Dhokai

Menu: Sabudana Khichadi (Tapioca, Potato, and Peanut Dish) and Sabudana Kheer (Tapioca Pudding). Preparation Time: Sabudana Khichadi—approximately 10 minutes of preparation the night before and approximately 45 minutes of preparation and cooking time. Sabudana Kheer—approximately 45 minutes of cooking time and best if chilled for several hours prior to serving.

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36 • Niyati Dhokai

Figure 7.2  Gujarati sabudana kheer, photo courtesy of Niyati Dhokai

The Recipes Sabudana Khichadi (Tapioca, Potato, and Peanut Dish) 2 c. tapioca pearls 6 T olive oil 2 t. cumin seeds 4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cubed 3 t. salt 2 c. coarsely crushed roasted peanuts 20–30 curry leaves cut into thin strips 4 medium-sized green chilies, finely chopped 6 t. lemon juice 4 T golden raisins 1 bunch cilantro, if desired Overnight Preparation: Rinse the tapioca pearls in a strainer until water runs clearly through. Transfer washed tapioca pearls to a small bowl and soak in water for 10 minutes. (Note: Soak the tapioca pearls in just enough water to cover them, otherwise they may split.) Drain any extra water, cover the tapioca pearls, and store the tapioca overnight in the refrigerator. Heat 6 T oil with 2 t. cumin in a nonstick pan. When the cumin begins to crackle, add potatoes. Carefully sprinkle 2 T water and 1 t. salt over the potatoes. Cover the potatoes and let them cook over medium heat. Keep stirring the potatoes as they cook to prevent burning. Add another 1–2 T water

Gujarat, India • 37

to the potatoes if needed to keep the potatoes moist, and cook the potatoes until they become soft (but not watery), approximately 20–25 minutes. Mix tapioca, peanuts, curry leaves, chili peppers, 2 t. salt, lemon juice, and golden raisins in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the tapioca mixture, cover the pan, and cook over medium heat until most of the tapioca pearls become translucent, approximately 10–12 minutes. (Note: Add an additional tablespoon of water to pan if needed to keep the tapioca seeds from drying out.) Serve your sabudana khichadi garnished with chopped cilantro, if desired.

Sabudana Kheer (Tapioca Pudding) 6 T tapioca pearls ¾ c. water 3 c. milk (note: almond milk can also be used) 9 chopped almonds 9 chopped pistachios, if desired 10 strands saffron ¾ t. ground cardamom 3 T sugar Rinse tapioca in cold water several times and soak the tapioca in just enough cold water to cover all of the tapioca for approximately 10 minutes. Combine tapioca and water in a saucepan over medium heat for 3–5 minutes, gently stirring the tapioca to keep it from sticking. Throughout the remainder of preparation, keep stirring the tapioca constantly (to keep the tapioca from sticking at the bottom of the pan) but gently (to keep the tapioca from breaking). When the tapioca pearls become translucent, add 3 c. of milk. When the milk begins to steam, add almonds, saffron, and cardamom. When the milk comes to a boil (the tapioca will have begun to rise to the top of the milk and you’ll see the milk bubbling slightly), add sugar. Continue stirring over medium heat for approximately another 10 minutes and/or when the milk comes to a boil again. Remove the kheer from the stove, allow it to cool, and then place in the fridge for approximately 6 hours, until the kheer becomes a thicker texture. Serve in small bowls, sprinkle with finely chopped almonds and pistachios if desired.

Navratri in Gujarat, India: Religious Observation and Cultural Festival These recipes are commonly prepared in Gujarat, India and are primarily known as fasting foods. While recipes vary slightly from household to household, and by region, the recipes that I am including in this chapter are contributed as an ethnographer and an informant. They come from the kitchen of my Surati mother, Divya Dhokai. While different Hindu religious fasts have their own unique fasting requirements, these recipes would be eaten for fasts during the nine days of Navratri, as well as fasts that are based on the lunar calendar (which usually occur twice a month) and Shivratri. There are four occurrences of Navratri during a calendar year; however, in Gujarat, only two are widely observed—Chaitra Navratri (usually around March and/or April) and Asho Navratri (usually in September, October, or November). Navratri translates to nava (nine) and ratri (nights). Each of the nine manifestations of Shakti (absolute energy), which are conceptualized as the Goddess Durga, are celebrated during the nine nights. Fasting is commonly observed for the nine days and nights of Navratri, and they coincide with the harvest season. Rituals and customs vary by geographical region, castes, and familial traditions. For example, in Gujarat it is widely believed that if a married woman’s in-laws do not observe Asho Navratri each year by fasting, then she should not fast for Asho Navratri during consecutive years;

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otherwise, her fasts will bring bad luck to her family. In some families, a woman and her mother-inlaw may not fast together for Asho Navratri. Men observe Asho Navratri through fasts in some families; however, in most families it believed that a husband and a wife cannot both fast together during Asho Navratri for all nine days. In modern times, some families choose to end their traditional Navratri obligations for their descendants through a puja (ritual prayer) that is performed by the family priest. After that point, descendants of a family are no longer obligated to follow Navratri rituals and customs for their family; although, some may choose to observe rituals intermittently for the sake of nostalgia and tradition. Fasting individuals abstain from grains, including rice, corn, wheat, millet, and quinoa. Also, turmeric, red chili powder, dhanna-giru (dried cilantro seeds and cumin), garlic, and onions are not used to prepare any fasting foods. Daal or beans are not eaten either. Most people who observe the fast eat milk, yogurt, fruit, nuts, potatoes, tapioca, and fasting grains, such as amaranth and water chestnut flour. Usually, one meal is eaten each day that consists of fasting food, and this meal is typically eaten in the late morning or early afternoon after an individual puja has been completed. Puja is a significant part of Navratri, when a garbo (clay pot) becomes the central part of worship in the home. The woman of the house tends to the worship of the garbo, which signifies the womb of the family, by lighting a flame that signifies the soul of the family. During the nine nights of Navratri, songs of worship and devotion called garba are sung around the garbo. Specific familial traditions are passed from the woman of the house to her son’s wife, who then carries on the family traditions and ritual obligations. Within communities, people come together to dance garba and those who are not fasting often have nightly feasts. Although garba are folk dances that vary in the different geographical regions of Gujarat, they have changed over time to include components of Hindustani classical music, popular music, and Bollywood influences. In addition, the lyrics of garba have also changed over time to reflect pan-religious, political, and social sentiments. Community garba have increased in size and scale to become commercial ventures within Gujarat and in the diaspora, and musicians often tour extensively during Navratri. In addition, the garba themselves have become classicized dance forms within Gujarat. School-aged men and women come together to dance traditional and modern garba in regional and statewide competitions, where musical composition, costumes, and choreography are adjudicated. Garba are very popular throughout Gujarat and well known in India, as well as within the Gujarati diaspora, particularly in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. They are the most familiar aspect of Navratri, which has become a cultural festival within Gujarat, and promoted by the Gujarati government for tourism, as well as within the diaspora as an important social, cultural, and religious holiday.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Search for “Navratri” or “garba” on Google or YouTube and you will find many musical examples of Gujarati garba of varying regional styles, as well as many with Hindustani classical music, Bollywood, and popular music influences. Listen to whichever ones interest you and your dinner guests—whether it is music, food, or dance—the most important part of the experience is to share it with others.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION One of the best ways to experience Navratri is by attending a local, diasporic Navratri celebration. In 2014, Huffington Post published an enthusiastic article titled, “5 Reasons Why You Should Go to a Garba Raas Dance during the Hindu Holiday of Navratri.” The Government of Gujarat and Gujarat Tourism have created web pages about Navratri—particularly to encourage tourism to Gujarat, and the BBC has an archived page titled “Hinduism: Navaratri (Navratri),” which also provides information about Navratri.

NORTHEAST THAILAND Supeena Insee Adler The charm is in the cooking. Menu: Laap (Spicy Ground Meat Salad), Kaeng Het Pau (Puffball Mushroom Soup), Kai Tom (Parboiled Eggs), Khao Haum Mali (Jasmine Rice), or Khao Nieo Nueng (Steamed Glutinous Sticky Rice). Preparation Time: 30–60 minutes. Cooking Process: Start cooking jasmine rice in a rice cooker first and leave it. Boil eggs. Then prepare the mushrooms and vegetable so that when the soup is done, the rice is ready.

The Recipes Khao Haum Mali (Jasmine Rice) 3 c. jasmine rice 5–6 c. water 1–2 pandan leaf Mix all together in a rice pot. Do not tear the pandan leaf. Then put in rice cooker for 20–25 minutes. To cook in a pot, combine all the ingredients in a medium pot with a well-fitting lid and turn heat to high. At the moment when steam begins to force its way out of the lid, turn the heat down as low as possible and simmer for 15 minutes without lifting the lid. Then remove from heat and let sit for an additional 5 minutes before opening.

Khao Nieo Nueng (Steamed Glutinous Sticky Rice) 3 c. khao nieo (glutinous sticky rice) Water for steaming Soak the uncooked sticky rice overnight in room temperature water, making sure the water completely covers the rice. The next day, rinse the rice and place it onto a white cotton cloth and make a bundle. Place the bundle into a steamer and steam for 30 minutes, making sure the rice bundle does not touch the water. Flip the rice over inside the bundle and continue steaming for another 30 minutes. In Isaan, we cook sticky rice in a deep bamboo basket (huat) that fits into a narrow steaming pot (mau nueng). We eat sticky rice with our fingers, but jasmine rice with a spoon, so I prefer serving jasmine rice with soup.

Kai Tom (Parboiled Eggs) 4 c. water 1 t. salt 6 eggs 39

40 • Supeena Insee Adler

Boil water in a pot. Add salt. Add eggs. Boil for about 8–10 minutes. Remove the eggs and drop into cold water. Wait until they are cool, and then peel before serving.

Laap (Spicy Ground Meat Salad) 1 c. water or chicken stock a pinch of salt 1 T palm sugar ½ lb. ground chicken ½ lb. ground pork 1 T fish sauce 2 T dried roasted rice2 1–2 T dried chili flakes 3–4 T lime juice ½ c. red onion or shallot 3–4 whole culantro leaves, minced (not cilantro) 1–2 spring onions, minced 1–2 cilantro sprigs, minced ½ c. mint leaves; set aside a few leaves for garnish and mince the rest fried onion dried red chilies, lightly roasted in a frying pan fresh cucumber, sliced, or other fresh vegetables Place a medium pot over high heat and bring water or chicken stock to a boil. Add salt, palm sugar, ground chicken, and ground pork. Stir until cooked, breaking up all clumps of meat. Add fish sauce and turn off the heat. Most of the water should be absorbed, but if there is excess water, remove it. Add dried roasted rice and chili flakes. Taste it and add lime juice to blend and balance the flavors. Then add all the vegetables and herbs. Mix well. Sprinkle fried onions and fried whole chilies on top and garnish with whole mint leaves. Serve warm or cold with sliced cucumber or other fresh vegetables.

Kaeng Het Pau (Puffball Mushroom Soup) 1 can of puffball mushrooms (in brine) 3 c. several other kinds of fresh mushrooms 1 bunch fresh phak khanyaeng (rice paddy vegetable, Limnophila aromatica, sold in Vietnamese markets as ngo om and sometimes mislabeled “cumin”), with roots removed 1 T coconut oil 1 t. salt 1 T red or panaeng (Panang) curry (I prefer panaeng). If you prefer spicier, add more. 1 can yanang leaf extract 1 cube chicken or vegetable stock 1–2 t. palm sugar 2–3 fresh whole red Thai chilies 2 T tamarind juice Dried roasted rice is sold in Asian markets in powdered form. It can also be made from scratch by dry roasting uncooked sticky rice in a frying pan over low heat until it is lightly browned. Let it cool, and then crush to a powder in a mortar and pestle.

2 

Northeast Thailand  •  41

2 T fish sauce 4 T coconut milk (optional) Wash all the mushrooms and the vegetables; set aside. In a medium pot add coconut oil, salt, and panang curry; simmer over low heat for 2 minutes. Add the yanang leaf extract, turn up the heat to high, and bring to a boil without stirring. Add puffball mushrooms, chicken stock, palm sugar, and red chilies. Boil for 10 more minutes. Add the remaining mushrooms, rice paddy vegetable, tamarind juice, and fish sauce. Bring to a boil and then stir. Taste and check the flavor and adjust with salt or fish sauce, curry paste, or tamarind juice. Turn down heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve the mushroom soup in four individual bowls, removing and discarding the rice paddy vegetable. Carefully pour one tablespoon of coconut milk over each bowl of soup. Serve along with jasmine rice or sticky rice and boiled eggs.

Sounds from Home Most Lao speakers in Thailand live in the provinces of the northeast, also known collectively as Isaan. People there are still strongly connected to agriculture and to making and using handicrafts in everyday life. Rice fields cover most of the land and can be seen everywhere along the roads when traveling outside of towns. People in this region speak a rich array of languages, including Thai, regional Lao dialects, and a variety of languages of smaller ethnic groups, and often this variety can be heard in just one small area. People here believe in sky spirits and ancestral spirits and practice Buddhism. They conduct annual rituals for offering food to spirits of the land, mountains, water, and forest. I returned home to this region to study some of these rituals for my master’s thesis at the University of California Riverside. I was born in Sisaket province, on the southern border of Isaan with Cambodia, and at home my family speaks Lao. I was the youngest in the house, and so only allowed to wash vegetables and prepare ingredients for my parents to cook. Cooking was a big responsibility in my house, where my father was in charge of our kitchen. He was a butcher who worked at night and came home from the market each morning. I remember that when I was young he would have a meal cooked and ready in his motorcycle basket, some for my mother to take to the school where she taught, and some for my lunch box. He sent my mother to school before 7 a.m. and then came home to take a nap. He normally began cooking in the afternoon and worked until dinnertime when everyone in our family and our neighbors would come to our house to eat together. My grandparents had nine children, all of whom have their own families. All nine families live on the same block of land that my grandparents used to own. My mother was the middle child, and so our house is in the middle among the nine houses and has become the central gathering place for the entire extended family each mealtime. On weekday mornings, my mother would get up early. The first thing she did was to turn on the radio and tune to the local station where they speak our local language, rather than central Thai. Then she sifted rice in a round woven bamboo platter with a regular rhythmic pattern—tat-tada-tungtung. I used to lie in my bed and listen to the radio and the rice-sifting sound. Chickens would come near to gather any broken rice that fell to the ground. It took about ten or fifteen minutes to finish the sifting, and then she would cook the rice inside the house. Each morning, the other houses nearby also sifted their rice, but each had its own unique rhythm and feel. I could discern who was awake that morning. Sometimes my aunts came to our house to sift rice with my mother and chat. We obtained rice directly from farmers by investing in the farms, paying for fertilizer, and loaning them some money. In return, they brought us ten to twenty bags of rice each year. That rice would last for the whole year. Once a month, we would go out to keep an eye on the rice paddies, and we would often come back with mounds of herbs and vegetables that grew in the rice paddies, especially after a good rain. I can still remember catching fish and crabs in the ponds and breathing the smell of the rice paddies, the open air, with chickens, ducks, cows, and water buffaloes.

42 • Supeena Insee Adler

The local radio station played Isaan music from 6 to 8 a.m. before broadcasting the Thai national anthem. By that time, my mother had cooked the rice and left for school, and my father was on the way back home. My mornings during the school year were like this for many years. The weekends, however, were quite different. Any relatives who did not have to work would come to our house for meals. We prepared, cooked, played, and talked all day long. They brought their food to share. Weekends were so much fun for me because I would go to the outdoor market with my mother and my siblings, and sometimes I even went alone. The market was only a few minutes away from our home. Our family often cooked food for the Buddhist monks who would walk along the street to receive alms early each morning. Before 6 a.m., as we were offering food to monks, we could see farmers along the street dragging their wagons full of fresh vegetables past our home to sell at the market, and sometimes they would stop and sell to us directly. I remember the darkness of the outdoor market where I only needed to smell the herbs before buying them. The sellers at the market were mostly female, and many of them would have the local radio station on softly in the background to accompany them before dawn broke. I carried many plastic bags full of fresh herbs and vegetables. Negotiation with the sellers was the most enjoyable part of being at the fresh market because we all knew how much we could pay so the sellers would still make a profit. There were so many selling the same things that, if the price wasn’t right, I could easily walk away from one and buy from another. Many were even willing to split the amount of herbs to sell, so I would not need to buy more than I needed. But not all our food came from the market. My mother and I would walk along the dirt alleys where our relatives grew vegetables, herbs, fruits, bamboo, and many kinds of trees. One grew mulberry to feed their silkworms. While walking with my mother, she stopped and sat down near some green grass and brown leaves. She used her finger and a small knife to poke into the dirt and found some small white and brown round balls that looked like cotton. She showed them to me and said, “Here are puffball mushrooms! But be very careful not to pick the wrong one, because they are toxic!” After several hours of gathering these mushrooms, we had enough to make soup for dinner. Before going home, we walked to another relative’s house to ask for herbs for the soup. They said to go pick them ourselves, as usual. We all exchanged food very often or sometimes bought from each other inexpensively. We would invite them to come for dinner. Even people who just drove by our house during dinnertime would be invited to join us for the meal. After cooking, I would carry a small bowl of mushroom soup back to my aunt who gave us the herbs if she had not come to our house. When I was young, I could only help to prepare the food, but not actually do the cooking. For the puffball mushroom soup, I made the curry paste (a mix of red chilies, garlic, shallots, and shrimp paste pounded together in a mortar and pestle), and I cleaned and washed all the mushrooms and herbs. But it was my father’s job to put all of these into a pot and add the other ingredients. Once I left home for college, I did not cook much because it was so easy to find delicious prepared foods in Thailand at any time of day. But when I moved to the United States, I started to cook on my own. Using a cookbook was a strange thing for me. At home, no one in my family or anyone else who cooked that I know of had any cookbooks. I cooked from memory, using as many of the right ingredients as I could find and trying substitutions for those I could not. Puffball mushroom soup is one of the dishes that I cook when I miss home. It brings back the sights, sounds, and smells of home, and the memories of food bringing us together. The colors of this dish are earthy: brown, green, red, and white. They are the colors of a simple life, the colors of the environment of my childhood. When my mother came to visit me in the United States, she also cooked this dish to offer to the monks, to people at the temple, and for me. When I cook this dish in the United States, I think about two songs in particular: “Isaan Baan Hao” (Our Home, Northeast Thailand) and “Khaung Saep Isaan” (Delicious Things from Northeast Thailand). The khaen (bamboo mouth organ) is prominently displayed in the music videos for these songs as a symbol of the Lao culture in Thailand. The singers sing a local dialect in the rapid and rhythmic maulam style.

Northeast Thailand  •  43

The stories they tell are about a simple life in the northeast, with plays on words and jokes featuring prominently. People in Isaan gather together as communities for special events such as Buddhist holidays, ordinations, weddings, blessing a new house, spirit rituals, birthdays, or New Year’s parties. In the morning they invite monks to the home to receive offerings. There is a never-ending variety of delicious foods. The main ingredients are local herbs and some meats and freshwater fish. There is fish with chili paste, laap (meat salad with lime juice, dried chili flakes, roasted rice power, fresh mint, spring onion, cilantro, and culantro), and, of course, the locally preferred sticky rice. The hosts provide performances for their events at their own home to entertain the attendants, such as traditional maulam and pop lukthung, or sometimes lae or theatrical performances for religious events. It is costly and many people help to pay for the performances. They eat, drink, dance, and sing all night.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING “Isan Baan Hao” (“Our Home, Northeast Thailand”). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f19w7BARUo “Khaung Saep Isaan” (“Delicious Things from Northeast Thailand”). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvLi AdJG9BM “Lam Rueang Winyaan Phau Mae” (“The Souls of Father and Mother”). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 6Ddqc8jD-0E “Mon Phleeng Saung Fang Khaung” (“The Mekong River Spell”). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSo FBFiKRS4 “Suraa Lam Phloen” (“Drinking Song”). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K0ydZqjzwE

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Jaiser, Gerhard. 2012. Thai Popular Culture Volume I: Thai Popular Music. Bangkok: White Lotus. Jirattikorn, Amporn. 2006. “Lukthung: Authenticity and Modernity in Thai Country Music.” Asian Music, Vol. 37/1: 24–50. Miller, Terry E. 1985. Traditional Music of the Lao: Kaen Playing and Mawlum Singing in Northeast Thailand. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Nanongkham, Priwan. 2011. “Modern Isan Music as Image: A  Positive Identity for the People of Northeast Thailand.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Kent State University. Siriyuvasak, Ubonrat. 1990. “Commercialising the Sound of the People: Pleng Luktoong and the Thai pop music industry.” Popular Music, Vol. 9: 61–77.

VIETNAM Lonán Ó Briain Chewing carefully makes one feel full longer; ploughing deep is good for the rice. ? Menu: Bún Cha’ (Grilled Pork and Noodles), Nem Cua Bê (Crab Spring Rolls), Nu,Ó,c Châ´m (Dipping Sauce), and fresh fruit. Serve with Vietnamese beer, rice wine, or green tea. Preparation Time: 3 hours Cooking Process: The basic mixtures for the spring rolls, the grilled pork, and the dipping sauce can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator overnight. The technique for rolling the spring rolls can take time to perfect, so buy a backup supply of rice paper if possible when first attempting this dish. Vermicelli can be substituted for the fresh rice noodles (bún or bánh pho?,) in the spring rolls only. Less common ingredients such as rice paper, fresh rice noodles, and fish sauce should be available at any good Asian food store.

The Recipes Bún Cha? (Grilled Pork and Noodles) 1 lb. ground pork 1 large shallot, minced 3 T fish sauce 2 T sugar 2 T water 1 head lettuce 1 c. mint 1 c. cilantro 1 lb. fresh rice vermicelli noodles Combine the ground pork, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, and water in a large mixing bowl. Shape into meatballs of approximately 1½" in diameter. Grill the meatballs on a barbeque, preferably using coals. Serve in bowls filled with nu,Ó,c châ´m and slices of papaya and carrot (see below). In a separate bowl, combine the lettuce, mint, cilantro, and any other fresh herbs at your disposal. Serve with vermicelli on the side. ?

Nem Cua Bê (Crab Spring Rolls) ½ lb. ground pork ¼ lb. crabmeat 1 c. wood ear mushroom, diced ¼ c. bean sprouts 1 carrot, grated ¼ lb. fresh rice noodles, chopped ½ jicama or kohlrabi, grated 44

Vietnam • 45

1 egg 20 sheets rice paper Combine the pork, crabmeat, mushrooms, bean sprouts, carrot, noodles, jicama or kohlrabi (­ optional), and egg in a large mixing bowl. Dip the rice paper sheets into water for a second or two and lay on a flat surface. Place a large spoonful of the mixture on the lower third of the rice paper and roll into shape. Shallow fry the rolls for 7–10 minutes on a medium-high heat. Serve with nu,Ó,c châ´m (dipping sauce).

Nu,Ó,c Châ´m (Dipping Sauce) 3 T sugar 2 c. water 1 c. fish sauce 1 red chili, minced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 lime, sliced 1 carrot ½ green papaya Stir sugar, water, and fish sauce in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Separate half of the solution into ? small dipping bowls for the nem cua bê and serve with chili, garlic, and lime to taste. Slice the carrot and green papaya into thin slices and place in soup bowls. Fill the bowls with the remaining sauce, add the grilled pork, and serve with vermicelli noodles and greens.

Fresh Fruit Pineapple, mangosteen, lychee, mango, or dragon fruit would normally be served after the meal.

Street Food, Sound, and Space in Vietnam The bustling streets of Hanoi are lined with food stalls serving a range of delicacies from the northern provinces of Vietnam. Stalls on any one street can be entirely devoted to dishes such as beef or chicken noodle soup (pho?,), pungently scented dried squid with chili dip, a range of savory porridges, or stir-fried tofu and lemongrass. Most stalls open for a narrow window of time and serve just one or two dishes. Homes are temporarily converted into restaurants for city workers and travelers, and the sidewalks are covered with the overflow of customers. Although families prefer to eat at home when possible, when taking a break during the day in this increasingly animated city, often the most convenient option is to grab a bite to eat on the street (thu´ ,c ăn đu,Ò᾽ng phô´). Bún cha? has been a staple Hanoian dish for lunch since French colonial times. As midday approaches, the streets are filled with the aroma of the bún cha? barbeque. Electric fans that are ostensibly used to maintain the coals for cooking also disperse the attractive smells and provide an olfactory cue to the city’s workers that lunch is approaching. When sitting down to eat, one is surrounded by the clamor of conversations, the horns of passing motorbikes, and the latest government updates broadcast across megaphones (loa phu,Ò᾽ng) that litter the city. Within two or three hours, when all their stock has been sold, the stalls are closed and the spaces are returned to their original residential function. The smells, spaces, and sounds associated with this dish serve a fundamental role in the rhythm of the city. ? Spring rolls are commonly served as a side dish in northern Vietnamese cuisine. Nem cua bê ? (deep-fried crab spring rolls) are typically paired with bún cha. Other rolls include vegetarian fried

46  •  Lonán Ó Briain

rolls (mostly bean sprouts, vermicelli, and egg) or fresh rolls with shrimp, mint, and vermicelli. Spring rolls are often made in large batches due to the lengthy preparation time. Leftover fried rolls can be cooked, frozen, and saved for later in the week. Often prepared and precooked prior to opening a ? stall, nem cua bê are reheated in oil and served alongside bún cha? in Hanoi. Cultural identity is clearly marked by music and cuisine in Vietnam. Northern, central, and southern styles of cooking and musicking are notable in the urban centers of the country. Distinctions between locations are evident in the finer details, such as approaches to making broth for soups or the ornamentation styles in musical performance. In my research with the Hmong minority group in the northern mountains, these differences were even more evident. Hmong friends consciously avoided cooking foods associated with the Viet/Kinh majority. When out for the day, we also tended to eat at food stalls that served less distinct dishes like boiled chicken with rice, rather than eat at the centrally located pho?, stalls. Hmong dishes, such as omelet with spring onions served with ground ginger and chili, are preferred at home, sometimes accompanied by musical recordings in the Hmong language or an impromptu solo Hmong song. The pervasiveness of Viet/Kinh culture in the public sphere is balanced with Hmong music and cuisine in the family home. In this way, eating and musicking in groups serves to nurture social ties in the community.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Huong Thanh and Nguyên Lê. Fragile Beauty. ACT. 2008. Pham Duc Thanh. Vietnamese Traditional Dan Bau Music. Oliver Sudden Productions. 2002. Tiê´ng Hát Quê Hu,o᾽ng Ensemble. From Saigon to Hanoi: Traditional Songs and Music of Vietnam. Milan. 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Meeker, Lauren. 2013. Sounding Out Heritage: Cultural Politics and the Social Practice of Quan HO. Folk Song in Northern Vietnam. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Norton, Barley. 2009. Songs for the Spirits: Music and Mediums in Modern Vietnam. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Olsen, Dale A.  2008. Popular Music of Vietnam: The Politics of Remembering, the Economics of Forgetting. London: Routledge.

MINANGKABAU/WEST SUMATRA, INDONESIA Jennifer Fraser Nasinyo alah dimakan, aianyo alah diminum (Literally means: The rice is already eaten, the water is already drunk. Metaphorically means: There is a debt of honor toward those who provided the food.) Menu: Rendang (Spicy Dry Beef Curry), Tempeh Sambalado Manih (Tempeh with a Sweet Chili Sauce), Anyang (Vegetable Dish with Spicy Coconut Sauce), Nasi Putih (White Rice), and Krupuk Melinjo (Areca Nut Crackers). Preparation Time: One day, though all dishes but rendang can be prepared in 2 hours. Cooking Process: Start the rendang 6 hours before the meal. Cook for 3 hours at a low boil, stirring frequently. Continue to cook for another 2 hours or so. Two hours before serving time, start the preparations for the remainder of the meal. Fry the krupuk and set aside. Use the same oil to fry the tempeh and cassava, then mix with sauce and set aside. Start the rice 40 minutes before eating. Blanch the vegetables and prepare the sauce for the anyang. The spice level has been adjusted to fit a moderate tolerance. Minangkabau food is generally very spicy, so feel free to adjust up.

The Recipes Rendang (Spicy Dry Beef Curry) 1 head of garlic (⅓ c. minced) 4 large shallots (1 c. minced) 2" fresh ginger root 2" galangal 1" fresh turmeric root (optional: some villages include it, some do not) 8 red bird’s eye chilies (or more for super spicy) 2 candlenuts (optional: will thicken the sauce if included) 2 T cooking oil 1 stalk lemongrass 2 lbs. stew beef (or a tough cut) in 1–2" pieces 4 14 oz. cans of full fat coconut milk 3 salam leaves 1 t. salt ½ lb. baby potatoes This dish takes a long time to cook, but it is well worth the effort. Legend has is that it keeps for one month unrefrigerated, but I recommend freezing what you don’t use. Start the dish at least 6 hours before you want to serve it. Grind the garlic, shallots, ginger, galangal, turmeric, chilies, and candlenuts in a food processor. Fresh or frozen galangal, turmeric, and chilies can be found in Asian grocery stores, as can candlenuts (kemiri). Galangal is also found in dried or powdered form. If no fresh turmeric is found, use 47

48 • Jennifer Fraser

1 T of the powdered form. If fresh chilies are not available, use 2 T of sambal oelek. Heat the cooking oil in a big wok. Fry the ground shallots, garlic, etc. on medium-low heat until fragrant. Bruise the lemongrass stalk and tie in a knot. Add beef, coconut milk, lemongrass, salam leaves (found in Asian grocery stores), and salt to the wok. Bring to a boil and turn heat down to a low boil; it should be bubbling quite vigorously. Stir every 10 minutes or so, making sure to scrape the edges of the wok as the coconut milk begins to solidify and turn brown. Stir these edges into the curry, which helps accelerate the thickening process. About 3 hours into the process, the oil should start to separate. Add the baby potatoes, washed but not peeled, whole. At this stage, you may want to turn the heat down a little to prevent it from burning. You will also need to stir constantly as things solidify quickly at this stage. Make sure to keep stirring in the browned coconut milk. The dish is ready when the color is a rich, dark brown and the sauce is a crumbly, thick paste.

Krupuk Melinjo (Areca Nut Crackers) 3 c. vegetable oil for frying 1 package of krupuk melinjo Pour oil into a wok so that there is between 2–3". Heat oil until hot. Test the oil by inserting a krupuk—they should inflate to twice the size immediately if the oil is hot enough. Enter 5–6 at a time. Use a large mesh scoop to retrieve them from the oil when there are no glossy patches. They should be a light yellow color. They are overcooked if they turn brown. Place on a plate with a paper towel to absorb the oil.

Tempeh Sambalado Manih (Tempeh with a Sweet Chili sauce) Frying oil from the krupuk 1 small cassava 8 oz. packet tempeh 2 cloves garlic 1 large shallot 2 T vegetable oil ⅓ c. coconut sugar 2 T sambal oelek Use the frying oil left over from the krupuk. Cut the cassava into 1" pieces that are ⅛" in width. Fry until a crispy, golden brown and set on a plate with a fresh paper towel. Cut the tempeh into ⅛" widths, and then cut in half so the pieces are about 1" across. Fry until golden brown. Set on a plate with a paper towel. Set aside to chop up the other ingredients. Mince the garlic and shallots in the food processor. In a heavy-based fry pan, heat 1 T of vegetable oil on low heat. Cook shallots and garlic until soft. Chop up the coconut sugar into small pieces if using the block form. Add the coconut sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add 1 t. of water if not dissolving easily. Then add sambal oelek and stir thoroughly. Add the tempeh and the cassava and stir thoroughly until the pieces are coated in the sauce. Place into a serving bowl.

Anyang (Vegetables with Coconut Chili Sauce) 1½ c. snake beans (or green beans) 1½ c. napa cabbage

West Sumatra, Indonesia  •  49

1½ c. bean sprouts 1 shallot 1 clove garlic 1 T sambal oelek/5 bird’s eye chilies ½ a coconut pinch of salt juice of half a lime Cut beans into 1" pieces. Shred napa cabbage into ½" segments. Wash bean sprouts and pick off ends. Blanch vegetables; leave them slightly crunchy. Crush shallot, garlic, and chilies (if fresh, chopped into fine rings) into a paste with a mortar and pestle (or blend in food processor). Grate the coconut. Combine spice paste with salt, and cook over a low heat. Add lime juice. Put vegetables into a bowl. Mix sauce in. This dish will not keep.

Nasi Putih (White Rice) 3 c. jasmine rice 6 c. water Rinse rice, add water to saucepan. Bring to a boil over a high heat, then reduce immediately and let simmer until rice is cooked (about 20 minutes). Remove, fluff with fork, and let sit covered for 10 minutes.

The Marriage of Food and Music Food is at the center of Minangkabau ritual and social life. In weddings, the exchange of food takes place through gifts and shared meals. The processions and sedentary rituals in which food are featured are usually accompanied by music. But the kind of music, culinary gifts, and style of eating can differ radically according to region, the length of the wedding, and the economic status of the hosts. In contemporary practice, only weddings where there has been a death in the family or those among the most impoverished communities do not incorporate some form of live music. The absence of music during the main reception, as one musician stated, might mistakenly lead one to think a funeral was in process. At one wedding I attended in the village of Padang Alai in 2004, there were multiple rituals and kinds of music involved. There were three processions: one where the bride’s female paternal relatives delivered the bride and the groom, along with trays laden with an elaborate array of cakes and snacks, to her maternal home; another where female members collected rice from the groom’s house; and a third where male and female relatives delivered ritual gifts to the groom’s family, consumed a ritual meal, exchanged ritual speeches, and then escorted the groom and his family to his new “home” at the bride’s mother’s house. Each of these processions were accompanied by the sounds of a talempong pacik ensemble involving six kettle gongs and a small double-headed drum playing interlocking melodic-rhythmic patterns. In this village, the musicians were elderly women. (In other villages, men might play or the processional music might involve different genres altogether.) Each processional party, musicians included, was invited into the house and served a ritual meal. Less important guests who dropped by the wedding throughout the day helped themselves to a buffet-style meal set up in the yard. In addition to the talempong group accompanying the processions, this wedding involved music to entertain the guests, including an orgen tunggal group involving vocalists backed by a synthesizer

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and pumped through massive speaker systems during the day, and dikia rabano, an Islamic vocal genre accompanied by frame drums, in the evening. In other communities, daytime music might include talempong duduak, a sedentary style of talempong involving 5–7 kettle gongs, drums, and percussion featuring melodic cycles; or talempong goyang, a style of talempong involving thirty-plus kettle gongs, synthesizer, bass guitar, electric guitar, and drum set. Other intimate genres used late at night include saluang jo dendang (flute with song), rabab Pariaman (a fiddle from the Pariaman region), and salawat dulang (an Islamic vocal genre accompanied by percussion on serving trays). Musicians are compensated in part through meals, snacks, and sweets throughout the day. In some contexts, female relatives and neighbors bring culinary gifts to the couple, ranging from elaborate trays to a bowl of uncooked rice. What constitutes the gift depends on the customs of the area but also a woman’s social proximity to the hosts. In exchange, female guests return home with some kind of food, often cooked glutinous rice. At the Padang Alai wedding, the guests took home many of the cakes they had bought as gifts. I was deeply perplexed by this action until I realized it was a ritual exchange, an act of reciprocity that socially bound the actors in an ongoing relationship. It helps balance out the debts of honor. At urban weddings, these kinds of food exchanges are no longer so prevalent; guests often bring money or wrapped gifts instead. Sharing a meal is key to Minangkabau social gatherings. Drop by a relative’s or neighbor’s house, and you will often be invited to eat. Wedding feasts involve a series of ceremonial and everyday dishes. Rendang, often made with water buffalo meat in place of the beef, is common, as is gulai kambing (goat curry). Some villages have their own ceremonial specialties, such as Koto Gadang near Bukittinggi with its bebek hijau (a spicy green duck curry). The older style of eating—now celebrated in museum exhibits and festivals but ongoing in tight-knit communities who value older

Figure 10.1  Talempong musicians and the offerings for the procession to escort the wedded couple to the bride’s maternal home, photo courtesy of Jennifer Fraser

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Figure 10.2  Eating bajamba style, Paninjauan, photo courtesy of Jennifer Fraser

practices—involves serving food in the bajamba style: dozens of plates with small servings of the dishes, along with big bowls of rice and bowls for washing hands, are laid out on the floor. The room has usually been stripped of all furniture and covered with carpet or mats. Guests sit around the “table,” usually in gender-segregated groups, helping themselves to rice and small amounts of the curries and eating with their (right) hands. Minang food tastes better this way and many families maintain room to eat like this at home. In more recent times, the buffet-style meal has become popular at weddings. In this style, guests help themselves, take a seat in gender-mixed groups at tables and chairs, and eat with utensils. These styles of eating typically correspond to differences in who helps with food preparation. Historically, family, friends, and neighbors—those with debts of honor to the hosts—were mobilized into cooking and serving the bajamba feasts for the hundreds of wedding guests. In cases where hosts are both more economically affluent and have a more cosmopolitan outlook, they will hire a catering company to manage all the details, including provision of the plates and silverware for the buffet. The difference in the social implications of these two styles of food is significant. In the first, sociability is high through intimate eating practices and reciprocal networks of labor, whereas in the second style these kinds of connections are not established. In some villages, the buffet style is even prohibited. The choice of music, as I have argued elsewhere (Fraser 2011), can reflect the social positioning of the hosts as much as the choice of serving style. Sometimes the music is not a focal point in the celebration; it is simply necessary to provide a festive atmosphere or energize the labor force. Other times, however, music making is a form of sociability as much as sharing a meal. In some genres, guests, family, and servers become participants in making song requests or taking a turn at singing.

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RECOMMENDED LISTENING Elly Kasim or pop Minang (search also for lagu Minang) tracks you can find on YouTube. http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=CyZ0e5KXObc, last accessed Dec 28, 2012. Yampolsky, Philip. 1996. Gongs and Vocal Music from Sumatra: Talempong, Didong, Kulintang, Salawat Dulang. Music of Indonesia, Vol. 12. Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40428. Yampolsky, Philip, and Hanefi. 1994. Night Music of West Sumatra: Saluang, Rabab Pariaman, Dendang Pauah, Music of Indonesia, Vol. 6. Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40422.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Blackwood, Evelyn. 2000. Webs of Power: Women, Kin, and Community in a Sumatran Village. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Fraser, Jennifer. 2011. “Pop Song as Custom: Weddings, Entrepreneurs, and Ethnicity in West Sumatra.” Ethnomusicology 55(2):200–228. Fraser, Jennifer. 2015. Gongs and Pop Songs: Sounding Minangkabau in Indonesia. Ohio University Research in International Studies. Southeast Asia Series No. 127. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. Klopfer, Lisa. 1999. “Ceremonial Foods for the Celebration of Marriage.” In Walk in Splendor: Ceremonial Dress and the Minangkabau. Anne Summerfield and John Summerfield, eds. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. 257–270. Mowe, Rosalind. 1999. Southeast Asian Specialties: A  Journey through Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Cologne: Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. Salisbury, David and Vicki Salisbury. 1999. “Traditional Minangkabau Ceremonies.” In Walk in Splendor: Ceremonial Dress and the Minangkabau. Anne Summerfield and  John Summerfield, eds. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. 65–73. Sanday, Peggy Reeves. 2002. Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

BALI Sarah Willner If you haven’t had rice, you haven’t eaten! Menu: Nasi Sela (Rice with Yam), Jukut Sambal Goreng (Boiled or Steamed Vegetables with Fried Sambal), Gerangasem (Chicken Soup with Spice Paste and Vegetables), Paesan Bé Pasih (Steamed Fish Packets), Sambal Nyuh (Roasted Coconut Sambal), Kulit Bé Siap (Fried Chicken Skin), and Kopi Bali and Pisang Rai (Bali Coffee and Boiled Bananas with Shredded Coconut). Preparation Time: Part of one evening and all of one afternoon. Cooking Process: Up to a week ahead of time, make the basic spice paste for the fish and soup. On the day before, crack open the coconuts. Dry roast the sambal coconut pieces over a burner on the stove, or briefly under a broiler, and slice into fine, matchstick-shaped pieces. Finely slice the sambal spices and fry. Put aside a small portion for the vegetables. Add the coconut matchsticks and salt to the remainder for the sambal nyuh (coconut sambal). Some people marinate the chicken a day ahead of time in its spices. If you are using frozen banana leaves for the paesan bé pasih, let them thaw. On cooking day, boil then simmer the gerangasem soup. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or on the stovetop, and boil the yam. Stir cubed fish and one-third of the spice paste together and fold into banana leaves or aluminum foil; steam. Add soup vegetables and basa genep to the gerangasem, and simmer. Boil or steam the green vegetables, then stir together with some fried sambal. Slowly fry the chicken skins. Fold crumbled yam through the cooked rice. When guests arrive, slice and boil the bananas. Grate the reserved coconut over it; serve with kopi Bali. Note: This group of recipes is not for religious holidays or special banquets but is for daily fare. Rice is the staple food in Bali and makes up about two-thirds of a typical plate; small amounts of the other foods are placed on the side of the central rice mound. In general, Balinese do not eat together, but wander separately to the kitchen for a plate of food from platters laid on the counter. The well-known exception to this is the ceremonial megibung, where quartets of musicians or others who have atur ayah (donated ceremonial work) eat around a central tray of food in the kitchen area of temples. Note: in Bali the coffee and dessert would be served first. The recipe for pisang rai is included here at the end in keeping with western norms of dining.

The Recipes Basa Genep (Basic Spice Paste) 30 peeled shallots 15 peeled cloves garlic 8 small Thai chilies, stems cut off (discard any chilies if the seeds are black = bitter) 1.5" cube of sera fermented shrimp paste ¾ c. tamarind liquid (pour 1 c. boiling water on ¼ c. tamarind paste; set aside. You can mash it a bit to let the tamarind soak into the water. After approximately 10 minutes, strain out the tamarind pulp.) 15 whole coriander seeds 53

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2" ginger root, peeled and sliced 2 T liquid coconut oil, softened by placing the container in a pan of water salt and black or white pepper Grind all the ingredients in a food processor (our equivalent of the Balinese grinding rock). A  ­ slightly chunky texture is okay. Set aside ⅓ of the spice paste for the fish packets and use ⅔ for the ­gerangasem soup.

Gerangasem with Basa Genep (Chicken Soup with Spice Paste and Chayote or Green Papaya) 4 chicken legs, 4 thighs, 4 wings 1 green papaya or 2–3 chayote, peeled and cubed (can also substitute 6 medium potatoes or canned green jackfruit) ⅔ of the basic spice paste optional, if you can find them: 1 t. turmeric powder 1 stem lemongrass 1 piece of galangal 3 dried daun salam (the bay leaves of Balinese cooking) Peel the skin off the chicken and set it aside for the kulit bé siap. Cut the chicken with a cleaver into 1" chunks. Try to have a good bit of bone in it. Slice the galangal into disks about ⅛–¼" thick. Cut off the hard base of lemongrass and slice the stalk on the diagonal in about 4 pieces. You can pound it a little to tenderize, but not so much that it falls apart. Boil the chicken in 2 quarts of salted water. Experiment with substituting a few cups of chicken broth. When the chicken is almost done, throw in the vegetables. When the vegetables are about halfway done, add all the raw spices, turmeric, lemongrass, galangal, and daun salam. Simmer for at least 10 more minutes. Serve in small bowls on the side of the main plate. Gerangasem should have things floating around in it that you don’t ingest: the leaves, the lemongrass, the galangal, as well as chunks of bone.

Paesan Bé Pasih (Steamed Fish Packets) 1 medium large tomato ⅓ of the basic spice paste 2 T coconut cooking oil 2 lbs. cubed fish (meat only; no skin, bones, etc.) I prefer oily fish like mackerel; white fish has a milder taste, while salmon is distinctive. aluminum foil to substitute for banana leaves If you can find it: lemon basil, dried daun salam, or kaffir lime leaf Grind the tomato into the spice paste. Fry the spice paste on low heat for approximately 5 minutes in the oil until it turns golden. Mix with fish and press a rectangle one cube high of the fish mixture on a larger rectangle of foil or banana leaf. (If using frozen banana leaves, thaw before using. Slice the hard   If you can’t find dried sera (fermented shrimp paste), you can also use the more liquid Vietnamese shrimp paste. This is not the same thing as Vietnamese fish sauce!

*

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edge of the leaf off.) If you’ve found them, place one daun salam or sprig of lemon basil on top of the fish. Or make thin, thin threads of kaffir lime leaf and drop on 4–5 of them. Fold like a little burrito, folding the ends inward and secure with a toothpick, if using banana leaf. Foil holds its shape. Steam for 5 minutes. Don’t actually eat the flavor-imparting daun salam.

Sambal Goreng (Fried Spicy Condiment) 14 shallots 7 cloves garlic 4 Thai chilies coconut oil for frying 1" cube of sera fermented shrimp paste salt to taste Note: Basic sambal spices are usually in the ratio above. Start with the shallots; add half as much garlic as shallots, and half as many chilies as garlic. Keep the piles of fried and unfried spices each in a separate pile, for ease of adjusting the taste mix later. Coconut oil tends to pules (‘sleep,’ or harden). To melt, take the lid off the jar and place it into a pan of water to soften gently. If your kitchen is cold, even the cooked sambal might harden a bit, but will soften on a warm stove. Slice lengthwise very thinly the shallots and garlic. Slice the chilies thinly into little rounds. Don’t touch your eyes now! Heat the coconut oil on medium heat until it just starts to smoke. Start with the shallots, spread thinly in enough oil to barely cover. Don’t ‘bother them’ too much at the beginning. Cook until medium brown, roughly 10 minutes. Rescue them from the oil with a slotted spoon onto a plate. You don’t need to drain too much of the oil. Fry garlic in the same way, and then keep separately in its own mound. Garlic takes less time than shallots, only a few minutes. Careful not to burn it! Then turn the kitchen fan up to high and fry the chilies until they have a hint of brown. Now reassure any roommates that “it’s supposed to smell like that,” and fry the shrimp paste for a minute. If it takes too long to fry everything separately, just add the next ingredient to the pan when the previous one is not yet all done. Mix together and add salt. Set aside about ¼ c. for the vegetables, and keep the remainder as a condiment.

Sambal Nyuh (Spicy Coconut Condiment) Sambal nyuh is sambal goreng (see ingredients above) with coconut added. See pisang rai for directions on opening a coconut. Roast chunks of the meat over the fire of a grill or burner. The trick is to get a little brown smokiness, but not dry it out. Cut the meat into long strips about ∕" wide. Then cut these into matchsticks ∕" by ∕". Fry in the coconut oil until brown. Mix with the sambal goreng condiment. This recipe is a Tabanan specialty of our host there, Ni Gusti Biang of Banjar Anyar, Perean. She also taught me how to render over a wood fire the slightly green, intensely fresh coconut oil from her own nuts, stored in old soy sauce bottles stoppered with a plug of coconut husk.

Jukut Sambal Goreng (Vegetables) This is a very basic way to cook many varieties of ‘light’ vegetables, such as green beans, mustards, kale, chard, collards, bean sprouts, boy choy, broccoli, etc. Wash and roughly chop 2–3 bunches of vegetables. Boil very briefly until lightly wilted, drain, and mix with the reserved ¼ c. sambal goreng. Massage the sambal through the vegetables with your fingers and adjust for salt.

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Kulit Bé Siap (Fried Chicken Skin) Use the skin from the gerangasem chicken. Cut in approximately 2" long pieces and salt lightly. Fry at a very low temperature in ½" coconut oil. When brown and crispy, dry out on a newspaper. Wait a minute to eat them, as they will crisp up further. The excellent cook, scholar, and dancer Ni Made Wiratini taught us this recipe in the Gamelan Sekar Jaya kitchen in California.

Nasi Sela (Rice with Yam or Cassava) 2½ c. uncooked rice 1 white yam or cassava (not a mushy sweet potato) Balinese cooks often judge the amount of water needed by noting how high the water rises above the first joint of a finger stuck down into the pot. A good rule of thumb is a ratio of 2:1 water to rice. Use a rice cooker, if possible. If on the stovetop, bring the water and a pinch of salt to a boil. Add the rice to the water, bring back to a boil, and then stir. Then cover and simmer on the lowest setting possible for 20 minutes. Boil the yam/cassava separately until just cooked and crumble into the cooked rice. Many Balinese remember hard times of the 1960s (difficult to imagine with today’s tourism-nourished prosperity) when there wasn’t much to eat. Sometimes rice was their only food, stretched or complemented occasionally with a bit of spice or vegetable. Meat was rare. One “depression era” food was nasi sela: boiled yam crumbled into cooked rice. Nowadays, many have returned nostalgically to this dish, a kind of soul food from hard times. Try to use a real, white yam or a firm-cooking, nonorange sweet potato if you can’t get yams.

Pisang Rai (Boiled Bananas with Shredded Coconut) ¾ c. fresh coconut, finely grated pinch of salt 4 T palm or brown sugar 8 T rice flour 1 T baker’s sugar (aka caster sugar) 6–8 fingerling bananas or 4 regular bananas Whack one brown coconut with a hammer or the back end of a cleaver, watching out for flying pieces. Catch and drink the juice. Lever the meat out of the hard shell with a butter knife, oyster shucker, or other implement. With a knife you can peel the brownish inner skin off the meat to make it entirely white. Grate the coconut in the size of small, fluffy shreds, making sure to peel off all brown inner skin before grating, and mix with the pinch of salt. Boil the palm or brown sugar with a teaspoon of water to make a syrup. Mix together the flour and baker’s sugar with a little bit of water, enough to make a paste. Cut bananas diagonally in 1" slices. Roll bananas in the flour paste and boil for 5 minutes. Roll them in or top with the coconut, drizzle with the sugar syrup, and serve with kopi Bali. Singer and dance teacher Ni Gusti Ayu Srinatih taught this delicious recipe to me.

Central Bali and Central California As a foreign woman studying gamelan in the south-central Gianyar region of Bali, I lived, in many respects, like a man. I could easily get about the island alone, contact teachers, take lessons

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alone, and receive coffee and sweets served by women of the household, seated on a balé pavilion next to the men. I could sit on my home balé and practice all day, without suffering negative comment. Women turis (the term for almost all foreign visitors to Bali) are not subjected to the societal expectations of Balinese women. From my privileged status, I  began to wonder what it’s like for Balinese women to study gamelan, which they had done only in the last decade. How did their local village society and family support or hinder them? What role did the government have in creating and supporting gamelan wanita (women’s gamelan ensembles)? This was but one strand of my ongoing studies in Bali, alongside a focus on gender wayang music for shadow theater and general studies in gamelan gong kebyar. In my longest stay in Bali, during the early 1990s, I researched the history of women in gamelan. This ranged from the fortunate few with both the desire and familial support to play and study intensively, such as Institute of Arts professors Ni Ketut Suriatini and Ni Desak Made Suarti; to the shy “women’s auxiliary” Dharma Wanita office clubs; to the pioneering village women from Nusa Penida island. Gamelan ensembles on Bali have not been of mixed gender until very recently. My home ensemble, Gamelan Sekar Jaya of California’s Bay Area, takes pride in its inspiration for women’s and mixed-gender gamelan as a result of its 1985 Bali tour. In the early ’90s, the women’s group from the central foothills village of Perean had an intriguing reputation. Coupled with their own considerable skills was the fact that they were the female branch of the legendary Abdi Budaya (Servants of Culture) ensemble, a mind-blowingly virtuosic group with a gorgeous set of instruments, famous during the 1970s Golden Age of Kebyar (a brilliant, flashy musical genre dating from the 1930s) following the Communist purges and upheavals of the 1960s. Journeying upward through the rice fields of Tabanan district, we tracked down the miniscule banjar (village ward) of Banjar Anyar, in the village of Perean Kangin, essentially a rocky lane of 100 families living between two deep river gorges. The entire village met and agreed to our proposal to teach us, the first foreigners to study there. We would stay with the village heads—themselves key musicians—and study three times a day with six to eight teachers. They also invited me to play in the gamelan wanita. Why was this gamelan wanita strong and those neighboring villages’ gamelan wanita not so? What social systems supported this group and enabled it to flourish? What relationship did they have with the men’s group? Could they ngayah (donate music as a service) in a temple context, or would they only play in secular, government-sponsored events? I decided to move along the continuum closer to women’s life and work in Bali, a main focus of which is cooking. Though the texture of life is changing rapidly, even from one month to the next in modern and thoroughly tourist-loaded Bali, you can count on at least one person in the extended family village home to make offerings and cook. The flashy pig-slaughtering day before festivals is led by teams of jovial men, as is most ceremonial cooking, but I was more interested in the daily food. I arose at 5 a.m. each morning to peel the shallots, garlic, and chilies that, along with fermented shrimp paste (Balinese: sera), forms the basis of all dishes. I learned how to cut, slice, peel, grind, pound, grate, and mince like a Balinese woman would, all involving rhythms, stances, and holds that differed from my previous cooking life. For example, one must never peel toward oneself (Why aim knives toward your body?), and, unfortunately for this southpaw, one must cut with the right hand. I learned to create the right texture of spice paste in the smaller grinding rock—about six to eight inches diameter—starting from pounding the clumps of spices, moving to the press-smoosh roll of the wrist. I also learned to hold the clumps of coconut with stiff fingertips so as to not expose the knuckles to the vicious grater, avoiding a stream of scarlet through the delicate moist white shreds. Although perhaps unbelievable to those in globalized Ubud and the capital—modern Denpasar—we cooked in an enclosed, freestanding structure, lit by two hearth fires. Small twigs and branches of fuel were stacked drying on a shelf about one meter above the fire and an open bamboo

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tube held the rough sea salt right above the pot. The few plates, glasses, and pots stood on a shelf of split bamboo across from the fire, glinting in the dim smoke. I aspired to know which kind and amount of fuel (at which stage of dryness) would cook which kind and amount of food. All buildings in a traditional Balinese extended family compound are oriented between mountain and sea. The family temple is closest to the mountain, in the north and east corner. The kitchen is in the south; the direction not just of the sea, but also of Brahma, the creator and fire deity. The first order of business for the cooks is squatting companionably on heels or a lump of wood in the cozy kitchen for the first cup of Bali coffee for the day (we’ll drink four to six cups eventually), a robusta variety with lemony sweet blooms grown right there in the yard. The beans glow with blue oils when dry roasted in the dusky kitchen and our arms smoked dark brown up to the elbow. One is always offered coffee (or perhaps weak tea) soon after arrival at a social occasion; the world is not in order until everyone has his or her cup in front of him or her. One then politely ignores the proffered glass until perhaps the third or fourth urging to drink. Everyday family eating is not a social occasion: no sitting down together at a family table. One goes to the sideboard in the kitchen and perches an array of pinches of the proteins, vegetables, sambal, and a blob of salt around the sides of the central mound of rice in one’s bowl or plate. But the act of eating is almost hidden, squatting while focused in the kitchen or alone. Young children play around the courtyard, their caretaker following them around and stuffing a blob of food in their mouths every once in a while. Rice is the staple food; you haven’t eaten unless you’ve had your rice that day. The rice soaks overnight and is steamed early in the dark next morning. Most Balinese eat hybrid fast-growing varieties since the “Green Revolution” of the 1960s. But traditional and even organic Balinese rice is enjoying a comeback, especially in the higher mountains of Tabanan in central Bali. As I sort through the bag of spices to start the daily peeling, my fingers still tingling from handling yesterday’s chilies, my hostess Gusti Biang would show up fresh from a dip in the stream to the east (preplumbing). The coiled towel on her head would support a pile of dense tuber stems to be chopped for the pig’s food, topped by a cascade of what would become our day’s vegetables from her gardens and trees on the edges of the rice fields on the way home: cassava leaves, stems of water convolvulus, bitter melon, cucumber, starfruit leaves, or a green jackfruit fallen conveniently in the stream. The food is all cooked by midmorning and sits in the kitchen all day at room temperature, perhaps even refried the next day. When the Banjar Anyar grup wanita first formed to represent their district in the 1991 Arts Festival, they rehearsed three times a day for at least two hours each time. Extended family stepped in to cook and keep the household running, as almost every compound sported one or more orchestra members. The group maintained their high playing standards for many years, were showcased at government events, and even won a regular hotel gig in ritzy Nusa Dua. So as not to displace someone in the group, I played an “extra” instrument, the two-stringed rebab, bringing out the melody with the suling flute players. Rebab is still a fairly rare instrument in Bali, mainly because it can’t be heard over the standard gong kebyar instrumentarium (though it is an important part of older, sparser ensembles, notably gambuh). But it affords one an excellent view of the action on stage, out in front of the ensemble! Gamelan rehearsals enjoy a traditional break for coffee, sweets, and smokes. The teachers are served first, on the mats in the center of the square of instruments. Then trays are passed to the musicians, who carefully assure that every member is served. Gamelan is played in raised, open-sided pavilions where the sweet kretek smoke curls away into the lush night. Our Balinese performing arts ensemble in California, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, continues to have the good fortune to host some of the finest Balinese performing artists as teachers. For most of the group’s 35 years of existence, rehearsal and living spaces for resident artists were shared; we call this

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center our banjar or village meeting hall. I lived in the banjar for six of the eighteen years I’ve played with Sekar Jaya and have joined in many incredible cooking/eating sessions. One day in the late 1990s, we had a gerangasem summit with many famous artists present, each of whom had a different style. Bapak I Nyoman Wenten, now retired from heading the music department and teaching at Cal Arts, has assimilated some non-Balinese cooking techniques and recommends marinating the chicken in the spices overnight. Shadowmaster, dancer, philosopher I Made Sija concurred with composer, musician, and ethnomusicologist I Wayan Sinti on putting the spices right into the broth toward the end, so they are fresher, while the amazing dancer and scholar I Wayan Dibia urged us to fry the spices before putting them into the broth. Just as compositions vary from village to village and era to era, recipes vary, too, following the philosophy of desa, kala, patra (“time, place, situation”)—an acknowledgment of the importance of context and an implicit affirmation of diversity.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Çudamani: The Seven-Tone Gamelan Orchestra from the Village of Pengosekan (Vital Records 440) Gamelan Angklung: The Bronze Four-Tone Ceremonial Orchestra from the Village of Kerobokan (Vital Records 601) Gamelan Joged: Bali’s Orchestra of Bamboo Marimbas from the Village of Beluangan (Vital Records 660) Music of Bali: Gamelan Semar Pegulingan from the Village of Ketewel (Lyrichord 7408) Music of the Gamelan Gong Kebyar, Volume 1 (Vital Records 401)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Bandem, Made and Fredrik deBoer. 1995. Balinese Dance in Transition: Kaja and Kelod. Oxford University Press. Dibia, I Wayan and Rucina Ballinger. 2004. Balinese Dance, Drama, and Music: A Guide to the Performing Arts of Bali. Periplus Editions. Eiseman, Fred. 1989. Sekala and Niskala Volume I: Essays on Reigion, Ritual, and Art; and Sekala and Niskala Volume II: Essays on Society, Tradition, and Craft. Periplus Editions. Gold, Lisa. 2005. Music in Bali: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. Oxford University Press. Hanna, Willard A. 1976. Bali Profile: People, Events, Circumstances (1001–1976). American Universities Field Staff. Tenzer, Michael. 1991. Balinese Music. Periplus Editions. Tenzer, Michael. 2000. Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth-Century Balinese Music. University of Chicago Press. Van Holzen, Heinz. 1994. The Food of Bali. Periplus Editions. Warren, Carol. 1993. Adat and Dinas: Balinese Communities in the Indonesian State. Oxford University Press.

HIGHLAND PAPUA NEW GUINEA Gabriel Solis Yu planim taro, yu nonap kamautim kaukau! (“If you plant taro, you’re not going to get sweet potato!”)

Figure 12.1  Papuan kakaruk long mambu on the cooking fire, photo courtesy of Gabriel Solis

Menu: Kakaruk Mambu (Chicken and Greens in Bamboo Tubes), Kaukau and Karapua (Sweet Potato and Banana/Green Plantain). This is not typically served with salad in Papua New Guinea (otherwise referred to as PNG), but a green salad with a sharp vinaigrette is a nice accompaniment for a Western table. Finish the meal with the ripest fresh mango, papaya, or pineapple you can find. Preparation Time: Approximately 2 hours. Cooking Process: Begin by washing and removing all tough stems from greens. Then cut chicken into small chunks. If cooking over fire, now is the time to start the grill. Assemble the main, and when the fire is ready, bank most of the coals to one side of the barbecue, providing one side that is hotter than the other. Cook sweet potatoes wrapped in foil for 20 minutes over low heat, then add mambu to the grill, alternating between high and low heat and turning all regularly to prevent burning. After 30 minutes, add plantains to the grill, alternating between high and low heat and turning to prevent burning. When the plantains and sweet potatoes are soft and mambu steams profusely, the meal is cooked. Altogether this should take about 1 hour, but because grills and fires vary considerably, it is important to pay close attention and adjust times as needed. All of this can be prepared in a conventional oven, as well, by roasting at 400°F, but the finished dish will lack the smoky flavor imparted by fire. Serve with salad if desired and pair with a well-chilled lager 60

Highland Papua New Guinea  •  61

Figure 12.2  Prepared Papuan kakaruk long mambu dish with sweet potatoes and SP beer, photo courtesy of Gabriel Solis

or pilsner—South Pacific brand, if you can find it! Western cooks will likely want to finish dinner with a selection of fresh fruit, but if you live in a place where you can buy it, this would also be the perfect time to chew some betel nut!

The Recipes Kakaruk Long Mambu (Chicken and Greens in Bamboo Tubes) 1 whole chicken or 10 chicken thighs 3 lbs. mixed, fresh tender greens, such as watercress, arugula, amaranth, or spinach 6–10" fresh ginger root 5–6 cloves garlic, minced salt and pepper to taste This dish is normally cooked in bamboo tubes (Tok Pisin: mambu) from which it gets its name; however, these are not readily available in Western shops. If you live somewhere where it is possible, procure 16–20" lengths of bamboo 2–3" in diameter with roughly ¼–½" walls, stopped by a node at one end. If not, plan to make foil packets in which to cook the chicken and greens. If you make the dish in foil, I suggest adding ¼ lb. fresh green bamboo shoots, diced, to impart the slightly woody flavor that cooking in bamboo tubes would otherwise provide. Cut all the meat on the chicken or the chicken thighs into small pieces, roughly ½" square, and cut the greens into 1" sections, discarding any tough or woody stems. It is common in Western kitchens to remove fat from chicken in the process of breaking it down, but I strongly encourage you to retain it, as the final dish will be richer and tastier with a bit of fat.

62 • Gabriel Solis

Mix chicken and greens together in a large bowl. Grate ginger finely, add it along with minced garlic to the bowl, and season with salt and black pepper to taste. In my experience, cooks in PNG do not use much of either in this dish, but to Western palates, it will be pleasing with generous amounts of both. Mix thoroughly. Stuff the mixture tightly into the bamboo tubes or make into firmly packed foil-wrapped cylinders. If using bamboo, cook mostly over higher heat, turning regularly to prevent the bamboo from catching fire. If using foil, cook mostly over lower heat, turning to prevent the chicken mixture from burning.

Kaukau and Karapua (Sweet Potatoes and Green Plantains) 6 sweet potatoes 6 green plantains Sweet potatoes may be cooked over higher or lower heat, with or without foil, depending on how charred you wish them to be. Many varieties are cultivated in the highlands, but most are much less sweet than those found in Western grocery stores. In PNG, it is common to cook them over moderate heat without covering, producing a thoroughly charred skin and quite al dente texture. The charred skin is removed and potatoes cut into chunks, which are eaten without salt or butter. I recommend wrapping in foil to produce a somewhat softer texture and serving with salt. Many varieties of banana, including sweet ones for eating raw and starchy ones for cooking, play a role in the cuisines of PNG, but for Western cooks I recommend green plantains, which are readily available. They should be cooked in their skins, and then split open and scooped out of skins for serving.

Fresh Fruit 1 ripe pineapple 2 ripe mangoes 1 ripe papaya Cut up and serve.

Adoption and Adaptation: The Flexibility of Ancestral Sounds and Foodways in Highland Papua New Guinea While there is a significant body of ethnomusicological literature dealing with highland Papua New Guinea, less has been written about local cuisine. Development agencies and researchers have written extensively about agriculture in the highlands. Anthropologists have written at length about both food production (including gardening and animal husbandry), and the use of food in ceremonial life. And yet, the more mundane role of food as cuisine—a source of pleasure, creativity, and social interaction in everyday life—has been less commonly discussed. Cuisine is interesting for precisely the same reasons that it is hard to see in much scholarship: namely, it is quotidian. It is more than nutrition, the interest of agricultural research; and it is less spectacular than feasting. Moreover, cuisine in the region makes for a meaningful comparison with music. Cooking is a purposeful process in which an individual uses ingredients to create dishes, much in the way people making music combine bits

Highland Papua New Guinea  •  63

of cultural knowledge to make songs. Music making relies on the known to make innovation shine, just as cooking does. Both, of course, are sensorial pleasures that produce lasting, highly affect-laden tastes. Like much music making, cuisine happens in homes, among families, and is repeated from day to day, offering the comfort of familiarity while at the same time giving opportunities to showcase skill and individuality. Views of food in Papua New Guinea tend to showcase either the maintenance of tradition, in the description of relatively conservative ceremonial feasts, which generally involve the slaughter of pigs as a mode of wealth distribution, or the incursions of transnational modernity, in the form of heavily commodified foodstuffs such as Coca-Cola. Music has similarly been described on these two levels. In both cases, a sense of fear for the future sustainability of PNG’s distinctive cultures may be found. As I see it, cuisine—the level of everyday, household, personal, creative making—offers a great deal of evidence for a more complex, fluid, and, I think, hopeful picture of a sustainable, Indigenous modernity in highland PNG. Kirsty Gillespie has argued for a shift from the language of “tradition” and “modernity” in discussing the highlands to “ancestral” and “introduced” culture in her study of the Duna people of PNG’s Hela Province (2010). This is important, in part because it better follows local discourse, and in part because it offers more analytical flexibility, though as Neil Coulter points out, introductions may quickly come to be seen as “ancestral” (2014). In my study of a local flute maker in Masi near the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province, Goroka, I similarly argue that it is a common mistake to associate local or ancestral music with tradition and introduced music with modernity (2012). Whether it is an instrument, a tuning system, a song, or even a music-making context, highland cultures in PNG have a long history of exogenous innovation. Cuisine in the highlands follows this pattern as well. Some dishes, such as the mumu (a feast including pork, cooked in an earth oven) occupy an ancestral place in local visions of the world, and others, from dried Maggi noodles to the combination of tinned fish and rice, are clearly seen as recent introductions. These industrial food products may never be deeply integrated into the food identities of Papua New Guineans in a way that would make them beloved and viewed as local or ancestral, but they are certainly widely eaten and enjoyed. Like Western pop, which you can hear on the radio and buy on CD, industrial foods are enjoyed by a wide swath of the population, but also looked at with a measure of disdain by cultural elites. Mumu, by contrast, is more or less universally held in high regard but so distinctive and, frankly, so seldom prepared that it is something more than cuisine. A dish like the mambu presented here is between these, and, like the lingua franca songs Michael Webb has studied or the clay flutes I’ve written about, it is intimately familiar without being exclusively ancestral (Webb 1993). The ingredients are, for the most part, ancestral, though each may have an exogenous origin. Kaukau, for instance, the sweet potato that is the primary subsistence crop throughout the region, has in fact only been grown in the highlands for something like three hundred years. In any case, for most urban highlanders, like the people with whom I’ve worked, making a mambu involves a regular and unmarked engagement with a consumer economy. Chickens must be bought at the chicken market, vegetables from the vegetable market; bamboo tubes are purchased from a bamboo seller, and for many a quick trip might be made to a buai vendor for betel nut. In the process, introduced ideas about value, about specialization of labor, and so on inevitably become part of the process. The mambu may be prepared in an indoor kitchen, with everything that entails, but it will be cooked outdoors over fire. And yet, even the fire, which is surely the oldest mode of cooking, has introduced elements. The fire pit may be constructed of cinder blocks and topped with a metal grill to give a flat surface just the right height above the flame on which to rest the food. This kind of fluidity, this mixing of bits from the ancestral past, bits from the local but more recent past, and bits introduced from elsewhere in living memory is unremarkable in some sense—it is

64 • Gabriel Solis

a commonplace phenomenon in the highlands of PNG, much as it is in most places in the world—but it is still important. It is what gives many domains of life there, from music to cuisine and beyond, much of its vitality. It is a marker of the pleasures of the familiar and the pleasures of the new, each savored in its way.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Mogu, Richard. Inagwe. Wontok Musik, 2011. W0004. (A recent release by a leading figure in popular music, based in PNG’s Eastern Highlands province.) To Una Turtavu, Blasius. Guitar Songs of Papua New Guinea. Lyrichord, 2011. LLST7367. (A compilation of recordings made by singer and songwriter Blasius To Una Turtavu over the course of his life.) Various artists. Bosavi: Rainforest Music from Papua New Guinea. Smithsonian/Folkways, 2001. SFW 40487. (A compilation from Steven Feld’s field recordings among the Kaluli people in PNG’s Southern Highlands Province, including everyday songs, string band songs, and ceremonial music.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Coulter, Neil. “Review of Steep Slopes.” Pacific Affairs 87/4 (2014): 194–916. Gillespie, Kirsty. Steep Slopes: Music and Change in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Canberra: ANU E Press, 2010. Solis, Gabriel. “Artisanship, Innovation, and Indigenous Modernity in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea: Ataizo Mutahe’s Vessel Flutes.” Musicultures 39/1 (Winter 2012): 83–110. Webb, Michael. Lokal Musik: Lingua Franca Song and Identity in Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby: Cultural Studies Division, National Research Institute, 1993.

IV The Middle East

EASTERN TURKEY Songül Karahasanoğlu Let there be a son even if he is crazy; let there be bread even if it is dry. Menu: Muş İçli Köftesi (Stuffed Meatballs), Yahni (Meat with Eggplant), Nohutlu Pilav (Rice with Chickpeas), Cacık (Yogurt with Cucumber), and Helva (Dessert). Preparation Time: 3 hours. Cooking Process: Make the helva first. Then start preparing the köfte. When the köfte is done, prepare the yahni and then the nohutlu pilav. Make the cacık last. Serve this meal with soft drinks, water, or tea.

The Recipes Muş İçli Köftesi (Stuffed Meatballs) For its filling: 6 medium onions ½ lb. ground beef 2 long green peppers 2 t. salt 1 t. hot chili pepper black pepper to taste ¼ bunch of parsley For its dough: ⅔ lb. lean double ground meat fine bulgur (cracked wheat) (1.5 times the meat in volume)  ∕ c. semolina (irmik) 3 t. salt 2 c. water For its filling: Chop the onions into small pieces. Roast onions together with ground meat. Add sliced green peppers to the mixture. Add salt and spices. Let them roast. Chop the parsley on the roast pan. Cook them a few minutes more. Let them cool. For its dough: Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Knead them well. Add water little by little. You should knead them properly. Resulting dough should be as thick as an earlobe in order to spread it. Take two walnut-size pieces of dough and shape them with your hands. Start pressing your thumb into this piece of dough and turn it over to shape into a shell. This shell should be as thin as you can make it. Then put 1 T of the filling mixture into this shape and close the shape again with your hands. Your hands must be wet to shape the dough properly. Put a bowl of cold water near you to wet your hands occasionally while shaping it. After you use up all the dough, heat water in a pot and bring it to boil. Place stuffed meatballs into the pot and boil them for about 10 minutes. Put them on a plate and pour melted butter on the meatballs before serving the meal. 66

Eastern Turkey  •  67

Yahni (Meat with Eggplant) 1½ lb. lamb, preferably boned 1 medium-sized onion 5–6 long green peppers 6–7 medium size tomatoes 5–6 medium size eggplants 1 t. salt hot chili pepper (to your taste) 2 T olive oil Cut up the meat. Cook the meat in the olive oil. Chop onion and add to the meat and let them cook a few minutes more. Slice the green peppers and add to the meat and onion. Liquefy the tomatoes with a blender and pour them into the mixture. While the meat, chopped onion, green peppers, and tomatoes are cooking, peel off the skin of the eggplants in strips, and then dice them into cubes. Add salt and wait about 15 minutes before rinsing them. Add the eggplants to the other ingredients in the cooker. When the eggplants have cooked well, turn off the oven. Add water as necessary.

Nohutlu Pilav (Rice with Chickpeas) ½ c. chickpeas 2 c. rice 2 T olive oil 2 T butter 3 c. boiling water 2 t. salt Boil the chickpeas for 15 minutes. Soak the rice in warm water for 10 minutes. Then drain the chickpeas and rice and put olive oil and butter into a cooker. Add the rice and roast 3–4 minutes. Add the chickpeas, boiled water, and salt. Let it boil for 5 minutes, and then turn down the flame. After all the water has evaporated, turn off the oven and wrap the cooker with a clean cloth and wait 20 minutes before serving.

Cacık (Cucumber and Yogurt) 1 medium-sized cucumber 1½ c. yogurt ½ c. water 1 t. olive oil a pinch of dried spearmint Peel and grate the cucumber. Mix cucumber, yogurt, and water in a bowl. Pour the olive oil and spearmint into the mixture.

Un Helvası (Flour Halva) 1 stick butter 2 c. flour

68 • Songül Karahasanoğlu

1 c. milk 1 c. water 1½ c. sugar Let the butter melt in a pot. Cook for about 3 minutes and stir in flour. Cook while stirring over medium heat for 10–15 minutes. Heat the milk and water in the other pot. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Once the flour turns pinkish and smells good, stir in the warm syrup. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon to get a smooth mixture of flour. After stirring for about 5 minutes, turn the heat off and close the lid. Leave aside for about 15 minutes. Shape with a spoon using the sides of the pot. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.

What We Eat During the Winter Months If We Prepare These in the Summer Months Muş is a historic province located in Eastern Turkey, containing different cultures and low-income groups. There are significant elements of multiculturalism in Muş’s music and cuisine. National and ethnic communities of Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Caucasian peoples, and others have lived and shaped the culture of this province for centuries. The local cuisine is a reflection of the region’s geography, socioeconomic conditions, and culture. In this nonindustrial city, shaped by forms of social life, residents have developed handcrafts and production based on handmade labor. The cuisine shares the same features. Cooking takes a long time and requires skill. On the other hand, the struggle for human beings to survive has forced them to live together and shape their common future. The cuisine culture, at this point, is shaped through common public taste, depending on such factors as climate, natural conditions, and nutrition sources. The effects of different cultures on each other and the wealth that exists today are some examples of Anatolia. The main dishes for Muş cuisine consist of meat and cereal products. Vegetables grow in pastures covered with snow and are used as herbs. The dishes are cooked with butter. Generally, despite the frequent use of sheep meat, meat-free dishes are also available. These include a çorti soup made from pickled cabbage, çorti puru, bas köftesi, hılorik and aprağ dolması. This kind of food is common in the Armenian-Turkish community. In the oral history study that I made, Armenians said that they have cooked these foods in periods of abstinence when they would not consume meat for a month. They are still common dishes that are also sometimes cooked with meat. The survival of humans is not possible without eating and drinking, and the pleasure of eating and drinking requires people to spend lots of time preparing. Muş meals demand skilled hands and time. Women prepare the dishes. Women do not work outside the home because of economic, social, and religious pressures. They spare at least two or three hours a day for cooking. Mothers teach their daughters how to cook from a young age. After meals, people drink black tea with lemon. Cooking in Muş is often a social experience in which women cook together to celebrate births, deaths, weddings, festivals, and other important events. There is a nine-month long, hard winter every year. Because Muş is a city that is under snow for six months, food is prepared during the summer to be eaten in the winter. In the houses, wheat, meat, dried vegetables, flour, pickles, and molasses are prepared for the winter. Furthermore, herbs that grow in the mountains and river edges are prepared for the winter through brining and desiccating. Red chili peppers, basil, mint, pılten (fenugreek) are dried to use as sauce. Potatoes are buried; cheese, cream, and butter are made from milk. Molasses is made from grapes, honey is gathered, and yogurt is drained and placed into pots. Lavaş bread (open yufka bread) is dried after it is made. This traditional preparation is still practiced despite newly available technology. After passing through the long

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winter days, the cuisine varies with spring-season products and herbs, which grow on the mountains under the snow. Today these herbs and fruits have an important role in seasonal spring cooking and are still consumed. Pickled cabbage and grape leaves are preserved and stored for the winter. The region’s most prestigious dish is usually made from this pickled cabbage, where it is stored in very large containers. These special occasion dishes usually require some high-level skills, and since they take a long time to prepare, it is better to team up with family members or friends. While cooking, people sing the traditional music of Muş together. The large parts of folksongs sung on red-letter days are love songs and those sung on days of sorrow are threnodies. These sing-alongs are rife with social solidarity. After someone dies, certain foods are cooked and sent to the family of the deceased for seven days. A dessert called halva is cooked in their house and served with the belief that it will help the deceased find peace. Bringing desserts to women who have given birth is another tradition. Solidarity is a general pattern of social behavior, and the preparation of food for the winter during the summer is an indication of people’s difficult living conditions.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING https://www.ttnetmuzik.com.tr/album/Turkulerle_Turkiye___49_Mus/24110 http://kalan.com/audio/sabreyle-gonul-neset-ertas/ http://kalan.com/2014/01/28/gomidas-vartabed-yerkaran/

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Karahasanoğlu, Songül. 2002. “The Collection of Turkish Folk Music and Its Current Situation.” An International Journal of Ethnography 471–2: 255–262. ———. 2012. “Anatolian Folk Songs for Soldiers Who Died in Yemen,” Cuadernos de Etnomusicología, Spain 2: 248–266, 2012. http://www.turkish-cuisine.org/english/index.php http://turkish.homestead.com/

THRACIAN ROMA, WESTERN TURKEY Sonia Tamar Seeman “He can get bread out of a dough-less household.” Selim Sesler

Figure 14.1  Romani s¸aras¸ura, photo courtesy of Sonia Seeman

Menu: Şaraşura (Roasted Vegetables, or Sautéed Vegetables with Yogurt-Garlic Sauce), Pilav (Rice with Pasta), Bezelye (Fideo or Orzo, Ground Lamb, Potatoes), Çoban Salatası (Shepherds’ Salad), fresh fruit, and Turkish tea for dessert. Preparation Time: About 3 hours. Cooking Process: Roast vegetables for the şaraşura. Then start the bezelye. While the bezelye is simmering, make the pilav an hour before you wish to eat, and start the tea water boiling so it will be ready by the end of the meal. Lastly, make the çoban salatası and cut up the fresh fruit.

70

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The Recipes Şaraşura (Roasted Vegetables, or Sautéed Vegetables with Yogurt-Garlic Sauce) Variation I: 3 medium or 4 small eggplants 5–6 large tomatoes 4–5 bell peppers and/or 3–4 long green peppers 3–4 cloves fresh garlic, chopped Scrub the vegetables, but leave on the peels. Place over low flame (if gas stove) or use a cast-iron griddle on electric burners. Scorch the outside of the skins, burning is fine as the goal is to roast the vegetables until the insides are soft. You can leave the eggplants on the heat for longer while you carefully watch your roasting peppers and tomatoes. When the vegetables are soft, use tongs or oven mitts to remove from heat; place under cold water, discard the scorched peels, and place in a large bowl. Mash all the roasted peeled vegetables, add in chopped garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Variation II, especially refreshing in the summer: 2 eggplants, sliced into ¼" round slices 2 zucchini or other summer squash, cut into strips 2 bell peppers, sliced into rings 1 onion, sliced into rings olive oil for sautéing 2 c. plain yogurt 2–3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped finely Sauté the vegetables in olive oil. Layer the vegetables with eggplant on the bottom, peppers, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini or summer squash, then onion on top. Prepare the sauce by mixing the yogurt and garlic, then pouring over the sautéed vegetables.

Pilav (Rice with Pasta) 1 T olive oil 1 t. salt (or less if broth is salty) 1 t. black pepper 2 T fideo or orzo pasta 1 c. baldo or other short grain white rice 2 c. chicken broth Heat the olive oil, add salt and pepper, stir in pasta. Stir in and brown pasta until it is a dark golden color. Stir in dry rice until it is coated with oil, then add 2 c. of broth. Vegans can also substitute a vegetable broth, or use plain water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Let the pilav cook until liquid is absorbed—-about 30 minutes. Remove from heat, take off lid and place 1–2 paper towels on top of the pot, then cover again. The towels help absorb any extra condensation. Before serving, lift lid and gently stir rice to separate the grains.

72  •  Sonia Tamar Seeman

Bezelye (Peas, Ground Lamb, Potatoes) 2–3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 medium onion, diced 2 T olive oil 1 t. pepper 1 t. salt 1 lb. ground lamb or beef 4–5 peeled and diced fresh tomatoes or 1 large can diced tomatoes 2 c. frozen peas (or if you use fresh peas, 2 lbs. unshelled peas produce 2 c. peas) 1 potato, diced Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil, add black pepper and salt. When onions are translucent, add ground meat and brown. When meat has browned, add tomatoes and simmer 5–10 minutes. Add frozen or freshly shelled peas and diced potatoes. Cook for 45–50 minutes.

Çoban Salatası (Shepherds’ Salad) 2 large or 4 small Persian cucumbers 4–5 ripe tomatoes 1 small brown onion 1–2 long green peppers (Capsicum annuum) (optional) 1 T olive oil salt and pepper to taste 1 lemon ½–1 bunch fresh parsley If using large cucumbers, peel, cut in half, and carve out the seed area. Cut each half again, making quarters, and slice into medium sized chunks about ½" thick. If using small Persian cucumbers, peel, slice into halves, then into ½" chunks. Cut tomatoes into the same size pieces as cucumber. Peel onion and dice. If you prefer a bit of heat, cut off the top of the peppers, slice, and scoop out the seeds, and then cut the remainder into small rings. Toss these ingredients with salt and pepper, juice of one lemon, and tablespoon of olive oil. Wash parsley, discard long stems, and chop up leaves; sprinkle on top. The salad is usually placed in the middle of the table with each guest partaking from the shared bowl.

Meyveler (Fresh Fruits) Turkey, and the Northwestern region of Thrace in particular, is very fertile, producing a great variety of fruits and vegetables. The flavors of Turkish produce found in neighborhood markets (pazar) and corner grocers (manav) are incredibly vivid. This is because most of the produce ripens in the field and their relatively short time line from field to table. For this reason, fruit is eaten in season, and most Turkish Roma are quite discerning about what produce to eat when. Here is a handy guide to preferred fruits according to season. For winter, serve quince (ayva), orange (portakal), pear (armut), and pomegranate (nar). For spring/early summer, serve cherry (kiraz), mulberry (dut), sour green plum (yeşil erik), and strawberry (çilek). For summer, serve apricot (kayısı), peach (şeftali), plum (erik), raspberry (ahududu), watermelon (karpuz), melon (kavun), and grape (üzüm). For fall, serve fig (incir), blackberry (böğürtlen) and mandarin orange (mandalina).

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Turkish Tea 3–4 T loose black Ceylon tea 1 tablespoon Earl Grey (optional) Use a çaydanlık or double teapot. Place dry tea in upper small teapot, hot water below in lower large teapot. Bring water to a boil, and then pour in enough hot water to cover dry tea; add more water to lower teapot and set back on low burner. You can set this up as you serve the main course and let the tea slowly steep during dinner. After dinner, tell stories and jokes catch up on family news, listen to music, and savor your company. Then serve the prepared tea in small clear glasses with sugar cubes on the side so your guests can sweeten their tea as they wish (or not!). Bring a bowl of fresh seasonal fruit to the middle of the table. For fruit with skins (quinces, oranges, tangerines, apples), peel and hand to your guests one by one. Melon and watermelon should be cut into large pieces without the rinds. Smaller fruit can be left in the middle for the guests to serve themselves. .

Turkish Roman Hospitality: Welcome to Nuran and Selim’s House! Turkish Romani (“Gypsy”) communities are extremely warm and hospitable, and meals are served while seated on the floor around a sofra (low, round table) or a tablecloth on the floor. Visiting is marked by food and drink. Anyone who comes to a Romani house is welcomed in, and, after a few pleasantries, at the very least is served a glass of water. Further distances traveled or higher status guests are served soda and either cookies or fresh fruit. In the meantime, the youngest bride or oldest

Figure 14.2  Romani dolma, photo courtesy of Sonia Seeman

74  •  Sonia Tamar Seeman

female daughter will quietly disappear into the kitchen to prepare tea. Within half an hour, one of the household’s women or girls will emerge with a tray of tea and cubes of sugar. The tea is served in two-inch-high, elegant, tulip-shaped glasses on delicate saucers, and the sound of metal spoons ring across the room as each person stirs his or her tea. The sound of more pleasantries, inquiries, and sharing information is accompanied by the delicate tinkle of metal against glass. Sharing meals is highly valued among Romani families, and dinners often include members of the extended families and any guest visitors. I am grateful for all the delicious moments with numerous Romani musician families and for the greatest number of meals shared with Selim Sesler’s family in Istanbul. The earliest daily activities concern food: before all of the men had awakened, I would get up with a family member to walk down the street to get bread, fresh eggs, yogurt, olives, and anything else needed for breakfast (kahvaltı). Decisions about meals are often collective, with wives consulting husbands or family members placing orders. Food preparation is a gender-segregated activity, although men and women both participate in decision-making and men can do the shopping. But women take charge of the chopping, roasting, stirring, and simmering, during which time they visit with each other. Male members of the household are either out in coffeehouses waiting for work or preparing for evening performances with shaving, getting dressed, or working on repertoire. It was during this period that my lessons were held, with Selim and me sitting out in the living room while his wife Nuran and/or his daughters were preparing food. Although Turkish Romani are in general quite gregarious and talkative, after quiet blessings of “bismillah,” silence sets in as everyone focuses on enjoying the food, filling their bellies, and moving away as soon as they are done. If there are more people than places at the table or sofra, guests finish quickly, then leave to make room for the next shift. After finishing the main course, guests retire to chairs, couches, or comfortable places on the floor. The female hostess brings out fruit and serves tea. This is when conversations occur. Conversational skills are highly valued signs of sociability, and conversations often seamlessly weave together storytelling, news items, descriptions of trips, and the latest gossip about musicians, singers, and local events. To be talkative is a virtue (konuşan), as is the ability to cite proverbs, tell jokes, replay comedic moments from shows, movies, performances, or neighborhood encounters. Even seemingly relatively passive television viewings become participatory events accompanied by feedback from the living room audience: “She’s had plastic surgery!” “He’s now performing back up with so-and-so soloist” “This was recorded before so-and-so died; look at that mastery!” If a wedding is coming up, the family will review a videotape or DVD of their own previous event in order to recollect how much a guest’s family had given in tips (bahşiş) so that they know what they need to give at that guest’s celebration—an equal or greater amount. Women and girls will comment on hairstyles, dresses, and shoes to get ideas for what they might wear or what they don’t like. They also study dance moves, and when inspired by the music, they might get up and dance in the living room. Or they can use this opportunity to make fun of a community member who has an unusual physical feature or mannerism. At one gathering, the girls stuffed pillows in the back of their şalvar (baggy pants) and did solo dances to make fun of a wide-hipped aunt. The living room also converts to an impromptu stage. Any younger member of the family who has a particular talent is called upon to perform: babies and toddlers are propped up and guided to perform abdominal shakes (göbek atma); a young child recites a poem from school; teenagers perform a rap or current popular song they learned from YouTube or execute the newest hip-hop moves. In the mid-1990s Ciguli’s dance routines from his hit song “Binnaz” were regularly enacted; in 2013–14 it was “Gangnam Style” and a new Romani hip-hop dance called “Techno Roman.” Throughout the evening, the hostess(es) serve rounds of tea; the third round signifies the end of the evening, and with the exception of close family members and overnight guests, all other guests take their leave at this point.

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For the family members, the evening turns into late night visiting in which the women and children stay up until the male professional musicians return from work between midnight and 2 a.m. The returning musician will bring home fish or meat from the market and set up a drinking table (içki masası). Musical conversations (muhabbet) take place around the drinking table: listening to recorded music, talking about musicians, events, and repertoire, and, when guests are present, taking turns playing taksims, free-meter improvisations based on a given makam (melodic mode). Younger musicians-in-training will be called upon to perform a taksim or a classical work they recently learned and soak up the feedback given out by the in-house master musician. I learned these recipes from the family of Selim Sesler and would like to thank his wife, Nuran, her daughters-in-law Fatma and Cahide, daughter Serap, granddaughters Merve, Mirayi, and little Nuran for hours and days of food, conversation, and deep companionship. I also thank sons Bülent and Ramazan Sesler for lessons, taking me to gigs and to visit relatives, and grandchildren Übeyt and Emine for hours of loving entertainment. Selim Sesler (1957–2014) was a master professional clarinetist in the Thracian Romani style. In addition to his virtuosic and inspired performances of Thracian Romani repertoire, he was also a composer and performer of popular and Turkish classical music. Nur yatsın içinde—May he rest in light. His wife, Nuran, is from the Gümüş musician family.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Cengiz, Belgin and Akgül, Özgür. 2008. Roman Olsun! Türkyeli Romanlardan Müzikler—Let my Love be Rom! Musics of Turkey’s Roma. Kalan 440. Selim Sesler—Oğlan Bizim Kız Bizim. 2006. Doublemoon DM 0036. Sesler, Selim and Seeman, Sonia. 1999. Keşan’a giden yollar—Regional and Roman (Gypsy) Music from Thrace. Kalan Müzik CD 154.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Seeman, Sonia Tamar. 2015. Sounding Roman: Representation and Performing Identity in Western Turkey. New York: Oxford University Press. Seeman, Sonia Tamar. 2010. “Selim’s Stories. Special Issue: Code Unknown-A Roma/Gypsy Montage.” Kevin Robins, guest ed. City 14 (6): 55–60. Seeman, Sonia Tamar. 2006. Presenting “Gypsy,” Re-Presenting Roman: Towards an Archeology of Aesthetic Production and Social Identity. Music and Anthropology of the Mediterranean. 11. http://www.umbc.edu/ MA/index/number11/seeman/see_0.htm

ARMENIA Jonathan McCollum Hyrun Asdtsunn eh. (Guests are sent by God.) Menu: Lavash (Armenian Flatbread), Hummus with Lavash, Sdebghin (Carrots), and Varoong (Cucumbers), Armenian Cheeses—Lori (Semisoft Cheese made from pasteurized cow’s milk) and Chanakh (Sharp Aged Cheese stored in brine), Grilled Armenian Vegetable Salad, Khorovats (Barbecued, Marinated Meat), Armenian Brandy (or regular brandy if unavailable) Preparation Time: Overnight. Cooking Process: This entire meal centers around the khorovats (barbecue). The night before, place your choice of meat in the marinade and allow marinating overnight. Serves six people (or more!).

The Recipes Lavash (Armenian flat bread, traditionally made in an underground clay oven called a tonir) 4 c. all-purpose flour 1½ t. salt 1½ t. baking powder 1 T sugar 1 stick (¼ lb.) completely melted, unsalted butter 1½ c. warm water 1 egg (mix with water to make an egg wash) Place flour into a large mixing bowl. Sift the salt, baking powder, and sugar into the flour. Mix well. Add the melted butter and most of the water. Mix until the dough forms a large dense ball. If the dough seems too dry, add the remaining water and continue to mix. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide the dough into 3 balls. Roll 1 ball of dough at a time into a rectangle shape that will fit on a 16"×12" baking sheet. Fold the rectangle-shaped dough into thirds, then in thirds again, creating a little bundle. Reroll each bundle into a large rectangle again. Place rolled dough on an ungreased 16"×12" baking sheet. Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the surface of each sheet with an egg wash (beaten egg with a little water). Bake on the lower oven rack for about 15 minutes, or until bottom starts to brown. Move the tray to the upper oven rack for about another 5 to 10 minutes, or until the top becomes a golden brown. Remove from oven and allow the lavash to cool. Continue this process until all balls of dough have been shaped and baked. Rather than soft, the lavash should be chewy and slightly crispy.

Armenian Cheeses 1 lb. lori (semisoft cheese made from pasteurized cow’s milk); a good substitution is English  cheddar. 1 lb. chanakh (a sharp aged cheese stored in brine); a good substitution is feta. Place cheese on the table and serve with lavash. 76

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Hummus with Lavash, Sdebghin (Carrots), and Varoong (Cucumbers) 1–20 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained ¼ c. olive oil ¼ c. to ⅓ c. fresh lemon juice ½ t. salt 2 small cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 2 T tahini paste (sesame seed paste) 6 c. of raw vegetables such as sdebghin (carrots), and varoong (cucumbers). ¼ t. paprika and kamoon (ground cumin seeds) Place chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, chopped garlic, and tahini paste in a food processor. Blend until smooth. If the hummus seems too thick, add extra olive oil. Cover and chill for at least two hours to allow flavors to develop. Serve with lavash, sdebghin (carrots), and varoong (cucumbers). Sprinkle lightly with paprika and ground cumin.

Grilled Armenian Vegetable Salad 3 smpoog (eggplants) 3 yeghertag (endives) 3 bghbegh (green and red peppers) 3 ghabakh (zucchinis) 3 lolig (tomatoes) 1 T olive oil 1 T salt

Dressing 2 T chopped azadkegh (fresh flat leaf parsley) salt and pepper to taste 1 T olive oil Rinse all vegetables and coat with olive oil and salt. Meanwhile, make sure your grill is medium hot. Work in batches, beginning with the eggplants, endives, and peppers. Continue working with the zucchinis and tomatoes. After the vegetables are limp and withered, place the vegetables in a large bowl and cover with cling film. Once they have rested and steamed, peel the skins of the eggplants and chop all the vegetables. Mix all of the vegetables together. For the dressing, mix parsley, salt, pepper, and olive oil together. Mix with the chopped vegetables.

Khorovats and Kednakhntsor (Barbecued, Marinated Meat with Potatoes) 8 chops on the bone, pork or lamb 2 onions, minced finely 3 t. salt 1 t. black pepper

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1 t. paprika 20–30 basil leaves, roughly torn 1 sliced red onion

Kednakhntsor (Potatoes) 6 large white skinned potatoes, such as Yukon Gold, sliced salt pepper Mix the onions, salt, black pepper, paprika, and basil leaves together in a large bowl. Add the chops and rub the mix all over them. Marinate overnight, and re-rub the meat at least once during this time. Cook over a wood-fired barbeque until done. Let the meat rest. Slice one large red onion and serve with the meat. Serve boiled or grilled potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Family, Friends, and Khorovats! Hayastan, or Armenia as it is known in the West, is a small landlocked, mountainous country surrounded by Georgia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. The Armenians have a long history going back to the fall of the Urartian Empire in the 6th century BC. Dating back to 301, Armenia is one of the oldest Christian cultures in the world. They know themselves as “Hay (hye),” a name that derives from the Biblical archer, Hayk, grandson of Japheth, son of Noah. Armenia has had periods of independence, but throughout most of its tumultuous history, Armenians have been ruled by the Arabs, Byzantines, Mongols, Seljuks, Ottomans, Persians, Russians, and the Soviets. Indeed, Armenia’s history is marked with war and suffering, but the survival of its people is a testament to their resilience, adaptability, and versatility. The Armenians have worked diligently to maintain their culture not only within the confines of their historic land known as Armenia, but also throughout the diaspora, including North America and Russia. Armenia was historically located in the center of the spice route, the Silk Road. Thus, Armenian cooks have been influenced by a myriad of cultures and cuisines. Armenian foods, while not overly spicy, include a variety of breads, cheeses, tangy yogurt, clarified butter, olive oil, herbs (most commonly parsley, mint, cilantro, dill), spices (salt, black pepper, dried peppers, allspice, cinnamon, caraway, cumin, coriander, turmeric, nutmeg, and other less common such as ground pits of dark cherries known as mahleb), grains (whole wheat berries, rice, and bulgur), legumes (most commonly lentils or chickpeas), a variety of vegetables, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, fragrant extracts (orange flower and rose water), as well as meats, such as poultry, beef, pork, and freshwater fish (from Lake Sevan). For Armenians, celebrating and socializing is typically a family affair that includes food, music, and laughter! The quintessential meal for gathering, singing, and companionship is khorovats (barbeque), which allows for communion with one’s family. As in most other cultures, gender roles are reflected in the preparation of khorovats. The evening prior to the barbeque, Armenian men typically begin marinating the meat, preferably pork or lamb on the bone and not too lean, in a combination of relatively simple spices, such as salt, black pepper, paprika, and basil leaves, together with chopped onions. The meat is marinated overnight, turned and rubbed at least once during this time. On the big day, women wash and prepare the vegetables and potatoes for the barbeque, after which men place the vegetables and meat on skewers called shampoor, along with sliced potatoes. The cooking and preparation of the food lasts between two and three hours. In many ways, khorovats is about male and female bonding and companionship. While the men fuss over just the right amount of flame for perfectly cooked meat, turning the skewers as necessary

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(or unnecessary!), women peel the charred skins of the cooked vegetables once they are done and chop them for the Armenian grilled vegetable salad. The women also set the table while men finish up the barbeque outside. In general, all Armenian dinners include an array of appetizers, which can include a variety of salads, cheeses, hummus, and lavash that are set on the table ahead of time for people to nibble on while the meat and grilled vegetables cook on the open flame. Well before dinner, toasts with vodka and/or beer begin outside by the tamada (“table master”), who makes the toasts and is the MC of the dinner and continues into the meal, once the meat and potatoes are finished! People chime in with “bari tesanq” (“good to see you all”), and then proceed to toast everyone who played a part in the creation of the barbeque, including the hosts, the women who worked so hard to help prepare the meal, toasts for parents and their children, toasts for those who have passed, toasts for peace and happiness, and, of course, toasts for the pit masters. During dinner, family members and friends update each other on the latest news and gossip. Khorovats, being a communal, casual meal, means that all courses are served at the same time, except for the appetizers and desserts. The table is covered with food and everyone sits and enjoys the meal without having to leave the table. When everyone has finished eating the main meal, leftovers are cleared away and pastries and strong Armenian coffee are served. Music plays a pivotal role in the celebration, though there is rarely dancing, unless it is a special occasion like a wedding or a birthday party. It is typical for Armenians to spontaneously burst into song at the table—traditional songs by Sayat Nova, Komitas (Soghomon Soghomonian) or other folk songs. If a piano is present or a duduk is around, a host or guest might even accompany the singer. Note: I would like to thank my wonderful friend and excellent cook, Mariam Stepyan, for her helpful advice!

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Armenian Popular Songs, Armenian Echos, Dicran Jamgochian, baritone, with various accompanying ensembles, Washington, DC: Golden Age Recording, GAR 2007—GAR 2008, 1983. Ask Me No Questions, performed by Djivan Gasparyan (duduk), New York: Traditional Crossroads, 1994. Musique des troubadours et de traditions populaires Sayat Nova, Ensemble de Musique Armenienne, France: Ocora: Distribution, Harmonia Mundi, France, 1983. Songs and Dances of Armenia, New York: Folkways Records, 1952. The Music of Armenia. Volume 3: Duduk, performed by Gevorg Dabagian, Tucson, AZ: Celestial Harmonies, 1996. The Music of Armenia. Volume 4: Kanon: traditional zither music, Tucson, AZ: Celestial Harmonies, 1996. The Music of Armenia. Volume 5: Folk music. Tucson, AZ: Celestial Harmonies, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Armenian food websites (select): http://www.thearmeniankitchen.com/ http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/ armenian.html. Ata’yan, Robert. 1999. The Armenian Neume System of Notation. Translated from the 1959 edition and edited by Vrej Nersessian. Richmond, England: Curzon, [1959]. Komitas Vartabed. 1998. Armenian Sacred and Folk Music. Translated by Edward Gulbekian. London: Curzon. McCollum, Jonathan. 2004. “Music, Ritual, and Disaporic Identity: A  Case Study of the Armenian Apostolic Church.” PhD dissertation. University of Maryland. ––––––. 2014. “Analysis of Music Notation in Music Historiography: Armenian Neumatic Khaz from the Ninth Century through Early Twentieth Centuries.” In Theory and Method in Historical Ethnomusicology, edited by Jonathan McCollum and David Hebert, 197–256. Lanham, MD and Oxford: Lexington Books.

80 • Jonathan McCollum McCollum, Jonathan and Andy Nercessian. 2004. Armenian Music: A  Comprehensive Bibliography and Discography. Lanham, MD and Oxford: Scarecrow Press. Nercessian, Andy. 2001. The Duduk and National Identity in Armenia. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ––––––, ed. 2002. Old Armenian Songs: A Nineteenth Century Compilation by Ghewond Alishan. Newcastle-uponTyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

UZBEKISTAN Tanya Merchant Osh – avilyo, non-payg’ambar. (Pilaf is a saint, bread is the Prophet.)

Figure 16.1  Uzbek osh, photo courtesy of Tanya Merchant

Menu: Osh (Pilaf) with Cucumber and Tomato Salad and Meva-Cheva (Fruit of All Kinds). Serve with a light, airy white bread that can be torn by hand (such as sperlonga or ciabatta) and hot tea. Preparation Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes (1 hour and 45 minutes if you buy prejulienned carrots). Cooking Process: After starting the pilaf, there is usually time to prepare the salad while it cooks. The salad can also be made ahead and left in the refrigerator. Meva-cheva can also be prepared ahead of time and is usually set out for guests to eat while the pilaf finishes cooking and brought out again once the meal is over.

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The Recipes Osh (Pilaf) 1 c. high-heat oil (canola, sunflower, etc.) 1 large onion, sliced thinly 2 lbs. beef (or lamb) cut in roughly 1" cubes 2½ heads garlic (2 left whole, ½ sliced) 1½ lbs. carrots, julienned 2 lbs. medium grain white rice water 2 t. salt (more to taste) 2 T cumin seed Add oil to a large pot (6 quart or larger) on the stove and heat on high, then add the onions and fry them to a golden brown. Next stir in the cubes of meat and the sliced garlic and salt, stirring until the meat browns. Then add the carrots, stir, put the lid on, and turn the burner down to medium (the mixture should simmer actively). While that mixture cooks, wash the rice in a large bowl, adding warm water and swirling the rice around, then draining three times, filling the bowl a last time with warm, salted water to cover the rice. Set aside (this helps the rice cook faster). After the carrots start to glisten and soften (5–8 minutes), add water to cover and add the whole globes of garlic, burying them in the carrot and meat mixture. Bring the mixture back to a boil and then simmer while you drain the rice and add it to the top of the pot, smoothing the rice into an even layer above the carrot, onion, and meat mixture. Gently add water to cover the rice and bring everything up to a boil, simmering on medium heat 8–10 minutes with the lid on. This is a good time to start the salad. Before adding ½ to ¾ of the cumin seed to the top of the rice, pour it into the palm of your hand and use the thumbnail of your other hand as a pestle, pressing and rubbing the seeds to bring out the flavor (set the remainder aside to sprinkle on top before serving). Sprinkle the crushed cumin onto the top of the rice. Then take the handle of a wooden spoon and poke multiple (7–10) holes in the rice from the top to the bottom of the mixture. Simmer another 12–15 minutes, then lightly stir the rice layer and smooth into a dome shape. Let it simmer until the rice is softened all the way through (but don’t wait until it gets mushy). Serve family style on a large plate (lagan). Some pull the meat out and place it on top of the rice and carrots with the globe of garlic at the peak (to be opened when serving), sprinkling on more cumin seed to the top. Others incorporate both meat and garlic cloves into the entire mixture and serve it in bowls. Pilaf can be eaten straight from the large dish with spoons or hands.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad 1 small red onion (or ½ medium) 5–6 large ripe red tomatoes 2–3 small or 1–2 large cucumbers salt to taste Slice all vegetables as thinly as possible and combine in a large bowl, keeping as much of the juice from the tomato with the salad as possible. Sprinkle ample salt on top and mix in gently. Serve the

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salad in small dishes separate from the pilaf (so individuals can combine the two dishes, eating the two together in the same bite).

Meva-cheva (Fruit of All Kinds) Arrange a selection of dried fruit, seasonal fresh fruit, and nuts on many small plates dispersed around the table. Grapes, dried apricots, raisins, sultanas, almonds, sugar-coated, dried chickpeas, and sugar-coated peanuts are all staples, as well as slices of watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe in the summer. Serve before and after the meal with many cups of piping hot tea.

Shashmaqom and the Morning Osh Food and music constantly intertwine in Uzbekistan, whether when families sing along to pop songs on the radio while preparing the evening meal or when friends trade couplets from songs over a tablecloth laden with fruits, nuts, and tea. Music’s special link with food and ritual is especially clear during Uzbek culture’s numerous gatherings and ceremonies to celebrate and seal a marriage. One of the most important of these ritual celebrations is the morning osh, when neighbors gather and eat pilaf and listen to traditional music in the early hours of the morning before a marriage is sealed. Despite its key importance within the complex of wedding events, there are many other occasions to eat osh, which pervades Uzbek daily life. It is cooked at home, on the menu at restaurants, and enjoys pride of place at many large celebrations. Osh is the national dish for good reason—families traditionally eat it every Thursday evening for dinner—and most people eat it multiple times a week without tiring of it. Osh is so important that it is a synonym for the general term “food.” Wedding osh marks the uniqueness of the special occasion through the addition of chickpeas and golden raisins. The musical landscape of the morning osh is also unique with its requirement for traditional music—most of the osh prepared in kitchens and eaten in restaurants is accompanied by pop songs experienced through karaoke, radio, or CD player. The morning osh begins very early on the day of the marriage ceremony (6 a.m. seemed to be the norm in my neighborhood). Traditionally, the parents host all the men in the neighborhood, as well as extended family and coworkers, treating them to a breakfast of pilaf prepared in giant cast-iron kettles that sit atop oil drum stoves. The morning osh is a decidedly male space; women experience it from the periphery of the celebration, having bowls of osh delivered to them as they watch and listen through windows in the apartments above and wait by the sidelines to help out with clean up and tear down. The event is announced to the surrounding area via blasts and melodic riffs performed on the long trumpet (karnay) and shawm (surnay). Long tables with benches are set up in the courtyard below the cluster multistory apartment buildings typical in Tashkent, and the smell of cooking pilaf begins to waft into the windows above. Following the trumpet blasts and the intensifying smell of pilaf, men emerge from the entryways of the nearby apartment buildings and soon there are dozens of them lined up behind the kettles with caterers or family members ladling pilaf into blue- and white-patterned, stoneware bowls. As the line of men moves, those with bowls full of pilaf proceed to sit down at the tables where blisteringly hot teapots and tea bowls wait for them. At this point, the musicians begin to play. Small groups of traditional musicians (usually male) accompany the morning osh. They often include a vocalist, a frame drum player, and string players in some combination. The musicians perform the music in a heterophonic fashion, following the vocalists’ lead or the most experienced musician in the occasional instrumental piece. The pieces come from the maqom repertoire and related pieces with roots in cities that hosted important courts along the Silk Road. The best known of these is the Shashmaqom (six maqoms) that traces back to the city

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of Bukhara as early as the 15th century. The music, like the city, has historically been shared between Uzbeks and Tajiks and performed by both Muslims and Jews, but has experienced stratification and standardization as it became important to the national projects in both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the 20th and 21st centuries. As a result, each piece in the Shashmaqom now has an official version in the Tajik and Uzbek languages. The texts are drawn from classical poetry and ghazals by Sufi poets such as Alisher Navoiy (1441–1501) and Zahiruddin Babur (1483–1530). The pieces in Central Asian maqom repertoires were transmitted orally through the master-apprentice system until codified in the 20th century. Each piece in the Shashmaqom repertoire begins softly in the very bottom of the vocal and instrumental range, gradually gaining intensity and pitch height until reaching its climax in the upper reaches of range, volume, and timbral intensity, subsequently returning to the lower ranges as each piece closes. Pieces such as “Savti Kalon” and “Nasr Ushshoq” exemplify this gradual growth in intensity and feature short instrumental breaks that repeat phrases to allow the vocalist to catch his breath. Vocal ornamentation is very important and thought to be one of the most expressive aspects of this music and can be heard as the singer slides between notes and pulsates with a wide vibrato on held notes. Despite its progression up to intense heights, maqom is thought of as gentle and contemplative, sophisticated and healing. This is especially true when comparing the long legato phrases of maqom to the blaring long trumpet and shawm music that announces the occasion or the driving pop tunes that are featured in other aspects of wedding celebrations.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Munojat Yulchieva and Turgun Alimatov have international releases of traditional music and maqom. Smithsonian Folkways’ Music of Central Asia Series volumes 2 and 7 also feature maqom and related music from the region. Listen for highly ornamented vocal phrases that are mimicked by the accompanying strings. Rayhon, Sevara Nazarkhan, and Yulduz Usmanova give listeners a good sense of the soundscape of the Uzbek kitchen with their “national” pop music featuring traditional influences. In their music you can hear aspects of the strident vocal tone and pulsating vocal ornaments found in maqom with electronic accompanying that features a harmonic language common in American and European pop music. See also: classicmusic.uz/index.htm

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Levin, Theodore.1996. The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Merchant, Tanya. 2005. “Identity and Exoticism in Sevara Nazarkhan’s Yol Bolsin.” Image and Narrative 11. http:// www.imageandnarrative.be/inarchive/worldmusicb_advertising/tanyamerchant.htm

V The Americas

WESTERN PRAIRIES IN NORTH AMERICA Sarah Quick Rubaboo: A Métis stew that consists of anything you can get your hands on Menu: “Neck Bones,” Bannock, Fried Berries, Rice Pudding, and Muskeg Tea Preparation Time: Approximately 2½ to 3 hours. Cooking Process: Begin with boiling the seasoned water for the neck bones first, letting the neck bones soften while the water simmers for about an hour before starting on the other parts of the menu. Chop the vegetables for the soup, and then begin preparing the rice for the rice pudding, depending on the kind of rice used this may take 15 minutes to 45 minutes. While the rice is simmering, prepare the other ingredients to be added to the rice pudding, preheat the oven, and add more water to the soup with more seasoning and vegetables. Add all the ingredients for the rice pudding to bake in the oven. Prepare the bannock next and then add it to the oven. Last, fry the berries. Serves six people.

The Recipes “Neck Bones” or Neck Bone Soup 4 lbs. pig neck bones salt and pepper 2 medium onions 2 large potatoes or 4 small potatoes Cover neck bones with seasoned boiling water (approximately 2 c.) in a large pot. Simmer covered until tender, usually about 1½ hours. Once tender, add 8 c. more water, chopped onions and chopped potatoes, again seasoning with salt and pepper. Other available vegetables are also good to add: chopped carrots and turnips, for example. Simmer for another 45 minutes to an hour. Neck bones are often only available if you ask the butcher for them.

(Wild) Rice Pudding ¼ c. honey ¼ c. maple syrup If missing honey or syrup, brown sugar may be substituted for either 2 beaten eggs ¼ t. vanilla extract ½ t. cinnamon ⅛ t. nutmeg dash of allspice ¼ t. salt 2 c. scalded milk 2 c. cooked rice (wild rice or wild rice pieces, long grain white rice, or a mix of the wild and regular rice all work well) ¾ c. soaked raisins (or any dried berries) in hot water (or rum for extra flavor) or fresh berries 86

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Combine the sweeteners and then add beaten eggs and spices. Pour into baking dish and stir in scalded milk, rice, and then the raisins (or berries). Bake in a preheated oven at 350˚F for about an hour. The top should begin to brown and harden; it’s finished when your knife comes out clean. To make it really fancy, add almond slivers for the last 15 minutes.

La Galet (Bannock) 3 c. flour 1 t. salt 2 T baking powder ½ c. shortening, bacon grease, or lard 1½ c. water or milk Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the shortening and water. On a floured surface, knead it to form a smooth ball. Place it on a greased sheet or pan and bake at 350˚F for 25 to 30 minutes. Adding 1 T sugar also helps it brown and adds flavor.

Fried Saskatoon Berries or Chokecherries 2 T lard 4 c. berries sugar water flour If using chokeberries, you may mash them ahead of time or mash them later when cooking. In a frying or saucepan, melt the lard, add the berries and sugar to taste. Add a little water, and then flour to thicken. These berries will make a runny sauce within minutes; but if the heat is turned lower and the mixture cooks for another ½ hour, it will begin to become more like a paste. It can be eaten warm or cold.

Muskeg Tea dried muskeg leaves steamed in hot water for 5–10 minutes honey or sugar to taste Optional: combine with another tea of choice.

From Rubaboo to Neck Bone Soup: Serving Up a Good Time with Métis Music, Dance, and Food In the summer of 1999, I began preliminary research on Métis identity and musical practice in the prairies of Western North America. The term “Métis” stems from the French term métissage, which basically means of mixed heritage. Here, French Canadian, Scottish, and other European fur trade employees intermarried with indigenous women, and in many cases their children married children from other mixed heritage families. Eventually, some of these families saw themselves as a separate culture. Nevertheless, exactly when and where this ethnogenesis occurred is still debated by scholars, although the Red River settlement in what is now Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the communities around the Great Lakes are the most often cited origins.

88 • Sarah Quick

Western Métis are most well known for their 19th century roles in the fur trade as voyageurs, pemmican producers, and “freeman” trapping and trading as independent contractors. Pemmican—basically dried bison meat, berries, and fat—supplied traders and voyageurs with calories easily carried and stored. Rubaboo refers to any kind of a stew and what historically contained pemmican, as well as thickening agents like flour and any vegetables on hand, les boulettes or bison meatballs, and tea among other food and drink. These appeared in the writings of travelers attending festive Métis gatherings that ubiquitously included fiddle and dance events recorded by travelers with such titles as “Half-Breed Dance.” Later in the 19th century, Métis gained more notoriety for their “rebellions” (what Métis see as resistances) against the Canadian government over land rights, after which many Métis dispersed and/or went into hiding until later periods of political activism in the 20th century. When I started my fieldwork, I was particularly interested in the fiddling celebrated as Métis heritage. Fiddlers within this tradition were once stigmatized by outsiders for their “crazy rhythm” and “crooked” tunes but had recently been embraced by scholars and other fiddlers, and Métis were concerned with maintaining and reviving the traditional tunes. I  soon learned that this fiddling, according to those who sought to maintain the older style, could not be divorced from the dances it accompanied. With names like Reel of Eight, Duck Dance, and Red River Jig, many of these dances and tunes have antecedents in Euro-Canadian traditions, but they have also transformed into a different style and aesthetic. Most of these dances also require step dancing or what most refer to as “jigging.” Early on in my fieldwork, I also learned that there was not always a clear divide between First Nations and Métis communities and families, and many of the performers I worked with identified as both First Nations and Métis or even solely as First Nations, even though many still identify these fiddle-dance forms as Métis. These recipes (except for the rice pudding) stem from two different families: one family primarily identifies as Métis (the Arcands) and another identifies as both Métis and First Nations (the Andersons and Loyers). Like the contemporary performers themselves, my fieldwork is often “on the road” at music or larger festival events where participants mainly tent or stay in their various sized campers. Although I have worked primarily in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, fieldwork has also included pockets of study in Manitoba, North Dakota, and Montana. Almost ubiquitous at these festivals are bison burgers, bannock, Saskatoon berry pies, and hamburger soup. Back to Batoche, an annual event celebrating Métis heritage and recognizing Métis’ 1885 resistance against the Canadian government near where they fought in Saskatchewan, is one such summer festival. It was here where I first heard about the famous neck bone soup that Métis fiddler-composer Johnny Arcand’s mother made. One year, “Kokum” (what many in the family called Johnny Arcand’s mother that basically is Cree for “your grandmother”) brought some soup for all to try. It was almost a running joke that Kokum would have to make neck bone soup at family events. Once I tried it, however, I understood. It was rich and flavorful, a thrifty comfort food. At this Batoche or perhaps the next summer’s, rubaboo was a featured song in the musical drama that featured Michif, a language that combines French nouns with Cree verbs and is seen as the heritage language for many Métis. It was not until much later that I made the connection between rubaboo and neck bone soup: These are basically “one pot” meals, what Vicki Arcand once described for her husband Johnny’s style of cooking. They bring together interesting flavors through the ingredients on hand, while simultaneously spreading them out for more servings than the ingredients alone would cover. They also have an association to earlier times viewed with nostalgia, pride, and even humor. Neck bones are not the meatiest of animal parts, and at one time they were available for little money or nothing. Nevertheless, they bring flavor and protein to your meal. While these dishes index earlier times of struggle, they also speak to savviness in surviving, even thriving, under such conditions.

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At another Métis event I attended, the emcee joked that attendees did not know what to do at the blind auction; they were leaving “neck bones” instead of money bids. While bannock is claimed by Euro-Canadians as well, every First Nations and/or Métis event I attended featured bannock, either fried or baked. Similarly, Métis families and Métis events often feature their version of rice pudding, although the one featured here is one I have developed over time. Saskatoons are wild berries, similar to blueberries, found across the northern prairies; they usually ripen sometime in July. Saskatoons, as well as chokecherries, are commonly used for making jams that could also be served with bannock, but I chose fried berries as something that would be novel, yet still tasty, with bannock. “Muskeg tea” is perhaps better known as “Labrador Tea” in other places in Canada. It can be store bought but is even more pleasing if you find it in a swampy area in the woods and dry it yourself. The Andersons often served it mixed with the common Canadian Red Rose brand of black tea.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Arcand, Johnny. 2007. Meeyashin. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Desmond Lagace Studios, JA-014. Drops of Brandy and Other Traditional Métis Tunes, Vol. I and II. (several artists). 2001. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Gabriel Dumont Institute, GD1001 and 1002. Lederman, Anne, ed. 2003 (1987). Old Native and Métis Fiddling in Western Manitoba. Toronto, ON: Falcon Productions, CD387. Menard, Andrea. 2002. Andrea Menard as the Velvet Devil. Saskatoon, SK: Velvet & Hawk Productions. Vrooman, Nicolas, ed. 1992 (1984). Plains Chippewa/Metis Music from Turtle Mountain. Smithsonian Folkways, SF40411.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Andersen, Chris. 2014. Métis: Race, Recognition, and the Struggle for Indigenous Peoplehood. Vancouver, BC; Toronto, ON: UBC Press. Campbell, Maria. 1979 (1973). Halfbreed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. National Aboriginal Health Organization. 2008. Métis Cookbook and Guide to Healthy Living, Second edition. Ottawa: National Aboriginal Health Organization. Quick, Sarah. 2008. “The Social Poetics of the Red River Jig in Alberta and Beyond: Meaningful Heritage and Emerging Performance.” Dance in Canada: Contemporary Perspectives, Special Issue for Ethnologies 30/1: 77–101.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO Andrew Martin “Whatever ya put in da soup, is da truth!” Calypso Rose (1991) Menu: Bake and Shark served with Beer (Carib for women, Stagg for men) or Ginger Shandy (lemonade mixed with ginger beer). Preparation Time: 2 hours (1 hour active). Cooking Process: Marinade the shark while you fry the bake, and then fry the shark pieces.

The Recipes Bake and Shark Shark: 1½ lb. shark (or any firm white fish) cut into 6 6-ounce pieces 3 lemons 3 cloves garlic 1½ T chives 3 scallions 1½ t. olive oil 1½ T thyme salt and pepper to taste 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash) flour (for flouring shark) oil for frying 3 fresh tomatoes, sliced ½ cabbage, diced 1 head of lettuce, shredded hot sauce (Trinidadians prefer brands like Matouk’s, though Tabasco or Sriracha are good substitutes.)

Bake 3 c. flour 2½ t. baking powder 1½ t. salt 1¼ t. sugar water (about ¾ c.) oil for frying Place shark in mixing bowl along with the juice of lemons and enough water to cover. Let marinade in refrigerator for 1 hour. Combine bake ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, water) knead 90

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slightly and let sit for ½ hour. Begin heating oil for frying. Cut bake into 6–8 individual pieces and roll into balls then flatten. Fry bake (one side at a time) in two batches and place on paper towel to drain excess grease. The bake will puff during frying process. Cut bake into a pocket (à la pita for falafel) and set aside. Drain shark and pat dry. Finely dice garlic, chives, and scallions, and combine with olive oil, thyme, salt, and pepper. Rub seasoning mixture over shark, dip in egg wash, flour, and fry until crisp. Place on towel to drain excess grease. Slide shark into sliced bake pouch along with fresh tomato, diced cabbage, and lettuce. Douse with hot sauce.

Trinidadian Bake and Shark During the recent Panorama competition held in the Queen’s Park Savannah, the catchy melody of soca/calypso star Destra Garcia’s song-of-the-year hit “Callin Meh” was everywhere. The tune wafted in and out from various steelbands and blared from the park’s massive sound system and passing car stereos. For one brief moment during Carnival, “Callin Meh” captured the ears and hearts of Trinidad’s approximately one million inhabitants and those of many more expatriates living in Toronto, London, and New York. It was well past 2 a.m., and the steelband competition was beginning to wind down for the day. The countless food vendors surrounding the Queen’s Park Savannah were busy preparing for the crowds of steelband supporters as they trudged home for the evening. The pointed lyrics of “Callin Meh” boast the allure of the steelpan, and one particularly moved local man dropped his roti (bread) and grabbed my arm as I walked past his food stand, shouting, “Hey white boy, dis song teach yu what Trini be!” Next year, “Callin Meh” will be a distant memory, and another song will take its place as song of the year. Yet, the food stands of the Queen’s Park Savannah—and those of the extended Caribbean diaspora celebrating Carnival in Notting Hill, London, Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, and Toronto—will remain year after year. Their smells will float in and out of the crowds, reminding expatriates of home. In some aspects, the cultural makeup of Trinidad and Tobago is similar to many Caribbean islands and can best be understood as a combination of Spanish, French, and British colonialism, and American mainstream culture. As in other former colonies of the Caribbean, slaves brought to Trinidad and Tobago during the 18th and 19th centuries retained elements of their native customs. Remarkably, the trauma of their capture, sale, and transatlantic voyage did little to erase the strong drum, dance, and culinary traditions of former Africans. However, unlike several other colonies of the Americas, the slaves of Trinidad and Tobago were not all of West African descent. In fact, because of the British imperial expansion in India during the 19th century, a substantial portion of Trinidad and Tobago’s slaves—or more accurately, indentured servants—were of South Indian descent. Trinidadians often describe their own cultural heritage in terms of the dish calaloo, which is a West African spinach and seafood stew famous for its variety of spices and flavors. The introduction of South Indian culture had a far-reaching impact upon all elements of Trinidadian society, and today the creolized culture of Trinidad holds equal claim to curry, jerk chicken, and mushy peas. French colonial culture is also a dominant force in the historical development of Trinidadian music and culture. In 1803, Britain invited many recently expelled French plantation owners from Haiti to settle in Trinidad and Tobago in order to farm the islands. Along with better sugarcane farming techniques, the French residents infused new cultural practices into all elements of Trinidadian society. One result of this cultural mix was a propensity to celebrate sacred periods of the liturgical Christian calendar; in particular, the Lenten season. In colonial Trinidad and Tobago, the festival atmosphere of European Carnival and bacchanal was quickly adopted by the Afro- and Indo-Trinidadian slaves/indentured servants, many of whom saw Catholicism as an adoptive surrogate for theistic rituals and worship practiced in Africa and India. The lead up and onset of the Lenten

92  •  Andrew Martin

season is punctuated by Carnival—a continuous party beginning on J’ouvert Monday and ending on the morning of Ash Wednesday. Carnival is a national holiday in Trinidad and far and away the most important annual celebration, secular or liturgical. Visually, Carnival is an overload of large, ornate costumes and scantily clad revelers; however, the sound of Carnival, and indeed Trinidad, is steelpan. If one considers the steelpan (sometimes called steel drum)—a tuned idiophone created out of fifty-five-gallon oil barrels—images of island bliss, sunny beaches, piña coladas, and relaxation flood the imagination. The national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, the steelpan is one of the most sonically unique instruments in the world. To this end, steelband music has transcended Trinidad’s island boundaries and can be found throughout the far reaches of the globe. Beyond Carnival, perhaps the most important cultural institution for many Trinidadians are the panyards. It is here, in these neighborhood locations spread throughout the cities and towns of Trinidad, that steelbands rehearse and communities come together. Each night in the months leading up to the Panorama competition in February, steelbands rehearse in these panyards, which themselves range from vacant lots with tin roofs to fully built structures. The steelbands range in size from 35 to 100 players, and supporters are fiercely loyal to their favorite steelbands. The equatorial climate of Trinidad provides hot weather for most of the year, which favors the late-night practice session. The type of weather favorable for music is not, however, always favorable for indoor cooking. As a result, most Trinidadians shun the oven in favor of stewed or fried foods. And no Trinidadian meal would be complete without a healthy dose of hot sauce. Local favorites vary, but one can expect to find Trinidadians pouring the condiment on everything from pizza to “bake and shark.” Trinidad has a vibrant street food culture, and a trip to the island isn’t complete without a breakfast of doubles (curried chickpeas with fried bread) and corn soup. Many Trinidadians prefer to grab street food rather than cook at home and, similar to steelbands, are very loyal to certain vendors. In the late evenings, after the heat of the day and a long steelband rehearsal, many Trinidadians look to food stands within, or in close proximity to, the panyards for roti (unleavened bread with curried meat) or bake and shark. Located in the Port-of-Spain neighborhood of Woodbrook, the steelband Phase II’s panyard is an excellent example of the scene. The space itself is bordered on one side by residential housing and on the other by a large hotel/apartment complex. Leading up to Panorama, Phase II’s panyard erupts with the symphonic sounds of the steelband rehearsing. Supporters pass away the evening chatting with friends, while vendors walk through the crowds selling peanuts, rum, and light beer. There is a mix of young and old as the players in the steelband range in age from 7–78. Around 1 a.m., the rehearsal in Phase II’s panyard winds down, and I walk with a friend and his twelve-year-old son down the meandering neighborhood street toward the main road. We stop at a food stand and each get a fresh coconut and share some roti. As we hurry toward the bus stop, a maxi taxi (taxi shuttle bus) stops in front of us, offering a cheap lift to another panyard. “Despers is still playin’ up de hill,” the driver says. Despite the late hour, we climb into the crowded vehicle and speed off toward the Laventille neighborhood where the Desperados’ panyard is located. The maxi taxi drives past the Queen’s Park Savannah on the way to Desperados’ panyard, and the scene is once again bustling with energy, even at this late hour. Carnival season is short in Trinidad, and the people take full advantage of the festivities.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Any Panorama Finals CD—these are produced each year via Pantrinbago (the governing body of Trinidadian steelbands) http://www.pantrinbago.co.tt Calypso Awakening: From The Emory Cook Collection [Assorted artists] Smithsonian Folkways, 2000. SFW40453.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Lovelace, Earl. 2003. The Dragon Can’t Dance [novel]. New York: Persea Books. Stuempfle, Stephen. 1995. The Steelband Movement: The Forging of a National Art in Trinidad and Tobago. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO Gage Averill and Giovanna Perot-Averill Every bread has its cheese. (There is someone for everyone.)

Figure 19.1  Ingredients for Trinidadian jerk chicken, photo courtesy of Gage Averill

Menu: Jerk Chicken, Peas and Rice, Green Mango Slaw, and Saltfish Accra. Preparation Time: About 2 hours. Cooking Process: Prepare the jerk sauce the previous day and marinate the chicken overnight. Prepare the mango slaw at least an hour before the meal and refrigerate. While you are refrigerating the mango, prepare the ingredients for the accra and the peas and rice. Put the peas and rice on the stove to cook and begin barbecuing or baking the chicken. Ten minutes before you sit down to eat, begin to throw in the balls of saltfish accra so that they are fresh off the stove to start the meal. The peas and rice, jerk chicken, and mango slaw can all come on the table 10 minutes later for the main course.

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Figure 19.2  Trinidadian jerk chicken, peas and rice, and green mango slaw, photo courtesy of Gage Averill

The Recipes Jerk Chicken 1 whole (free range, organic if possible) chicken cut in sections 4–10 scotch bonnet peppers (depending on how hot you want the marinade to be); wear disposable gloves and wash your hands well afterward! 1 onion, peeled and chopped ½ c. scallions (wash, trim, and chop) ½–1 t. ground allspice (We prefer the lesser amount if using North American allspice, as it contains more cinnamon and nutmeg.) ½ t. freshly grated nutmeg ½ t. ground cinnamon (Vietnamese cinnamon is best.) 1 t. freshly ground black pepper 1 t. Kosher salt 2 t. white or brown sugar 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped ½ t. dry thyme ¼ c. dark soy sauce

96  •  Gage Averill and Giovanna Perot-Averill

½ c. distilled white vinegar or cider vinegar 1½ T liquid hickory smoke or liquid pimento seasoning (Available in West Indian or Caribbean stores. Do not use this if you are grilling over hickory or pimento sticks added to the coals.) 2 limes 2 t. vegetable or canola oil Slash the chicken all over with a knife ½'' deep or poke with skewer to allow the marinade to penetrate. Cut 2 limes in half and squeeze and rub fresh lime over all chicken pieces. Rinse in water and pat dry all chicken pieces (wet chicken will not allow the marinade to adhere). Place chicken pieces in a (nonreactive) plastic or glass bowl (the acid in the marinade reacts with metal and can ruin the taste). Blend all other wet and dry ingredients in a blender or food processor until they create a smooth paste. Pour ½–¾ c. marinade over the chicken and, with your gloves still on, work the marinade onto the chicken pieces. Marinate overnight (minimum 8 hours). Any leftover marinade can be bottled and kept (indefinitely) in a glass container for your next jerk meal. The most traditional means of cooking jerk chicken (or pork, or whatever you have on hand) is to cut a steel barrel in two from the top to the bottom, put hinges and a handle on it, and cook the jerk over a pimento wood fire. This is what you might find on a street side in Trinidad or in Jamaica. If this strikes you as a little too much preparation, feel free to barbecue (a word that comes from the Caribbean native peoples, originally written down as barbacoa) or even to bake the jerk chicken in the oven. Just be sure to brown the outside well and make sure it’s cooked through and through on the inside. For an especially traditional taste, look for hickory or pimento wood chips and add them to your barbecue coals. One can use the same jerk marinade for a variety of meats or meat substitutes. These days it’s not odd to find jerk shrimp, fish, or tofu. Beware: most commercial “jerk” marinades have little relationship to traditional jerks (the exception is Grace Jerk Seasoning, which can substitute for fresh marinade in a pinch!). Make it fresh—you will be rewarded by the complexity of flavors.

Peas and Rice 2 T oil 1 small onion, diced 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped 19 oz. can of pigeon peas, drained kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 2 c. long-grain white rice (rinsed and drained) 3–4 c. low-sodium chicken broth ¾ c. canned coconut milk small piece of salt pork or substitute a slice of bacon 1 scotch bonnet pepper ½ t. dried thyme Heat the oil on medium heat in a Dutch oven. Add the onions and garlic to the Dutch oven and cook for a few minutes until they turn transparent, being careful not to burn them. Add peas and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the rice in the pot and gently stir together. Pour 3 c. of chicken broth and the coconut milk into the pot. Submerge bacon and scotch bonnet pepper into the mixture, being careful not to burst the pepper. Add the thyme and any additional salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about a ½ hour or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender but not mushy. The reserved chicken stock can be added if the rice is still hard. Periodically stir the pot, making sure there is enough liquid and that the pepper has not burst. Fluff

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with a fork, remove the pepper from the pot (the pepper can be served on the side and cut into small pieces to mix with the food). Note: The “old-school” version of this recipe would utilize dry pigeon peas (“burst” overnight) and fresh milk and meat from coconuts. It is more common now, however, to use the abbreviated version seen here.

Green Mango Slaw 3 firm, unripe mangos (the skin should be green), cut into thin strips 1 scotch bonnet pepper, chopped (seeds can be removed for less heat) ½ English cucumber, unpeeled and cut into thin strips (same size as the mangos) ½ red onion, very thinly sliced 2 limes, juiced kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste ⅛ c. olive oil 1 t. sugar ¼ c. rough-chopped cilantro Put all of the fruit and vegetables—including the cilantro—into a nonreactive plastic or glass bowl. Pour the lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and oil into the bowl. Toss lightly. Cover and refrigerate for an hour. Taste and correct for salt, pepper, and sugar.

Saltfish Accra For the purpose of this meal, we are using the accra as an appetizer. It is sometimes served as a snack, or in other contexts it can be served with fried bake, aka float (a type of fried bread, found elsewhere in this volume) for breakfast or lunch. 2 c. flaked saltfish (salted cod) 2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour 2 sprigs green onion (green and white parts finely chopped) 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 t. sugar 2 t. baking powder 2 cloves garlic, finely minced 1 scotch bonnet pepper kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste water, see recipe Canola oil for deep frying, quantities as appropriate Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and add the saltfish. Boil for 5 minutes. Taste a small piece of cod. If still too salty, boil for 4 minutes more. Remove boiled salt cod and flake with a fork, removing any bones discovered. Squeeze out excess water from the saltfish. In a bowl, add all ingredients to the saltfish except flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Add this to the saltfish and gradually add enough water to make a soft texture (this should not be liquid-like). Heat the oil in a heavy-bottom pan. Drop in a small test amount (½ t. batter) and cook 3–4 minutes. If the outside is brown and the inside is cooked (not gooey) it is the right temperature. Adjust as necessary. Use approximately ⅛ c. of batter per fritter. Fry 2–5 minutes until golden brown on all sides, and then

98  •  Gage Averill and Giovanna Perot-Averill

dry on a paper towel. Make only enough to eat at the time (it does not store well once fried), and save any leftover batter. If used at a later date, bring to room temperature before frying. Serve hot with tamarind chutney or cilantro chutney (any West Indian or Indian stores will have these). *A concluding note about “heat”: For a hotter preparation of the foods in this chapter, the scotch bonnet seeds should be left in the preparations along with the pepper flesh, but if you’re not a fan of heat, remove the seeds, and keep the number of peppers to a minimum. Note: whenever you handle scotch bonnet peppers, be sure to wear disposable gloves and to wash your hands before touching any sensitive parts of the body (such as your eyes). Remember, peppers at this level of the Scoville Scale for hotness are a poison, so be careful! This is true also of the cutting board you used to cut the peppers and the knife as well. Needless to say, we cook our jerk chicken using 10 peppers and with the seeds still in! According to one guest at a dinner party where we served an especially intense version of the dish, “That’s the hottest f*$@#ng thing I ever tasted” (said as he was turning an especially vivid purple). Should you be unable to find scotch bonnet peppers, you can use habanero peppers, which look similar but aren’t, sad to say, as hot.

A Gonzo Ethnographer’s Guide to Food and Music in Trinidad and Tobago As someone who loves food/drink and music (in whichever order), could I pass up the opportunity to engage with them both on one canvas? In one way, however, I’ve always been writing about them together. I struck out as a fledgling ethnomusicologist to write a sensuous ethnography of music, and my early theories of political signification in popular music and in rituals like Carnival and rara in Haiti were steeped in the power of sound, food/drink, and collective effervescence to form dispositions, to create associative value, to move and to form communities and commitments. In my 1988 dissertation on Haitian popular music, I used the term “gonzo ethnography” to capture the sense that my ethnographic experience of Haiti, Miami, Brooklyn, Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, and Martinique—of the circuits of Haitian popular music—was lived immersively and experienced through sensual as well as intellectual engagement. I was unaware at the time that other ethnographers, especially in Britain, had begun to fashion their “field” experiences in similar terms. Many also invoked the term “gonzo journalism” used by Boston Globe correspondent Bill Cardoso to describe Hunter Thompson’s extreme reflexive style of reporting (the slang word “gonzo” was originally a Bostonian term for the last person standing after an all-night drinking binge, Sefcovic 1995: 20). There is even a section now for “Postmodern Gonzo Journalism and Ethnography” in the “Braiding Narrative Ethnography” chapter in the Sage Handbook for Qualitative Research! (Tedlock 2011: 332–333). In Ashley Mears’ article “Ethnography as Precarious Work,” which looks back on her work as a model in the fashion industry from the standpoint of a subsequent career as a sociologist, she captures an aspect of ethnography that too many miss. “. . . I cultivated a carnal knowledge of the field, so much so that my gait, my tastes, and my desires—my habitus, in Bordieu’s terms—changed” (Mears 2013: 20). Ethnography is a sensual way of knowing the world; we take in—we consume—and we are forever changed by it. I would even argue that we may sometimes want to think of participant observation or, as it is more often conceived these days, observant participation, as something closer to participant consumption/consumptive participation. My obsession with this kind of ethnographic perspective is not that I want to write about myself, or that I want to inscribe some kind of macho swaggering narrative of rum-soaked partying, but that in immersive study and in the practice of a writing that captures sensuous experience, we are often able to write better about things that matter about our subjects, and in ways that make sense for our interlocutors.

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Although I have written more about Haitian popular and traditional music and about North American vernacular choral singing, I  have spent my entire academic career playing Trinidadian steel pan (directing steel bands for almost 10  years), and have had a multilayered experience of Trinidad and Tobago and its music for the last 25 years. I have been a judge at Panorama (steelband competitions) in Brooklyn; I’ve played with community-based ensembles in Brooklyn; I’ve played mas (masquerade march at Carnival) on a number of occasions in Trinidad; and, because I married a Trinidadian-Canadian (Giovanna Perot-Averill, my coauthor on the recipes in this chapter), my family occasions for the last quarter century have been steeped in Trinidadian food, music, and liming (jokey hanging out), whether in Trinidad or in the diaspora. And my daughter has come with us to Trinidad to “play” mas and is growing up with a love of pepper sauce. So this is the context in which I write this short essay on music and food/drink. Music and food/drink (and I  will dispense hereafter with the affectation of this backslashed combination, assuming that drink is understood when I mention food) share many attributes. We ingest food, make it part of ourselves—indeed the building block of the physical self—such that our food choices can be determined long after through the chemical residue in our hair and our bones. Music too has a physical and internal presence, arriving as sound waves that vibrate not only our eardrums (inside our head) and as such are perceived internally, but vibrating the entire body. In one way, we ingest (related to the Latin verb “ingererer” meaning to “bring in” or “carry in”) music, literally consuming it (from the Latin “con,” meaning “altogether” and “sumere,” to “take up”). We learn to value music and food in the first instance by growing up with them, by ingesting them, and making them part of the sedimentation of personal memory and personality formation. They are areas in which our early attempts at aesthetics play out: we learn to discriminate, to prefer, and to articulate these discriminations and preferences for sounds and tastes. They exercise powerful holds over our nostalgic faculty—over our tendency to look back fondly on our past—as that past is heavily colonized by our experiences in taste, smell, and sound (but also the visual and kinesthetic experiences). Let’s turn to Trinidad and Tobago (or T&T in abbreviation). The heaviest meal of the day for most Trinbagonians (citizens of Trinidad and Tobago) is lunch. At lunch hour, the streets are filled with aromas of foods cooking. Street foods (and you will find jerk chicken and pork among them) tend to be dominated by the Indian/South Asian band of the frequency range of foods in T&T. Jerk, however, is local to the Caribbean. I should add a note here about nationality and foods in the Eastern Caribbean. Although I have experienced jerk chicken primarily from Trinidad and Tobago, most Trinbagonians will readily admit that jerk chicken originated (and is more closely associated with) Jamaica, and that’s not easy to admit for a country that has a long-standing rivalry with its Anglophone Caribbean sister nation. Jamaica and T&T were even slated to become a single nation for a while in the early 1960s as British colonial rule neared its demise, until they went their separate ways upon independence in 1963. The shared histories and colonial legacies of the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean means that there are many Creole foods that can be found throughout the region, and some version of rice and peas, as well as accra (fried saltfish cakes) are just such well-traveled dishes. But the powerful impact on Trinidadian cuisine from the half of the citizenry with South Asian origins is the most distinctive aspect of the cuisine. Curried goat with roti, pholourie, mango chutney, and even doubles (with curried chickpeas or channa for filling), all speak to an Indian culinary explosion in Trinidad and Tobago over the last century and a half, and all are predominant in street foods and in small shops all over Trinidad and Tobago. There is a fascinating comparison to musics of South Asian origin in T&T (tassa drumming or chutney for examples) that have had a much more contested climb to centrality in T&T, whereas the flavors from South India have become core to T&T’s culinary landscape, without controversy!

100  •  Gage Averill and Giovanna Perot-Averill

And so, like music, food reveals its genealogy. Food and music provide traces of their ancestry, their journeys. They stake out cultural alliances across the Caribbean, to Africa, to Europe, to Amerindian, and South Asian origins. And because of this capacity, they can be used to metaphorically predicate the social and cultural linkages important to culture bearers. It is common to hear T&T compared by Trinbagonians to callaloo (a stew of dasheen leaf, okra, scotch bonnet peppers, coconut milk, and more, often with crab in it). In the hopeful words of T&T’s national anthem, the nation’s goal is to be a place where “every creed and race find(s) an equal place.” And they have—at least in the kitchen and dining room. But Christmases tilt in another national direction: toward T&T’s close neighbor Venezuela. Christmas music was long dominated by string band music called parang played on cuatros, guitars, maracas, and other instruments. Parang, which comes from the Spanish parranda, the name for wandering Christmas musical groups in Venezuela and Puerto Rico and in the older days (and in some places still) bands would pay a visit in the days around Christmas. They would be served some punch de crème (similar to eggnog spiked with rum) or a strong red drink called sorrel along with thin slices of rum fruitcake, made months before. Similarly, the most canonic of Trinbagonian Christmas dishes (and the dish we’ve celebrated Christmas with for the last quarter century in our house) is pastels, a savory meat filling wrapped in a soft cornmeal covering, packaged neatly inside banana leaf tied up with string (steamed) and served with baked ham and bread. The preparation of pastels will involve many members of a given family often over a day or two, depending on the size of the party! Like the rum fruitcake, the pastels provide evidence of that most important ingredient in Trinbagonian cooking: loving, laborious, and time-consuming preparation. Someone who is good at this—my wife’s mother and grandmother, for example—is said to have a “sweet hand.” Christmas is one version of the Trinbagonian passion for what I  call “extreme socialization.” Another is Sunday lunch, the traditional time for extended families to come together for a long afternoon of eating, listening, and liming. Again, preparation will fill at least the entire morning if not much of the preceding evening (which is why many extended families alternate hosting the Sunday lunch from one family member’s house to another), as an extraordinary number of starch-based dishes, leafy vegetables or “provisions” (pronounced “PRAH—vi—zhenns), and stews are cooked in advance and covered for later consumption. As my wife has said, trying to describe this ritual for North Americans, “It’s like having Thanksgiving dinner every week!” If you can, imagine the table piled with dishes of deep caramel-colored stewed chicken, macaroni pie (a cheesy concoction, but not exactly mac ‘n’ cheese), crab and callaloo, coo-coo (cornmeal cooked in butter with okra into semifirm balls), red beans sprinkled with farine (cassava, dried and ground), pilau (peas and rice with chicken and spices), English potato (what North Americans know as a potato), sweet potato, green figs, dasheen leaves (green leafy vegetable) and other provisions, breadfruit cooked in shredded coconut, white rice, stewed beef, West Indian potato salad, a pile of watercress, slices of tomatoes, boiled or fried plantain, sliced cucumber, and on and on. There is always a plate of pepper sauce, a fiery hot preparation of scotch bonnet peppers, to spread or stir into the other foods, and there will also be a plate of scotch bonnet peppers to cut up and rub directly on the meats. On the drink side, there will be Solo sweet drinks, Big Red sodas, mauby (an anise flavored drink), Carib beers for the adults, Irish sea moss (a thick white drink), shandys (a concoction of cream soda, stout, and condensed milk) and often some rum. Sunday lunch is a kind of spectacular or virtuosic eating ritual, accompanied by music in the background and featuring the Trinbagonian proclivity for humorous talk in a theatrical tone of voice, accompanied with boisterous “charades” or gestures to make the story “sweeter.” But the meal and the drink aren’t anything that a breakfast of souse (pig, cow, or chicken foot broth) the following day can’t cure.

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Add the experiences of snacks while liming outside a rum shop, the bake and shark of a trip to Maracas beach, and the roast corn in the stands for Carnival festivities, and you begin to get a sense for how these experiences of food, music, and intense socialization have left their mark on me over all these years. Taken along with the eating and gonzo participant consumption experiences of my years in Haiti, I can no longer differentiate who I might have been without the transformation of this carnal (in the broadest sense) and sensual immersion. I can only hope that as you read this essay, or as you cook the meal envisioned with these recipes, that you’ll open a bottle of dark rum (preferably a bottle of Angostura 1824) drop some ice in the glass, pour in a tablespoon of turbinado sugar, squeeze a lime, put on some of the suggested music, and have yourself a real bacchanal—and may you be the last gonzo standing at your party. As my wife Giovanna might say when she’s channeling a Trinidadian Martha Stewart, “It’s a good ting!” Note: This essay was written in first person by Gage, but includes equal contributions from Giovanna Perot-Averill at all stages.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING For a taste of old-time parang, try the Curucaye String Band of Trinidad (c. 1956). A sample and download is available at: http://www.folkways.si.edu/grand-curucaye-string-orchestra-of-trinidad/parang/world/ music/track/smithsonian Given the recipe in this chapter, I  can’t help but to direct readers to the great calypsonian, The Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco), singing his humorous and ribald “Saltfish,” a song that will often come up in conversation with older folks in Trinidad if saltfish or accra is served: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=o1aYB2nlFb0

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Cowley, John. 1999. Carnival, Canboulay and Calypso: Traditions in the Making. London: Cambridge University Press. Hill, Donald R. 1993. Calypso Calaloo: Early Carnival Music in Trinidad. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Manuel, Peter. 2015. Tales, Tunes, and Tassa Drums: Retention and Invention in Indo-Caribbean Music. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. Mears, Ashley. 2013. “Ethnography as Precarious Work.” The Sociological Quarterly 54: 20. Sefcovic, E.M.I. 1995. “Toward a Conception of “Gonzo” Ethnography,” in Journal of Communication Inquiry 19/1: 20. Tedlock, Barbara. 2011. “Braiding Narrative Ethnography with Memoir and Creative Nonfiction,” in Norman K. Denzin and Yvonne S. Lincoln, The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, (Sage Publications Thousand Oaks, CA), 331–340.

SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Sydney Hutchinson Ya está aplataná (“She’s been plantained,” meaning “She’s adapted to Dominican culture”) Menu: Pescado en Escabeche (Marinated Fried Fish), Arroz con Habichuela (Rice and Beans), Tostones (Fried Green Plantains) or Arepitas de Yuca (Cassava Fritters), and Cocadas (Coconut Sweets). Accompany with sliced, salted Caribbean avocados (the big, smooth, lighter-green ones) or a salad of lettuce and sliced tomatoes, oil and vinegar on the side. Dominicans often serve either cold soda or fresh fruit juice to guests. But if you can, try to get Presidente beer and put it in the freezer to chill. Once it gets above about 38°F, Dominicans consider the beer “hot,” so drink fast! Preparation Time: 2 hours Cooking Process: Start by marinating the fish. If you can put it in the fridge in the morning to marinate throughout the day, all the better. Put the rice and beans on at least 2 hours before you want to eat, if using dried beans—they can also be made ahead of time and reheated on the stove. Start the rice cooking a ½ hour before serving time. Then you can prepare the salad and set the table. Choose one of the two frito options. The plantains must be made right before serving and served hot. Old tostones do not keep well.

The Recipes Arroz con Habichuela (Rice and Beans) For the rice: 4 c. water dash of salt 2 c. white rice 4 T vegetable oil You can make the white rice as you normally would in a rice cooker or on the stove: boil the water with a dash of salt, add the rice when at a rolling boil and reduce heat to a simmer, removing from heat when the water has evaporated (20–25 minutes) and serving. However, Dominicans prize the crunchy rice called concón, which forms at the bottom of their large cast-aluminum pots. Making a perfect concón is an advanced technique, but if you want to try it, use a properly seasoned cast-iron or cast-aluminum pot. Once the water has evaporated, add 2 T oil to the rice and stir. Cover tightly and let cook for 10–15 minutes. Repeat, letting the rice cook until you smell it browning and the rice on top is the perfect texture for eating. Transfer to a serving bowl immediately, scraping the crunchy, brown concón from the pot and placing it on top for your honored guests. For the beans: 2 c. dried pink beans (habichuelas rosadas) salt to taste 1 medium or large yellow onion, cut into slices 102

Dominican Republic  •  103

1 cubanela pepper (sometimes sold as Cubanelle or Cuban peppers in Latino markets), stem, veins, and seeds removed, cut into slices. Green bell pepper makes an acceptable substitute. 1–2 gustoso peppers (Capsicum chinense, often sold as Caribbean peppers in Latino markets), stems removed, cut in half. Note: Be sure to touch these peppers only with your nondominant hand (or wear gloves); do not touch your eyes! Wash hands thoroughly when finished. These are spicy, so a fresh jalapeño with seeds and stems removed could make an acceptable substitute. The finished dish should not be spicy. 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half several sprigs fresh thyme 1 cube chicken or vegetable bouillon 1 c. pumpkin or other yellow squash, cut into chunks (auyama, also known as West Indian pumpkin, if you can find it) dash sazón, if desired. Note: Goya brand sazón is easy to find in US supermarkets, and is often used in Dominican cooking, but it contains MSG. The beans will also be delicious without sazón. However, you can make a substitute for this seasoning by combining 1 T each of salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, ground dried culantro (an herb related to but not identical to coriander; substitute ground coriander seed if you need to), cumin, dried oregano, and ground annatto seed (bija). several sprigs fresh cilantro several whole green onions several sprigs fresh oregano (or a good pinch dried) tomato paste Sort, wash, and soak the beans ahead of time. Boil water with salt, adding the beans, onion slices, cubanela pepper slices, halved gustoso peppers, halved garlic cloves, thyme, bouillon, oil, sliced squash, and optional sazón when at a rolling boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Boil 90 minutes for dried beans, 20 minutes for canned. At this point, add the cilantro, green onion, oregano, and tomato paste. Boil 20 more minutes. Test the beans to be sure they are tender. When they are ready to eat, fish out the herbs and vegetables with a slotted spoon and throw away. Soupy beans like these are normally served to each guest in a small bowl on the side, which Dominicans understand is to be poured over the rice (you may need to inform your guests, so they won’t make the embarrassing mistake of trying to eat them like soup, with a spoon).

Pescado en Escabeche (Marinated Fried Fish) 1 bunch fresh oregano or 1 T dried oregano 4 cloves garlic pinch salt 6 filets white fish such as sea bass (6–8 ounces each) 3 limes ½ c. white vinegar dash sazón (optional; see note above) 1 c. plus 1 T vegetable oil for frying 1 c. white flour 2 green peppers 1 large or 2 small yellow onions 1–2 stalks celery

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2 tomatoes 2 cubanela peppers 1 cube chicken or vegetable bouillon 2 T tomato paste Mash oregano, garlic, and salt in a mortar. Wash fish filets. Put them in a deep dish and squeeze the limes on them. Add vinegar, sazón (if desired), and the mixture from the mortar. Allow them to marinate at least an hour. When the fish has marinated long enough, heat 1 c. oil over medium high heat. Coat the filets in white flour and fry until done (you can test with a fork to see if they flake). Save the marinade. Dice green peppers, onion, celery, tomatoes, and cubanela peppers. Heat 1 T cooking oil over medium heat. Add the diced vegetables and cook 2 minutes while stirring. Add cube bouillon, tomato paste, and the rest of the fish marinade. When cooked but not mushy (the vegetables should retain their bright colors), spoon this mixture over the fish filets and serve.

Frito 1: Tostones (Fried Green Plantains) 3 green plantains ¾ c. oil salt to taste Peel the plantains using a knife. Cut into slices about an inch thick. Fry them in the oil until golden, and then remove with a slotted metal spoon. Smash them flat using a majafrito or tostonera, which is a device consisting of two flat wooden blocks hinged together. If you don’t have one, use a glass Coke bottle or the bottom of a big drinking glass. Return them to the oil to complete frying until crispy. Remove and drain on paper towels. Salt and serve. You may like them accompanied by ketchup or hot sauce.

Frito 2: Arepitas de Yuca (Cassava Fritters) 1 lb. yuca (cassava root) 2 eggs salt to taste 1 T anise seeds scant T sugar oil for frying Peel the yuca root completely and grate it on the square (smallest) side of a kitchen grater, which will turn it into a kind of wet dough. Mix the grated yuca with eggs, salt, anise seeds, and sugar. Form into patties about the size of a silver dollar. Fry in oil about an inch deep, dry on paper towels, and enjoy.

Cocadas (Coconut Sweets) 2 eggs 1 c. sugar 2 c. grated coconut Whip the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy; add the coconut and mix until dough-like. Pour into lightly greased mini cupcake pans (or paper cups) and bake at 400°F until golden (perhaps 20 minutes). Note: For a real Dominican experience, double the amount of sugar!

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An Exercise in Plantainization This menu is a variation on a dish called la bandera dominicana, the Dominican flag. The nickname points to the fact that one of the two symbols Dominicans most often use to represent themselves and their nation is food—particularly the plantain or plátano. The other is, of course, merengue (whose name, perhaps coincidentally or perhaps not, is also that of a food). I first went to the Dominican Republic in 2004. My mission was to research merengue típico, traditional merengue from the northern Cibao region, on its home turf. I’d already been studying the music in New York City for three years, and my musician friends there had prepared me well for my trip to Santiago, the Cibao’s biggest city. Whenever I asked where I should go to learn some specific detail of típico history, or the lyrics of an obscure merengue, or a tricky accordion technique, the answer was always the same: talk to Rafaelito Román. Just days after arriving, I found myself squeezed into the backseat of a concho or public car with my accordion, on the way to Rafaelito’s home in Ingenio Arriba. This barrio lies just past the cemetery on the road leading out of town and toward La Línea, the northwestern border region famous for both accordionists and chivo picante, a spicy goat dish. I asked the driver to let me off at the roundabout, as directed, and there I found Rafaelito’s yard full of neighbors and his porch full of aspiring musicians. On that first day, I was put to the test. I nervously played a merengue I’d learned in Brooklyn in front of all the onlookers. When I passed, I was accepted as a student and eventually even as an adopted Román family member. This new status carried with it the right to freely roam around their home, even into the kitchen. Dominican kitchens like this one are usually private spaces at the back of the house, set away from visitors’ eyes. They almost always have huge pots of rice and beans or plantains sitting at the back of the stove, ready for children returning from school for lunch, siesta, and a shower, or even for sending a plate to a needy neighbor, as the Románs frequently did. As a student, I also got to try the cooking of Rafaelito’s wife Carmen, who often emerged at lesson time with little treats like coconut sweets or coffee flavored with cardamom. I was soon as hooked on the flavors as I was on the music, so when I returned for a longer stay in 2005–2006, I asked Carmen if she would give me cooking lessons as well. As a result, my weekly or biweekly accordion lessons were sometimes accompanied by time in the kitchen. I’d work on nailing down a new merengue on Rafaelito’s porch, often to be put to the test in a rancho or open-air nightclub the following week, and then I’d head back to the kitchen. Afterward, I would sit down to huge meals of bacalao (codfish), camarones (shrimp), moro con guandules (rice with pigeon peas), pastelón (plantain casserole), pasta salad, green salad, “Russian” salad (beets and potatoes), and more. I wrote down the ingredients and steps as we went along and was soon able not only to play basic versions of about thirty merengues and pambiches, but also to make reasonable approximations of the “Dominican flag.” But I never did learn how to open canned food with a big butcher knife like Carmen does in a wink of the eye (she prefers it to her can opener). Carmen taught me a lot about Dominican food and philosophy. I think often about what she told me and how it applies to other areas of culture, like music. First, all the herbs and spices should blend together in such a way that you can’t distinguish any particular ingredient—for instance, although you will use garlic in your food, it shouldn’t taste “garlicky.” Second, once a particular herb or vegetable has served its purpose by imparting its flavor to a pot of beans, it must be fished out and thrown away: Carmen considers onion slices and sprigs of thyme or celery leaf “trash,” and she would never serve trash to anyone. These bits of advice also apply to merengue. It draws from a great variety of source materials from Spain, Africa, and elsewhere in the Caribbean, but all together it just sounds Dominican; it’s impossible to separate those strands. And as with food, so with music: if it’s no longer useful, get rid of it. Musicians are pragmatic. They don’t need to keep around relics like the

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paseo (promenade) section that used to precede the merengue once such things have outlived their social relevance. Only music historians would insist on doing so! There was one limit to my culinary adventures: I’ve been vegetarian since age 15, and while I had recently started eating fish, I wouldn’t go further than that. I almost never had trouble with this dietary restriction. In Dominican culture, people usually like to be agreeable, so whenever I told someone I was vegetarian, they generally responded, “Oh, that’s much healthier. I should stop eating meat too.” Then they would dig into the stewed goat. Rafaelito informed me that there would be a test on my cooking abilities later and that “everyone” would take part in eating the results. They all wanted to see what Dominican beans would taste like “from the hand of an American.” The test never came about, but my adopted family nevertheless decreed that I had been fully aplatanada, or “plantainized”—that is to say, I’d become about as Dominican as that staple food (which had once had to cross a sea to get there, just like me).

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Díaz, María. Que vuelva. Sony US Latin, 1999. B00000J7HS El Prodigio. Pambiche Meets Jazz. Sony U.S. Latin, 2005. B0009RQSOQ Fefita La Grande. 15 Éxitos. José Luis Records, 1997. La India Canela. Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic. Smithsonian Folkways Records, 2008. SFW40547 Román, Rafaelito. 18 Éxitos. Mundo, 1995. B00000JPE7 Román, Rafaelito with Fefita La Grande. Vol. 3. José Luis Records, 1998. B001W5PUFM Various artists. Music from the Dominican Republic, vols. 1–4. Smithsonian Folkways Records, 1976. FW04281-84 Various artists. Super Tipicazo 2014. Sound Latin Publishing, 2014. B00KZLYLJA

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Austerlitz, Paul. 1997. Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Hutchinson, Sydney. 2008. Liner notes to La India Canela, Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic. Smithsonian Folkways Records. Available at http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/ smithsonian_folkways/SFW40547.pdf http://merenguetipico.org

SINALOA, MEXICO Helena Simonett A comer, beber, bailar y gozar, que el mundo se va a acabar. (Eat, drink, dance, and enjoy as if the world is going to end.)

Figure 21.1  Making albóndigas in Sinaloa, Mexico, photo courtesy of Helena Simonett

Menu: Guacabaqui (Beef Stew), Sopa de Albóndigas (Meatball Soup), Frijoles (Pinto Beans), and Tortillas de Maiz (Corn Flatbread). Preparation Time: Approximately 5 hours total. The pinto and garbanzo beans have to be soaked for a day before cooking. Make the stew the evening before. Cooking Process: On the day of the meal, cook the pinto beans, prepare the meatball soup, and heat the stew. The tortillas taste best if made immediately before consumption. If you pat them by hand, it takes longer than when using a tortilla press. Presses are available in Mexican markets or online and come either in wood, plastic, or cast-iron (the latter is recommended). Serves six people.

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108 • Helena Simonett

The Recipes Guacabaqui (Beef Stew) 1 onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped 1½ t. ground cumin 1 t. oregano 1 T salt ¼ T pepper 2 lb. stew meat and 1 lb. marrow bones (e.g., beef shank center cut) 1 c. garbanzo beans, presoaked 4 carrots 3 corn on the cob 3 potatoes Broil 2 quarts of water in a large pot. Add onion, garlic, and all other spices. Cut meat in bite-size pieces and throw with bones and garbanzo beans in the pot. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 1½ hours. Peel carrots and potatoes and cut in large pieces. Combine unhusked corncobs and all other vegetables with meat and cook for another ½ hour until all is tender. Season to taste.

Sopa de Albóndigas (Meatball Soup) For the meatballs: 1 lb. ground beef 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 egg ½ c. cooked rice or Masa Harina (see ingredients for tortillas below) 1 t. salt ½ t. pepper 1 t. ground cumin For the soup: 6 c. beef broth 1 onion, chopped 1 can (10–12 oz.) tomato purée ½ t. ground cumin 1 t. oregano 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped salt and pepper Make the meatballs first: Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Form meatballs and roll between your palms. Make around 20–24 meatballs, set aside. Then combine broth, onion, tomato paste, cumin, oregano, and cilantro in a large pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Drop meatballs in the soup. Cook for another 20 minutes. Season to taste.

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Frijoles (Pinto Beans) 1 lb. (or 2½ c.) of dried pinto beans 1¼ quarts water ½ onion, chopped 1 garlic clove, minced 1 T ground cumin ½ t. chili powder (or 1 fresh jalapeno pepper) 1 t. salt Rinse beans and check for any stones. Soak for a day as this reduces cooking time. Throw beans into pot and cover with water. Add onion, garlic, and spices. Cook beans until soft and somewhat mushy.

Tortillas de Maiz (Corn Flatbread) 2 c. instant corn masa flour for tortillas (Maseca, Masa Casera, or Masa Harina) 1½–2 c. water Note: Tortillas are made with a special corn flour that is treated with calcium hydroxide or limewater. Corn meal (flour) cannot be used to make tortillas. Put 2 c. masa flour in a large bowl. Mix in 1½–2 c. of warm water and let sit for a few minutes. Work the dough with your hands for several minutes. If dough seems too dry or too wet, add either a little more water or masa to the dough. Take a piece of the masa dough and shape it into a ball the size of a plum. Make about 16–18 balls. Cover the top and the inside bottom of the tortilla press with a piece of plastic or wax paper. Place one ball in the middle and press to form a tortilla with a diameter of 5–6 inches. Heat a griddle or a large skillet on high heat. Cook the tortilla for 30 seconds to a minute on each side until lightly toasted. Remove the tortillas to a tortilla warmer lined with paper towels or wrap them in a dishtowel to keep them warm. Corn tortillas are served as an accompaniment to stews and soups.

Not All Mexican Food Is Spicy Mexico is a land of many musics, and its cuisine is incredibly varied and rich. Most Mexicans don’t mind eating very hot dishes made with a variety of chili peppers. On Mexico’s northwest coast, however, one will find many local dishes that don’t rely on the piquancy of the chili. The famous shrimp cocktails served by the seafood restaurants in the port city of Mazatlán don’t burn your palate, and the flavors of the fresh fish are well discernable. Chili sauces are dished up aside for those who like it hot. Indigenous peoples in the region, such as the Yoreme communities, have not developed a taste for spicy food. In general, they eat very simple dishes such as cooked red or pinto beans and vegetable stews served with corn tortillas. Rarely do they eat meat, but not because they don’t like it; they simply cannot afford it. The Yoreme people, like other indigenous communities in the country, are extremely impoverished. They typically work as day laborers (jornaleros) for the privatized, export-oriented, agro-businesses in the region. Labor conditions are excruciating, and since there is only temporary seasonal work, jornaleros do not have a stable income. Increased dependence on a cash economy takes a toll on cultural practices, in particular on the time-intensive and costly traditional ceremonies such as curing rituals, wakes, burials, and the

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folk-Catholic calendrical festivities such as Semana Santa (Holy Week) that leads up to Easter, and the numerous patron saints’ days, all celebrated with pascola (a ceremonial dance type) and deer dance music. For the Yoreme, however, active participation in the fiesta continues to be a moral obligation. Community members are expected to take on cargos, revolving offices with civil-religious responsibilities that include many sacrifices, hard work, and economic expenses. The cargo or fiesta system relies on the voluntary participation of a large number of men and women. Individuals who hold an oficio or cargo generously give time and money in service to the community in exchange for symbolic capital. While the ceremony proper, with its music and dance, is typically the domain of the men, the women are responsible for the physical well-being of all fiesta attendants. The most important cargo is the one of the fiestera who commits to serve at a particular fiesta for three consecutive years. She may, of course, obligate herself again and again. At a large fiesta there are 12 fiesteras (each year four new women come in to replace the outgoing four, thereby guaranteeing continuity). They reign over the cocina, a makeshift kitchen set up for the duration of the fiesta, where the traditional guacabaqui stew and albóndiga soup are cooked and served. The cocinas are adjacent to the ceremonial center, which consists of an indigenous church with an enramada, a covered shelter under which the musicians and dancers perform. In the kitchen area, children run around and play, busy hands pat tortillas while others tend the fire, and numerous starving stray dogs try to catch discarded bones. The cocinas are the favorite place to gather and fuel up in order to endure the strenuous nightly ritual. The musicians and dancers feast once before the ceremony, which typically starts around eleven at night, and again after sunrise and at the closing of the fiesta in the early afternoon. Most conversations among the attendants revolve around food, which seems to be of utmost importance for a successful and memorable fiesta. Plenty of food stories and jokes circulate, and men compliment the cocineras’ culinary skills.

Figure 21.2  Use of metate and mano, photo courtesy of Helena Simonett

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The women’s job begins days before at the local weekly market, where they buy the necessary ingredients in large quantities. Often money has to be collected from one’s extended family and other possible sponsors to make ends meet. Those working on the fields as jornaleros collect discarded or left-behind vegetables, such as potatoes, onions, or tomatoes, to contribute to the feast. Meat is certainly the most expensive item, as are instant coffee and sugar, consumed in large amounts during the ceremonies. Lots of firewood has to be gathered and a makeshift stove needs to be assembled. Since Yoreme housing typically has an outdoor kitchen without electric power, the cooking devices at the fiesta are basically the same: old oil barrels or a stack of bricks serve as stoves on which huge cooking pots are placed. On smaller brick stoves, pots simmer with hot water, ready for instant coffee or dishwashing. The corn tortilla, with many variants, has been a staple food in North American and Mesoamerican cultures since pre-Columbian times. Tortillas are served at virtually every meal. Although wheat flour tortillas have become a popular alternative and are by some considered more prestigious, they are not nearly as nutritious as the traditional tortillas made of maize corn. Soaking and cooking the maize grains in an alkaline solution of mineral lime or calcium hydroxide enhances the dietary value of maize as a source of vitamins, minerals, and protein. This curing process was developed by pre-Columbian cultures many centuries before European contact, and it is still used to enrich maize corn. Jeffrey Pilcher explains how the elites and governmental officials attempted to Europeanize Mexico by replacing corn with wheat (Pilcher 1998). Despite those efforts, indigenous foods and flavors persisted, and after 1940 became an essential part of a nationalist ideology emphasizing the value of Mexico’s indigenous heritage. Although the Yoreme people may have never heard of this indigenist movement, they definitely prefer tortillas de maíz, the corn grained on a metate with a mano (mealing stone tools), and the dough shaped into flat patties by hand and cooked over the open fire on a very hot cast-iron plate called comal. But even cooked on a gas or electric stove, these indigenous dishes have a rich and hearty taste.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Native Music of Northwest Mexico: Tarahumara, Warihio, and Mayo. Canyon Records, 1998. Seyewailo: The Flower World: Yaqui Deer Songs. Video recording produced by Larry Evers in cooperation with the University of Arizona Radio-TV-Film Bureau. Norman Ross Publishing, 1978. Yaqui Ritual and Festive Music. Canyon Records, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Ortega, Hugo. 2012. Hugo Ortega’s Street Food of Mexico. Houston: Bright Sky Press. (Cookbook) Pilcher, Jeffrey M. 1998. !Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ———. 2006. The Sausage Rebellion: Public Health, Private Enterprise, and Meat in Mexico City, 1890–1917. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ———. 2012. Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

OTAVALO, ECUADOR Jessie M. Vallejo (based on instruction by Yolanda Maldonado, Claudia Fuerez, and Rosa Quinchuquí) En el comer y el cantar, ¡todo es empezar! (As with eating and singing, it’s only a question of getting started!)

Figure 22.1  Ecuadorian chuchuka soup, photo courtesy of Jessie M. Vallejo

Menu: Kusashka Aycha Mutiwan (Roasted Meat with Hominy), Runa Tanta (Bread), Uchu (Chili Salsa), Chuchuka Api (Mature Corn Soup), and Hilli (Fresh Juice) Preparation Time: Approximately 5½ hours. Cooking Process: If using dry hominy to accompany the main meat dish, make sure to set the kernels to soak overnight the day before preparing this meal (adding an extra 8 plus hours of preparation time). On the day of the meal, I recommend beginning with cooking the soaked hominy. While the corn boils, start the bread dough. After setting the dough aside to rise, prepare the marinade, coat the meat, and place it in the refrigerator. As you wait for the dough to rise and meat to marinate, begin the soup and make the salsa. While waiting for the meat and soup, roll out the bread dough and bake. When the oven is free, roast the meat. Prepare the fruit for making the juice and have ready to serve on the side with the soup. Slice the avocados and limes in quarters and blend the fruit just before it will be served. Set the table with a basket of the bread and a bowl of salsa with a small teaspoon for serving. If necessary, the salsa and soup can be prepared the day before. Serves eight to ten people. 112

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The Recipes Kusashka Aycha Mutiwan (Roasted Meat with Hominy) For the hominy: ½ lb. dried hominy or one 15 oz. can of cooked hominy salt to taste If using dried hominy, set the kernels to soak overnight. On the following day, drain and rinse the hominy. Next, boil the corn over medium heat in salted water until kernels are soft and begin to expand (approximately 2 hours), adding more water if necessary. If using canned, precooked hominy, drain contents from the can and rinse well. Boil over medium heat for 45 minutes or until the texture is softened and the kernels have expanded. When finished cooking, drain and let cool slightly before serving. For the marinade: 7 cloves of garlic, pressed ½ small white onion, chopped finely ½ t. salt ¾ t. ground cumin 1 T ground achiote/annatto seed 1∕3 c. olive oil (optional) 1∕3 c. fresh-squeezed lime juice (optional) In a nonmetal bowl, add garlic, onion, salt, cumin, and achiote, stirring to mix well. If you would prefer a marinade instead of a meat rub, add the olive oil and lime juice. The meat rub has a heartier, nuttier taste, whereas the marinade will give more of a juicier texture to the meat and would better suit grilling. For the meat: 6–8 chicken drumsticks, pieces of duck with the bone, or rabbit with the bone Kuy or guinea pig meat is dark and oily; therefore, the best substitute for it would be dark meat from chicken or duck, though rabbit is a suitable alternative. Traditionally, kuy is served whole (with its skin left on but the innards removed), and is roasted over an open fire. Periodically, the skin is lathered with lard, which helps prevent any burning. For this adapted recipe, coat the meat generously with the mixture and set in the refrigerator to marinate for 2–3 hours. If grilling, it is recommended to make the marinade version instead of the rub. If cooking in the oven, preheat to 425° F. For crispier skin, place the marinated meat in the broiler for a few minutes, and then move to a middle or upper rack in the oven. Rotate the pieces of meat every 10–15 minutes to cook more evenly. Roast for 40 minutes total or until cooked thoroughly. When ready to serve, place the meat over a small bed of hominy.

Runa Tanta (Bread) 1½ packets of yeast 1 t. salt

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3 T sugar 1 c. and 3 T water, room temperature 3½ c. all-purpose flour butter for greasing the cookie sheet Preheat oven to 325° F. Mix yeast, sugar, salt, and water in a large bowl. Add flour and mix to form a ball of dough. If the dough is too flaky or dry, add more warm water in quantities of half a tablespoon at a time. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp cloth and let it rise for 1 hour and 30 minutes, making sure that the dough will stay warm (place in an enclosed area, like the microwave, if the room temperature in the kitchen is cool). Grease the cookie sheet(s) with butter. When the dough has risen, cut off portions that are 1" thick and roughly 2½" in diameter. On a clean and dry surface, use hands to roll the dough out into an even line that is roughly 8" long. Form a thin donut shape by twisting the ends of the dough together. Place the bread in the oven on a middle rack to bake. After 6 minutes, flip the bread to avoid any burning and place back in the oven. Wait another 7 minutes and flip again. Bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, removing the bread once the sides have turned golden brown. Place the breads in a basket to cool before eating. This recipe will make approximately 15–17 bread rings.

Uchu (Chili Salsa) ¼ c. pumpkin seeds, shelled 4 ají amarillo peppers (Capiscum baccatum). If you cannot find whole fresh or dried ají peppers, try substituting with 3 fresh serrano peppers (for the heat) and half of a fresh orange bell pepper (to add some fruit flavor and sweetness), or you can also use a ⅓ c. of aji amarillo paste (sold in stores that specialize in Latin American products). salt to taste (¼ t. recommended) ¼ c. cilantro, chopped ¼ c. green onion, chopped ⅓ c. water Toast the shelled pumpkin seeds for 3 minutes using a small pan over medium heat. Most seeds should begin to brown but not burn. Devein and deseed the peppers, reserving some seeds for added spiciness if desired. Chop the peppers. If using a mortar and pestle, begin by grinding the peppers and the salt. Once they have been mashed, blend in the pumpkin seeds, grinding them to a fine paste with the peppers. Next, add chopped cilantro and green onions. To finish, mix in water to give the salsa a texture that is more fluid than pasty. If a spicier salsa is desired, add some of the reserved seeds. The mortar and pestle method is preferred, though it will add approximately 20 minutes to the preparation time. If using a blender or food processor, place all the ingredients in at once and blend. Add more water, salt, or pepper seeds if necessary.

Chuchuka Api (Mature Corn Soup) 1 gallon + 1 quart water 1 T oil or butter 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 1 small white onion, chopped 2 large carrots, chopped 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 green bell pepper, chopped

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1¼ c. ground chuchuka. As a substitute, use stone ground or coarse hominy grits (polenta). I recommend Trader Joe’s stone ground hominy. If using a finer ground polenta, reduce to 1 c. 1 lb. small chunks of meat (preferably stew beef with bones), defrosted/washed/rinsed 1 lb. fresh peas 2 lbs. (approx.) small potatoes, peeled and cut in halves or thirds ¼ lb. dry pinto beans, soaked overnight (or 15 oz. canned beans, rinsed) Leafy greens—1 bunch of watercress or half a head of kale or other leafy cabbage (use only one type), washed salt to taste (2 T recommended) 2 ripe avocados, cut into quarters 2 medium limes, cut into quarters Add water to a large pot and put over high heat. In a pan, add oil and sauté the garlic and onion over medium heat. Once the garlic and onion begin to change color, add carrots and peppers. Lightly sauté for 3 minutes, then remove from heat. When the water begins to simmer and form small bubbles, add the ground corn, being careful to stir every few minutes. After corn has simmered for 5 minutes, add chunks of meat to the pot. After the meat has been cooking for 10 minutes, add sautéed vegetables, peas, potatoes, and either canned beans or beans that have been soaked overnight. Next chop or tear the greens into small pieces. Add greens to the water 10 minutes after potatoes were added (while potatoes are still firm). Avoid stirring from this point on to prevent causing the greens to wilt. Water should still maintain a boil. Add salt to taste, beginning with 2 T. Occasionally test the potatoes. Once they are cooked and soft, the soup is ready. Avocados are served alongside the dish. Guests may add uchu salsa and lime juice to their soup once it is served.

Hilli (Fresh Juice) 8 c. fresh fruit (e.g., strawberries, soursop/guanabana, passion fruit, papaya, pineapple, mulberries, or blackberries) sugar or sweetener, to taste water Wash, peel, and prepare the fruit as necessary for blending. Place prepared fruit and sugar in the blender, adding water just to cover most of the fruit without causing it to float. Blend. Strain. Serve immediately.

Mikupashun! Upyapashun! (Let’s Eat! Let’s Drink!) When I tell people I have lived in the Ecuadorian Andes, they all ask me if I ever dared to eat guinea pig. For the Runakuna (indigenous people) of Otavalo, roasted guinea pigs (kuy, Kichwa; cuy, Spanish) are typically reserved for special occasions, so it is an honor to be served one. Furthermore, declining food offerings is impolite in Otavalan culture, so even though I was terrified to dine on my pet Molly’s relatives, I had no choice but to overcome my angst whenever I was greeted by a toothy grin from a guinea pig on my plate. In Runa culture, men are typically the musicians, especially for public events. Women generally manage the planting, harvesting, storage, cooking, and distribution of food. As a musician, I have been invited to participate in masculine activities; but as a woman, I have been asked to lend a hand in the kitchen. One afternoon, my host sister Yolanda recruited me to help with her daughter’s baptism. This entailed joining the team of women responsible for catering the party. As a result, the rest

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of my afternoon was dedicated to learning the art of roasting guinea pigs, much to the horror of my [vegetarian] dissertation advisor. Although Andean cuisine is best known for its guinea pigs and potatoes, corn is the main food staple in Ecuador’s northern sierra. Meals are always accompanied by corn products, such as toasted kernels (kamlla, K.; tostado, Sp.), popcorn (kankil, K.; canguil, Sp.), hominy (muti, K.; mote, Sp.), or corn beer (aswa or asua, K.; chicha, Sp.). Along with these, the Runa table will undoubtedly be set with a bowl of salt and container of mild chili salsa (uchu, K.; ají, Sp.). Other proteins in Runa cuisine are chicken, beef, pork, rabbit, fish, tiny snails, and insects, such as potato grubs (kuzukuna, K.) and small beetles (katsukuna, K.). The local diet is also rich with a variety of vegetables, fruits, and grains. Main courses may be fried, though most are served as soups, porridges, or gruels. Rosa, the mother of my host family, usually makes one large pot of soup that is served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Among indigenous households, there is still a general aversion to purchasing food. The result is that meals primarily consist of recently harvested food from the family fields, or chakrakuna. To the taste buds of the average US citizen, this may be unappealingly monotonous; however, one learns to appreciate the subtle changes in flavor that announce the transition from one growing season to the next. In Runa culture, when people consume corn they also ingest the earth’s powerful energy absorbed by the stalks during their nine months of exposure to wind, sunshine, and rainfall. In some cases, musical instruments are fed these elements by being served shots of corn beer. I chose chuchuka api, or mature corn soup, as a representative dish because it features some of the most important foods in the indigenous people’s diet (e.g., corn, potatoes, and beans). It is also an example of a centuries-old food preservation technique developed in the Andes. The corn used to make chuchuka is called cao, which is maize harvested during its waxy stage in April and May. Once picked, the ears of corn are boiled in their husks for an hour before being sundried and stored. This method helps preserve a strong corn flavor and ensures that it will last unspoiled throughout the year. To accompany what is easily my favorite soup, I chose to include recipes for chili salsa, bread rings, fresh fruit juice, and an alternative recipe for guinea pig. The chili (uchu, K.) used to make this salsa is best known by its Spanish name ají amarillo (Capiscum baccatum). Sources from early colonial times documented the popular use and culinary importance of this condiment in Runa homes. These chilies are just as popular today, and their importance is represented in some of the traditional music. One of the first transverse flute tunes my Otavalan host father Mariano taught me was “Uchu Wayku” (Chili Ravine), which is about a gully near Kotama village where these chilies grow. Bread rings (runa tanta, K.; rosquitas, Sp.) are a common supplement to daily meals in the indigenous home as well as meals during formal events. At a party or ceremony, such as a wedding, hosts will usually serve guests a piece of bread and a banana. Some families make a living from selling bread in town, much as others sell artisan crafts. One can find sweet and salty varieties of these breads for sale in downtown Otavalo throughout the week at open-air markets or on busy street corners. Most restaurants in downtown Otavalo serve juice (hilli, K.; jugo natural, Sp.) with daily meal specials. In Ecuador, the flavors to choose from seem endless, and if you find yourself visiting the country, I recommend you try a babaco, taxo, tomate de arbol, or naranjilla juice. For the average reader of this cookbook, one will have better luck finding fresh strawberries, mulberries or blackberries (both called moras in Spanish), pineapple, papaya, passion fruit (maracuyá, Sp.), coconut, soursop (guanabana, Sp.), or alfalfa. These drinks are typically served with a generous amount of sweetener, and some of the juice bars even offer to mix two flavors. When sharing food in both indigenous and nonindigenous Ecuadorian cultures, it is customary to give family-size portions; otherwise, one risks being perceived as rude. A mealtime routine

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in the indigenous household involves the matriarch of one home offering food to a neighbor, who will kindly accept the dish, empty and clean the bowl, and send it back filled with food fresh from her kitchen. Although the closest neighbors tend to be extended family members, friendships with nonkin neighbors can be formed and maintained by exchanging food. Regardless of whether you prepare this meal for several guests or just yourself, take the opportunity to convivir (live harmoniously with others, Sp.) by sharing extra portions with a nearby family member, good friend, or someone you’d like to get to know better.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Bomba. Bomba is typically performed by Afro-Ecuadorians from Ecuador’s northern provinces, primarily Imbabura, Carchi, and Esmeraldas. Characteristics of this genre include the sesquiáltera meter, which changes between 6/8 and 3/4, and the prominent use of the bomba drum, guitar, requinto, and citrus leaf. Seek out recordings by Grupo Ecuador de Los Hermanos Congo y Milton Tadeo, one of the most famous bomba ensembles, or contemporary artists like Grupo Marabú and Los Diamantes Negros. Hatun Kotama, an indigenous flute school and cultural organization from Otavalo that specializes in the transverse flute tradition commonly referred to as flauta or gaita. Hatun Kotama. 2013. ¡Así Kotama!: The Flutes of Otavalo, Ecuador. SFW CD 40564. Pasillos. This genre of popular music is mostly associated with Ecuadorian nationalism and Ibero- and Euro-American society. Although it has developed its own style over the last century and a half in Ecuador, this genre has roots that stretch back to Venezuelan dance forms and the Austrian waltz. Four legendary artists are Julio Jaramillo, Carlotta Jaramillo, Olimpo Cárdenas, and Liliam Suárez. Sanjuanitos. This music is a popular indigenous and mestizo genre from the Imbabura province. These songs tend to be played by European string instruments and Andean wind instruments. Look for recordings by groups like Ñanda Mañachi, Ñukanchik Ñan, Charijayac, Yarina, and Runakuna.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Butler, Barbara Y. 2006. Holy Integration to Drunken Dissipation: Alcohol Among Quichua Speakers in Otavalo, Ecuador. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press. Krögel, Alison. 2011. Food, Power, and Resistance in the Andes: Exploring Quechua Verbal and Visual Narratives. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. Rhoades, Robert E., ed. 2006. Development with Identity: Community, Culture and Sustainability in the Andes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: CABI Publishing. Stobart, Henry. 1994. “Flourishing Horns and Enchanted Tubers: Music and Potatoes in Highland Bolivia.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 3:35–48. Turino, Thomas. 1993. Moving Away From Silence: Music of the Peruvian Altiplano and the Experience of Urban Migration. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Weismantel, Mary J. 1988. Food, Gender, and Poverty in the Ecuadorian Andes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ————. 1991. “Maize Beer and Andean Social Transformations: Drunken Indians, Bread Babies, and Chosen Women.” Modern Language Notes 106(4):861–879. For cooking classes in Otavalo, or for modern interpretations of traditional Runa recipes, visit Claudia Fuerez’s website at http://samyanuycf.blogspot.com/

COLOMBIA Edmundo Murray “Amor con hambre no dura.” (“Love and hunger don’t last together.”)

Figure 23.1  Colombian ajiaco stew, photo courtesy of Edmundo Murray

Menu: Hormigas Culonas (“Big-Ass Ants”), Arepa de Choclo con Queso Latino (Cornmeal Tortilla with Sweet Corn and Farmer’s Cheese), Patacón Pisao (Smashed Plantains), Ajiaco (Potato Stew with Chicken), Mazamorra de Plátano (Sweet Cornmeal Porridge with Plantain), and Pan de Bono (Cassava Cheese Bread). Serve with coffee or aguapanela con limón (sugarcane drink with lemon). Preparation time: About 3 hours. Cooking Process: Start with the mazamorra and agua de panela; reserve in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Cook the arepas (until placing them in the oven) and pan de bono, and reserve for warming later. Prepare the ajiaco. Before serving, prepare the patacón pisao, cook the arepas in the oven, and warm pan de bono in microwave. Present the hormigas culonas (“big-ass ants,” available at many Latin food shops) with cold beer as a cocktail. At the table, offer a seasonal fruit (if you find it, it could be guaba, whose flavor is—for the writer Gabriel García Marquez—the symbol of Latin America). Then bring the arepas and patacón with aguapanela. Serve the ajiaco as the main course, and finish with the mazamorra for dessert. After the meal, offer coffee with pan de bono. 118

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The Recipes Arepa de Choclo con Queso Latino (Cornmeal Tortilla with Sweet Corn and Farmer’s Cheese) 1¾ c. milk 2 T butter 1½ c. sweet corn kernels 2 c. yellow cornmeal (P.A.N., Goya, and other brands in the Latin food specialty stores) ½ c. crumbled salted fresh white cheese (farmer’s cheese) salt extra cheese for serving Mix the milk with butter and the corn kernels in a blender (fast speed) until the corn is coarsely ground. Heat in a saucepan over medium heat until milk just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Add the cornmeal to a large bowl. Whisk in the crumbled cheese. Slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the cornmeal, stirring with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir mixture until it is cool enough to handle, and then knead gently with your hands until obtaining a smooth homogenous dough (add milk or water if necessary). Season with salt to taste and knead. To shape the arepas, form a dough ball of about 2" and flatten between your palms into a pancake shape, smoothing cracked edges with your wet hands (if it breaks too much add water). Flatten the arepa until it is about ⅓" thick and about 4" in diameter. Repeat with remaining dough (yields about six arepas). To cook, first seal the arepas on a hot oiled pan for 2 minutes on each side. To finish, place them in the oven at 400°F for about 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Top arepas with a thin slice of cheese while still hot, or place a slice of cheese between two arepas. Serve warm.

Patacón Pisao (Smashed Plantains) 3 green plantains 7 T vegetable oil 1 clove garlic salt black pepper Peel the plantains and cut them in round slices about one finger thick. Deep fry the plantain slices in hot oil. When they are softened, take the slices out of the pan and place them on a wooden board. Chop the garlic finely and add it to the plantains. Mash the mix up and shape it as thick disks of about 2" diameter. Deep fry again until golden brown. Dry on absorbent paper and serve with salt and pepper to taste.

Ajiaco (Potato Stew with Chicken) 4 chicken breasts (about 1½ lbs.) 16 c. water 2 lbs. long white potatoes, peeled and sliced 1 lb. yellow potatoes, peeled and sliced

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3 bunches of green onions salt and black pepper to taste 4 sweet corncobs 1 bunch guasca herb (known as Galinsoga or Gallant Soldier in Britain) 4 avocados 3 c. capers 1½ c. cream 1 bunch fresh cilantro 4 garlic cloves, smashed Boil in a large saucepan the chicken breasts, potatoes, garlic, and green onions for 45 minutes, until the chicken is softened and the potatoes are dissolved. Add salt and pepper to taste. Separately, boil the corncobs until they are medium cooked. Take the chicken and onion from the saucepan, and add the corncobs. Simmer about 30 minutes and add the cilantro and guasca herb in the last minutes. Remove the cilantro before serving. Serve in bowls as a soup, adding the chicken breasts (whole or in pieces) and onions. On the side, serve avocados, capers, and cream to add to each bowl, as well as the corncobs as a side dish.

Mazamorra de Plátano (Sweet Cornmeal Porridge with Plantain) 4¼ c. milk 2 large ripe green plantains (plátano macho) 6 c. water 1½ c. rice cinnamon to taste 4 T sugar 1 t. salt Boil the milk and peel the plantains, disregarding the black seeds. In a different saucepan, pour water, rice, and cinnamon and boil, stirring until the melted mix is soft. Add the milk, the plantains in slices, sugar, and salt. Mix well and serve cold.

Aguapanela con Limón (Sugarcane Drink with Lemon) 2 c. panela (unrefined whole cane sugar) 5 c. water 1 lemon Add panela to the water in a pot. Boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve with lemon.

Pan de Bono (Cassava Cheese Bread) 2 c. cassava starch 2 T white cornmeal 1 t. baking powder 2 t. sugar 1 t. salt

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2½ c. Farmer’s or mozzarella cheese, grated 3 T butter 2 large eggs milk as necessary Mix the cassava starch and cornmeal. Add baking powder, salt, and sugar and continue mixing. Then add the cheese, butter, and eggs. Slowly pour milk and knead until obtaining a soft, uniform dough. Shape 1" balls with both hands and place them in preheated oven at 425° F for 20–25 minutes.

¡Sabor! Singing to Colombian Food Few places exist where the marriage between food and music is actually consummated and breeds relations beyond the metaphor. Be it for its broken geography and cultural diversity, the endless tropical forests and large rivers, the snowcapped mountains of the Andes, or the Caribbean and Pacific maritime landscapes, Colombia offers a unique blend of eating and singing. The varied topography and climate is the framework for a plentiful array of cultures and their representations. The amazing assortment of musical styles—a recent study covers 134 genres in all regions—is matched only by the diversity of ingredients that are used in Colombian cuisine. In the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, in Central America, and particularly in Colombia, the language of the kitchen and the table is also used to refer to the music. People dance to the rhythm of addictive tunes that are described as sabroso (savory), dulce (sweet), and ¡qué rico! (delicious), or they speak of sabor and sabrosura to express their emotions when listening to a cumbia, a vallenato, or indeed to a salsa (which means sauce). Colombian food is not just eaten. It is seen, smelt, savored, sang, and danced. In the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Colombia, like in many parts of Africa and Asia, women still use wooden pestles to pound grain. The use of large mortars (pilón) with multiple pestles creates a syncopated rhythm that is followed by the songs. A new musical style, pilandera, has been born directly from the kitchen. In one pilandera song, “Las Pilanderas Momposinas” by Miguel Rodríguez and Efraín Mejía, the women complain that the price of milk, meat, and sugar in the village is rising, and that while the donkeys are tied, the thieves are free. Another instance in which music intimately relates to food in Colombia is the pregón, a melodic tune that is shouted or chanted by food street vendors to call the attention of potential clients. A good share of food in Latin America is sold in the streets. Whether in small restaurants, in the public markets (called galerías in Colombia), or at the itinerant hawker stands and carts, passersby can choose among an awesome variety of food: fruits; potatoes; maize and vegetables; cheese and other dairies; nuts, seeds and cereals; meat and poultry, fish from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Amazon rivers; sugar and honey; spices, every type of beverage; and other ingredients for their home cooking. Furthermore, prepared street dishes include a vast array of delicacies that are very popular among Colombians. Time and again, seduction is part of the pregón, and vendors appeal to the beauty of their clients, urging them to try their products. In Colombia, Cuba, Peru, and Venezuela, pregón became a musical style in its own right. The popular arepera, female seller of cornmeal tortillas, is a usual target of pregón lyrics that often include double entendres. In “Vendiendo Arepas,” a merengue from Medellín by David Correa, the narrator is the seller’s husband who complains about the arepera shouting. “You all purchase my arepa . . . because an arepa like this one, you will never find again.” To give a first flavor of Colombian cuisine, the above-proposed menu includes a selection of dishes from different regions. It would normally begin with a special arthropod appetizer, the hormiga culona (big-ass ants), which are a delicacy in the central Santander department. The ant’s salty flavor is perfect with a cold beer. Culonas have been eaten since pre-Columbian times by the Guane

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people of Santander, who believe that the ants are a powerful aphrodisiac. They are available in Latin food shops (especially in Canada) as a valuable Colombian export. Arepas are cornmeal tortillas made with white or yellow corn ground flour. It is a staple food for most people in Colombia, Venezuela, and Panama, and it is present in different forms on tables. Their pre-Columbian origin seems to be erepa, maize, in the Cumanagoto language of the Carib family. Arepas con choclo are made with sweet corn and are a second appetizer in this menu. Patacón is made with plantain and is a well-known dish in the Caribbean region, being also known as tostones (Cuba), fritos verdes (Dominican Republic), and banan pezé (Haiti). Ajiaco is a traditional stew of Bogotá and the highlands of central Colombia (tierra fría). It is a hearty meal ideal to warm up the rural workers in the central Andes. Mazamorra (from Spanish masa de mora, Moor’s dough) is a traditional dessert prepared since colonial times in Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, and other Latin American countries. It is usually sold by street vendors, who ride a tricycle with an adapted cauldron. Old-time mazamorreras used to announce their product by singing a characteristic pregón: “golden mazamorra / for the spoiled girl, / hot mazamorra / for the toothless grandma. Panela is raw sugarcane sold in brown blocks. In Peru, Chile, and Bolivia it is known as chancaca; in Brazil as rapadura; in Central America and Venezuela as papelón; and in Mexico as piloncillo. It can be purchased in many specialty food stores or, in Latin American cities, from street vendors. To many in Europe and North America, Colombia is a synonym for drugs and violence. A persistent conflict between the government, guerrilla groups, paramilitary forces, and the drug cartels may characterize the recent history of the country. Indeed, the vast majority of Colombian society has played the role of victim in this conflict, and several families—among the poor in particular—mourn their human and material losses. Fear among foreigners is the chief reason why visitors have largely ignored this destination. Colombian food and music are neglected treasures, yet they may well be included among the cultural wonders of Latin America.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Within the rich traditional musical context of Colombia, food songs include a surprising number of cumbias, vallenatos, porros, joropos, currulaos, bambucos, and other styles. “Arroz con coco” (porro), by Lucho Bermúdez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R08w1u822_M) “Campo y sabor”, a musical group of farmers and agronomists in Cali who include recipes and agricultural advice in their traditional song lyrics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_XRnq-iH-g#t=193). “Échele más agua a la sopa” (porro), by Joaquín Bedoya Gómez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtV16 PSo1VI) “La sal de frutas” (paseo), by Isaac Carrillo (version by Fredi Andrades and Rafael Villa: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=Jy2–0DAbzGY) “Los sabores de mi porro” (vallenato), by Pablo Florez Camargo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFAPjvP_ IM) “Se quemaron las arepas” (parranda), by Luis Carlos Jaramillo and Consuelo Pérez (http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=iAboAjPzhh0)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Arango, Ana María (ed.). 2009. Cancionero del Chocó. Quibdó: Asociación para las Investigaciones Culturales del Chocó. Oñate Martinez, Julio. 2003. El ABC del Vallenato. Bogotá: Taurus. Romero Garay, Omar et al. 2011. Escuela de Flautas y Tambores: Músicas Andinas del Suroccidente Colombiano. Cartilla de Iniciación Musical. Bogotá: Ministerio de Cultura. ———. Cartografía de Prácticas Musicales en Colombia (National Library, online resource: http://www. territoriosonoro.org/CDM/tradicionales.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL Colin Harte A fome é o melhor tempero. (Hunger is the best seasoning.) Menu: Moqueca de Peixe (Seafood Coconut Stew), Farofa de Banana (Crunchy Manioc Flour Covered Bananas), Arroz Brasileiro (Brazilian Rice), and Caipirinha de Maracujá (Passion Fruit Caipirinha) Preparation Time: 1 hour. Cooking Process: Prepare and cook the stew. As it simmers, cook the rice. As the Moqueca de Peixe and the rice are cooking, begin cooking the Farofa de Banana. Upon completion, serve all three dishes together. Serve the Caipirinhas de Maracujá after the meal as an alcoholic refreshment.

The Recipes Moqueca de Peixe (Seafood Coconut Stew) 1½ lb. grouper 1 lime, juiced 1 large onion, sliced 1 red pepper, sliced 1 green pepper, sliced 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced 2 T chopped cilantro 2 tablets shrimp broth ¾ c. coconut milk 1 T palm oil Wash the fish, drizzle it with lemon juice, and leave to marinate for about 1 hour. In a large pan, arrange the fish, onion, peppers, and tomatoes. Sprinkle the cilantro. Crumble the tablets of shrimp broth, mix them in coconut milk, and drizzle over the fish. Cook over low heat in a partially covered pot for 20 minutes. Occasionally stir gently (do not break the fish into smaller pieces). Stir in the palm oil, taste the seasoning and add salt if necessary. Remove from heat and serve.

Farofa de Banana (Crunchy Manioc Flour Covered Bananas) 3 bananas 2 T butter ½ grated onion chopped parsley salt 2 c. toasted manioc flour Peel the bananas and cut them into small pieces. Heat the butter, put in the onion, and let it brown. Add the banana pieces and stir lightly with a fork until they are dark. Season with parsley and salt to taste, and add the flour gradually. Serve at once. 123

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Arroz Brasileiro (Brazilian Rice) 1 c. basmati or jasmine white rice 2 c. boiling water 1 small/medium onion finely chopped 2 garlic cloves finely chopped 1½ T olive oil 1 t. salt Wash the rice until the water runs clear and set aside to dry. Boil enough water for 2 c. Chop the onions and garlic finely. Place a pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once olive oil is heated, add the chopped onions and garlic. Sauté until fragrant, approximately 3 minutes. Add the dry rice to the pan and stir for an additional 3–4 minutes, making sure that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the 2 c. of boiling water to the rice and the salt. Place a lid on the pan and cook on medium heat for 8 minutes. Decrease the heat to low and cook for another 10–15 minutes, or until the water has all evaporated. If the rice is not cooked yet, add a small amount of more water.

Caipirinha de Maracujá (Passion Fruit Caipirinha) Recommended: cocktail shaker. This recipe makes one drink; repeat for each person. cachaça (about 1 oz.) 2½ T sugar 1 passion fruit 2–3 ice cubes In the cocktail shaker, pour the cachaça first. Spoon the sugar into the cocktail shaker. Place the pulp and seeds from the passion fruit into the cocktail shaker. Stir the contents of the shaker followed by a minute of shaking. Pour the caipirinha into the glass and add 2–3 ice cubes. Garnish the rim of the glass with a slice of lemon if so desired.

Brasilidade in Food and Music A familiar trope in Brazilian cultural studies is the concept of cultural mixing. This concept attempts to explain the varied and rich cultures that have developed in Brazil. The cultural worlds of music and cuisine are no exceptions, and benefit from the oft-cited triumvirate of European, African, and Amerindian influences. The dishes presented here represent a balance of these influences and exemplify the delicious, sensorial pleasure that can occur when these culinary influences are blended in order to create a mistura brasileira (Brazilian mixture). Some of the recipes I present in this book were learned from a good friend and wonderful cook, Simone, whom I met during my fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro. Food and drink play an integral role in Brazilian cultural life and serve as an opportunity for socialization. In Rio de Janeiro, where one finds food and drink, music will shortly follow. Whether originating from impromptu, passing samba groups, inspired revelers, or soft background boteca music, music serves as another example of the significance of cultural mixing. The blended and borrowed musical signatures of samba and bossa nova stem from the same aforementioned triumvirate as the cuisine. Both the music and cuisine provide evidence of what it means to be Brazilian and in this case carioca. Historically, Brasilidade has been a concept that has been intentionally cultivated by 20th century Brazilian political regimes, beginning in the 1930s with dictator Getúlio Vargas. Vargas sought to

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legitimize the nation of Brazil on the world stage through comprehensive governmental reform that favored nationalism, industrialization, and populism. Through conscientious efforts, Vargas courted transnational corporations to market and sell exported Brazilian commodities, which ranged from produce to native recordings to singing celebrities, such as Carmen Miranda. During this time, Vargas’s regime built a modern, cosmopolitan sense of Brazilianness that drew upon different cultural elements from various socioeconomic classes. Music proved to be particularly useful as a means to embody and realize certain characteristics of Brasilidade. Musically, this meant songs that included sensuous Portuguese lyrics; infectious Brazilian rhythms drawn from samba and its variations; and themes describing exotic locales, love, sex, celebration, and other alluring topics. Having established an efficient, productive radio and recording industry in Brazil, the process of embedding Brasilidade into musical commodities by marketing and distributing on an international level became cemented in Brazilian tourist and entertainment industries. Due to economic success and international acceptance and global consumption of these Brazilian musical commodities, Brazilian musical forms such as samba, bossa nova, and later Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) provided different permutations of music whose intention, in successive fashion, was to embody Brasilidade. Particularly to consumers outside of Brazil, popular samba, bossa nova, and MPB songs embodied characteristics of Brasilidade that have been marketed to them by the entertainment and tourist industries. The tourist and entertainment industries utilized pleasant, exotic, tropical images and sounds of Brazilian life to construct Brasilidade. The notion of Brasilidade was an idyllic representation that drew upon modern revisionist histories in order to provide ample evidence with which to support these constructions. This accepted and successful construction provided consumers with a means by which to engage nostalgia, escapism, nationalism, and an alternate, exotic, cosmopolitan lifestyle. Brazilian music provided a means with which to redefine and reinforce global perceptions of Brasilidade through the transformative powers of musical performance. The act of engaging with Brazilian cuisine and music affords participants a means to create a lived musical and culinary experience that brings into existence their imagined connection with perceived Brasilidade. This participatory process serves to transform and transcend the boundaries between imagination and lived experience. By bridging the gap between them, both cuisine and music give shape and form to their imaginings, which become intensified through experiential realizations.

RECOMMEND LISTENING While there are a variety of diverse musical traditions and musicians that coexist in Brazil, a handful of particularly notable performers have been selected that would be enjoyable to listen to while preparing the food, cooking, eating, drinking, and socializing. In the 1870s, a rich Brazilian music form named choro began to be performed in Rio de Janeiro. Originally, the term referred to a manner of interpreting popular European dance music performed by ensembles on flute, cavaquinho, and guitar. The style featured unexpected key shifts, syncopation, fast tempos, complex bass lines, and an improvisatory approach to the melody by the soloist. Between 1870 and 1920s, choro was mainly a participatory form of music that was enjoyed by the urban middle and lower-middle classes. Recordings and the emergence of radio broadcasting in the 1930s allowed this music form to become popular. The saxophonist and flautist, Pixinguinha, is a masterful proponent of this art form. During preparation of the food and cooking, his work may offer you a brief musical escape from the heat of the kitchen. During dinner, the bossa nova album entitled Elis & Tom is recommended as it features strong vocal performances and balanced instrumental arrangements by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Elis Regina. Despite Jobim’s protests, the inclusion of the Fender Rhodes electric piano in the recording is quite soothing. Another suitable musical selection would be the album, Zig Zag, featuring musical virtuoso, Egberto Gismonte, whose recorded output is of a high caliber and rich in musical conception and execution.

126 • Colin Harte Once drinks are served, depending upon the mood and level of socialization, music by singer and guitarist, Jorge Ben Jor, would serve to liven the spirits of the satiated guests. His popular album, África Brasil, provides a rhythmically infectious, catchy blend of songs that seamlessly mix samba, bossa nova, and funk.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Dunn, Christopher and Charles A. Perrone (ed.) (2002) Brazilian Popular Music & Globalization, New York: Routledge. McGowan, Chris and Ricardo Pessinha (1998) The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil, Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Shaw, Lisa (1999) The Social History of The Samba, Brookfield, VT: Ashgate.

VI Europe

THE LIMOUSIN, FRANCE Marc Benamou, Françoise Étay, and Anne Lavaud Ben minjar, beure sovent Quo es un mestier que m’agrada ben. Eating well, drinking frequently —there’s a job that suits me keenly! Menu: Soupe à l’Oseille (Sorrel Soup), Truite en Galetou (Pan-Grilled Trout Wrapped in Buckwheat Pancakes), Poêlée de Cèpes (Porcini Mushroom Panfry), Salade Verte (Green Salad) with Cheese, and Clafoutis (Baked Cherry Dessert) Preparation Time: One evening for early preparation, then half of the next day. Cooking Process: This menu is for a leisurely, copious meal. If you deem it to be too much food for one sitting (the trout and galetous are quite filling), or if your time is limited, you can eliminate the soup or the mushrooms (or both) as well as the cheese. The trout wrapped in galetous, a salad, and the clafoutis would make a sufficiently satisfying menu. In any case, country suppers in the Limousin do not, as a rule, have more than two or three courses. A day or more ahead, make the buckwheat flour and, if you don’t have crème fraîche, mix the cream and sour cream together. Make the clafoutis the night before. Just before going to bed or early the following morning, make the sponge for the galetous. At any point during the day (while the galetou sponge or batter is rising), wash and drain the lettuce, the parsley, and the sorrel; wipe off the fresh mushrooms and start soaking and draining the dried ones; make the sorrel soup, stopping before the final egg enrichment. At least three hours before serving, make the galetou batter and let it rise. Bake the galetous (using a timer will facilitate multitasking). While the galetous are baking, slice and cook the mushrooms and set aside, prepare the vinaigrette, take the cream and the cheese out from the fridge (chilled cheese has no flavor), mince the parsley and the garlic for the mushrooms, and get the trout ready. At dinnertime, heat up the soup, add the egg enrichment, and serve; reheat the mushrooms slowly while eating the soup. Pan grill the trout and assemble the galetou wraps (if you prefer, you can do this before serving the soup, keeping them warm in a low oven, wrapped individually in foil); add parsley and garlic to mushrooms. Serve the trout and mushrooms. Assemble and serve the salad, along with the cheese and the remaining galetous. Serve the clafoutis. Demitasses of espresso, accompanied by dark chocolate, or plain herbal tea (linden, lemon verbena, chamomile) can be offered after the dessert. With the meal you will want to serve either a citrusy, medium-bodied white wine (for instance, a Cheverny, Pouilly Fumé, New Zealand sauvignon blanc, Côtes de Gascogne, Bourgogne aligoté, or Catalonian still wine, such as René Barbier) or, if your trout is of the pink-fleshed variety, possibly a light-bodied, fruity but dry red, slightly chilled (a Loire valley red, or a simple, low-alcohol—12.5% or less—merlot, shiraz, or pinot noir).

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The Recipes Soupe à l’Oseille (Sorrel Soup—adapted from Chauvirey 2009) 4 c. young sorrel, 3loosely packed, washed, stems trimmed, and leaves snipped crosswise into strips with kitchen scissors before measuring (if stacking leaves in order to snip more efficiently, measure less than 4 c., as they will bunch up)

3 T butter 2 T flour 2¼ c. water 2 c. milk 1 t. salt, or to taste a few twists of the pepper mill (white or black pepper) 2 large eggs In a nonreactive saucepan, cook the sorrel slowly, stirring in the butter for a couple of minutes, until softened and color has darkened. Sprinkle on the flour and cook another minute or two, stirring constantly. Slowly stir in the water to create a smooth emulsion. Add the milk, the salt, and the pepper. Bring to a boil while stirring, and simmer a few minutes more. This may be made in advance up to this point. Bring to a boil again before proceeding. Beat the eggs in a small bowl for a minute. Stir in a ladleful of the hot soup. Off the heat, stir in the egg-and-soup mixture. If it looks a bit like egg-drop soup, that’s fine. This makes six small portions, but sorrel should not be eaten in large quantities (avoid entirely if you’re prone to gout), and the trout dish will be plenty filling.

Galetous (Buckwheat Pancakes) 1⅓ c. white flour (measured by spooning into the cup and leveling) 2⅔ c. freshly ground buckwheat flour (see directions below) ⅓ c. plus ⅓ c. water ½ t. dry yeast 1 t. additional yeast ⅓ c. plus about 2⅔ c. additional water 1½ t. salt To approximate French buckwheat flour, grind light-colored kasha, such as Wolff ’s (either whole or granulated), in a grain mill or in a blender fitted with a 12- or 16-oz. jar of the right diameter, then sift out any large pieces. If using raw buckwheat groats, toast lightly first, in a single layer, in a 350°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes. If, in a pinch, you choose to use a domestic buckwheat flour (often dark and acrid), use 2 c. white flour to 2 c. buckwheat flour. Make a sponge with the first three ingredients: warm ⅓ c. of the water and soften the ½ t. yeast in it; put the white flour in a medium-large mixing bowl, make a well in the center, add the yeast and water, and then stir slowly, gradually drawing in flour from around the well; add enough of the other 3  Unless you have access to a garden, you are unlikely to find this quantity of sorrel at an affordable price. You may substitute, for all or part of it, wood sorrel, wild sorrel, or sour dock. Of these, wood sorrel comes closest in taste to cultivated sorrel, and is, fortunately, an abundant weed in much of North America. It looks like clover, but with heart-shaped leaves that are strongly creased in the center, and small, five-petaled flowers (which are also edible). No need to cut the tiny leaves, but they should be removed from the stems. Using local, foraged ingredients is much more in keeping with the spirit of Limousine cuisine than paying a fortune for a rarity.

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⅓ c. of water (room temperature) to make a smooth paste, then dilute the paste with any remaining water and stir till smooth. Cover the bowl with a plate and let sit in a moderate spot (70° F) for about 8–10 hours. The sponge will rise markedly, developing large bubbles, then subside. Rising time can be adjusted to fit your schedule by changing the amount of yeast (minimum ¼ t., maximum 1 t.) or choosing a rising temperature anywhere between 50° F and 85° F, but don’t try to reduce time to under 4 hours (you want it develop some acidity). Soften the 1 t. yeast in ⅓ c. of warmed water; stir into sponge. Add the buckwheat flour and enough of the remaining water to make a paste; stir until smooth, then dilute with the rest of the water, adding the last bit slowly in case it’s not all needed. Finally, stir in the salt. The batter should be thin enough to pour easily but thick enough to coat the back of a spoon or ladle opaquely (i.e., it should be slightly thicker than a classic crêpe batter). Add a small amount of water if necessary, 1 T at a time. (If the batter is too thick, it will not spread properly; too thin, the pancakes will taste insipid and custardy rather than crisp and chewy.) Let rise 1–3 hours, just till the batter doubles in volume; it will look thicker than before but should pour about the same. Do not let rise further, as yeast should remain highly active. Stir only enough to homogenize the batter—keep as many of the bubbles intact as you can. Heat a 12" round griddle—or a large skillet or crêpe pan—over medium heat (baking the galetous is slow work, so use a timer so you can multitask, or keep more than one pan going at once). With a large ladle, pour a generous ¾ c. of batter (or less, for a smaller pan) onto the griddle and immediately swirl it, tilting only enough to distribute the batter evenly across the surface (tilting too much will make the edges too thin). If using an immobile griddle or crêpe maker, spread out the batter with a wetted wooden crêpe spreader; it should be a bit thicker than for the more familiar crêpes bretonnes—about ⅛". Bake the first side about 3 or 4 minutes—the edges will curl up, the pancake will shrink visibly, and will begin to bunch up. It should be lightly browned and have a netted appearance, like that of a cantaloupe rind, with numerous holes. Flip the pancake and bake another 2 to 3 minutes; it’s better to overbake slightly than to underbake. Keep warm as follows: place a large, round, heat-proof plate or platter (such as a glass microwave turntable) atop a wide pot of simmering water, drape a clean kitchen towel over it and wrap the galetous in it as they come off the griddle, rewrapping as you go. If you need to do them a few hours ahead, place them on a cold plate, wrapped in their towel, and leave until cool (do not refrigerate!); cover the towel loosely with a sheet of waxed paper. To reheat, remove the waxed paper and use the same method as for keeping them warm. They should have a slight tang, with a unique crisp-on-the-outsidebut-moist-on-the-inside quality combined with a delightful stretchiness. Makes about 9 large galetous (more if you’re using a smaller skillet); enough for 6 portions of trout, with some left over to be eaten with the salad and the cheese. No wheaten bread is necessary (though it is now common in the Limousin). Any galetous remaining the next day can be spread with a sandwich filling (such as one with a cream-cheese base), rolled up, sliced, and the spirals served as appetizers, as is now done in the Limousin. After 2 days you can dry them thoroughly in a slow oven and use as crackers or in fattoush.

Poêlée de Cèpes (Boletus edulis Mushroom Panfry) 1½ to 2 lbs. fresh porcini mushrooms, or a combination of 1½ lbs. fresh portabella and 2 oz. dried porcini (aka boletus, king boletes, or cèpes) 4 T rendered goose or duck fat, or a combination of vegetable oil (preferably peanut or grapeseed) and butter salt and freshly ground black pepper about ⅔ c. minced fresh parsley 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

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If you have access to abundant fresh porcini mushrooms, either because you are an experienced mushroom hunter (there are poisonous look-alikes) or because you have another source, simply cut off the dirt-encrusted bottoms and wipe the rest clean with a dish cloth or paper towel (a mushroom brush may also be used to help dislodge sand and soil). Do not wash fresh mushrooms destined for the frying pan. Slice about ⅜" thick. If using dried porcini, soak them in lukewarm water to cover for at least 30 minutes. Wipe the portabella mushrooms clean and slice ⅜" thick (if using very large caps, cut in halves or thirds before slicing). Drain the soaked mushrooms well, saving the fragrant juice for a stew or for ramen noodles. Heat thoroughly two large skillets over medium heat. Increase heat to medium high and divide the fat between the two skillets. When hot but not smoking (butter foam will subside), throw in the mushroom slices, distributed between the two pans, and stir frequently. The mushrooms will brown, then they will throw off their juices and shrink down, and then they will reabsorb the juices. At this point, lower the heat to medium low, add salt and pepper, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally for another 10 minutes or so (people of the Limousin tend to like their cèpes well cooked, almost crisp). Combine into a single pan and let sit until serving time. When ready to serve, reheat the mushrooms if cold, and at the last minute sprinkle on the parsley and garlic. If making this dish as part of a less dairy-rich meal, you may add crème fraîche (or a substitute) at the end of the cooking. If you have any vegetarian guests, you can fill galetous for them with cream and mushrooms instead of the trout.

Truite en Galetou (Pan-Grilled Trout Wrapped in Buckwheat Pancakes) 6 smallish trout fillets with the skin on (ideally these will be freshly caught wild-brook trout, but store-bought rainbow trout are fine); if using very large fillets, use fewer of them and cut into roughly 6- to 8-oz. portions, combining different-size pieces if necessary crème fraiche4 salt Cut off any fins or other inedible parts that might have been left on; check for any bones sticking up and remove with tweezers. If using brown trout (salmo fario), remove scales and rinse; this is not necessary with rainbow trout (salmo irideus). Pat dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels. With your fingers, rub the inner side of the fillets with a thin film of mild, heat-resistant oil, such as grapeseed or peanut. Take the cream out of the fridge about an hour before serving. A thick, nonstick griddle is perfect for grilling. If you have enough space on your griddle(s) or enough skillets to accommodate all the trout, do them all at once. If not, heat the oven to 300° F and have a large warm platter ready. Heat the griddle over medium heat until thoroughly hot (flicked water will ball up immediately and skittle across). Increase heat slightly and place the trout directly on the griddle, flesh side first. Cook about 2 minutes, just long enough to sear and brown nicely. Salt well, turn, and cook on the skin side another 4 minutes or so, till the skin is crisp and brown; do not overcook. Salt the flesh side generously as well. Leave in the pan, off the heat, as you assemble the dish. Place a galetou on a plate, “pretty”-side down (the side that was baked first). Smear some of the cream down the center of the disc. Arrange a trout fillet on top of this cream, slather with more

If you do not have crème fraîche, use a mixture of the heaviest cream you can find and very fresh sour cream (not low fat), in equal parts, prepared in advance so it has time to thicken (which it will do even in the fridge, given enough time). If you are lucky enough to have raw, nonhomogenized milk, simply skim off some cream and let it thicken at room temperature a few hours.

4 

132  •  Marc Benamou, Francoise Étay, and Anne Lavaud

cream, and fold the two flaps over the fish toward the center, creating a neat packet (the cream will ooze out the pores of the galetou). Continue with the remaining trout, placing the packets on the heated platter, folded-side down, as you go. If you’re cooking the trout in two batches, keep the first batch of filled galetous warm in the oven, each wrapped in aluminum foil, till the second batch is done. Serve, after the soup course, along with the sautéed mushrooms.

Salade Verte with Cheese The key to a good French-style tossed salad is washing and drying the leaves thoroughly, making a proper vinaigrette, and thoroughly but gently mixing leaves and sauce (in France it is often said that touiller—salad tossing—is an art unto itself). Resist the temptation to complicate your salad unnecessarily—with croutons, for instance, or other vegetables. A salade verte, which comes toward the end of the meal, fulfills a different function from that of a salade composée, served as an entrée (first course): it is meant to brighten up the palate before the cheese and dessert. leaf lettuce (Boston, Romaine, escarole, green leaf, red leaf, arugula, and the like, or any combination of the above) a clove of fresh garlic Dijon mustard, or the violet mustard from Brives salt freshly ground black pepper red wine or cider vinegar very fresh French walnut or hazelnut oil (or a nice olive oil; grapeseed oil will also do) Cut out the solid cores of the heads, breaking apart the inner leaves. Tear into two or three pieces any very large leaves. Soak the lettuce in abundant water, lifting out the leaves and changing the water as necessary. Drain well in a rotary salad spinner (in batches if necessary). A nice additional step is to dry the leaves further in a clean kitchen towel. This may be done in advance, and the lettuce rolled up in the towel and placed in the refrigerator for up to a day or two. Rub the inner surface of a large wooden glass or ceramic salad bowl with the cut side of the garlic clove, split in half, pressing as you go; discard the clove or save and use in something else. Place a dab (1 t. or more) of mustard in the bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle onto it a large pinch of salt and a couple of grindings of pepper. Stirring with the large spoon you use to measure the vinegar and oil, slowly dilute the mustard with one or two spoonfuls of vinegar (depending on the size of the spoon and the quantity of lettuce you have). Beat in three or four times the amount of vinegar’s worth of oil into this mixture, one spoonful at a time. The exact proportions will depend on the strength of the vinegar, the kind of oil you’re using, the kind of lettuce you have, and personal taste. Just before serving, beat the sauce into an emulsion again if it has sat a while. Strew the salad leaves over the dressing. Toss gently, pulling the leaves from the bottom up over the top until all are evenly moistened. In France, salad is served on plates, not in bowls, and eaten with the fork in the left hand and knife in the right, continental style. The leaves are folded into a neat packet rather than cut—with the possible exception of the thick stems of Romaine lettuce (this takes some practice if you’re not used to it, but the salad really does taste better that way!). The knife can be used at the beginning of the journey from plate to mouth, to help keep the packet from unraveling. You may also, in a family setting, use a bit of baguette—or galetou!—to help the salad onto the fork. In the Limousin, the salad is often served accompanied by one or two of the local cheeses (a goat cheese, for instance, or one of the two highly reputed cow’s milk cheeses of the region: corrézon

The Limousin, France  •  133

au torchon and gouzon). Since this is a simple country meal, there is no need for a complete cheese platter as would be served after the salad in a bourgeois household. Even so, a caution is in order in the serving of French cheese: the golden rule in slicing off a bit of cheese is that every guest must get the same proportion of rind and inner part. This means, for instance, that you must never cut off the “nose” of a triangle, leaving behind the crusty base for others.

“Marie” Clafoutis 5–6 slightly rounded T of flour 4–6 slightly rounded T of granulated sugar (or sucralose, if preferred) 1 generous pinch salt 3 or 4 large eggs 4 ⅓ c. whole milk or half and half, or some combination of milk and cream, or milk and crème fraîche, or milk and rich sour cream 2 t. vanilla extract 1–2 T cognac or rum (preferably an ambré from Martinique) black cherries or small plums This can be made with almost any summer fruit, although the classic version is with sweet cherries. Anne often makes it with the tiny green plums that grow in her garden. If you wish to use plums, choose small ones that are neither too sweet nor too sour—something akin to sweet cherries (you may successfully use the common, dark-purple plums of the variety used for prunes, but reduce the sugar in the recipe considerably, and wipe off the white bloom that forms on the skin). In France the pits are always left in the fruit (don’t forget to warn your guests!), as the pits improve the flavor, and the unpitted fruit stays more intact during baking. The dessert can also be made with winter fruit, such as apples or pears, in which case it is called a flognarde; peel, quarter, and seed the fruit, then cut into enough small, thickish slices to cover the bottom of the baking dish—fruit will float to the top when batter is added; use minimal flour in the batter, and, for pears, minimal sugar. Most recipes call for too much flour; the texture should be closer to custard than to cake (clafoutis is essentially a crêpe batter, poured over fruit and baked till brown). This recipe is adapted from the one Anne clipped decades ago from a local newspaper, Le Populaire; it is virtually foolproof, despite (or because of?) its vagueness. She has no explanation of why it is called “Marie Clafoutis,” except to surmise that a certain Marie had been famous for her clafoutis. Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt in an ample mixing bowl (the amount of flour will depend on how juicy the fruit is, and the amount of sugar needed will also vary according to the sweetness of the fruit). Make a well in the center. Break the eggs into the well, and mix with a wire whip using a slow, circular motion, starting in the center and gradually drawing in the flour mixture from the edges. Add dollops of milk as soon as it gets too thick to stir easily. Once you have formed a homogeneous paste, mix in the rest of the milk and cream in a steady stream. The goal is to keep the batter smooth and free of lumps, which is easy to do as long as your flour has been kept dry in storage and you don’t add the liquid too quickly in the beginning. Mix in the vanilla and the cognac or rum. If you end up with lumps, you can strain the batter through a medium-fine sieve or let it sit for a while and then beat some more with the wire whip. Butter a large ceramic tart mold or large rectangular Pyrex dish (or two small pie plates). Fill the baking dish with fruit so that it fits fairly closely together in one layer. Pour the batter over it and bake at 400°F for about 45 minutes, until nicely browned (remembering that French preferences in this regard run pretty dark). Serve warm or cold. You may sprinkle the top with confectioners’ sugar if you like (this is recommended if using sour cherries or sour plums). It will keep a day or two at

134  •  Marc Benamou, Francoise Étay, and Anne Lavaud

room temperature, or it may be refrigerated and warmed or simply brought to room temperature before being served.

Food and Music of the Limousin This chapter presents a somewhat nostalgic look at music and food in the Limousin, a former French province, divided, since the Revolution, into the three départements of the Corrèze, the Haute-Vienne, and the Creuse. It lies at the northwestern edge of the Massif Central, an impoverished and formerly isolated chain of low mountains in south-central France. Today few people still speak the regional dialect of Occitan and sing local, orally transmitted songs. And most Limousins now shop primarily at supermarkets, where the same products can be found as in any supermarket in France. But within living memory, most folks in this sparsely populated area sang frequently in patois and ate only whatever the land produced. The cuisine of the Limousin bears strong vestiges of medieval and renaissance times when peasants ate mostly chestnuts and turnips; here wheaten bread is an even more recent staple than the potato (Limousin 1998: 38, 87–8, 104–8; Larousse 2005: 298). The region has long been famous for its livestock: its own breed of cattle, “mother-fed” veal, “black-butt” pork, and lamb. Of these, pork was the mainstay of local consumption (beef was raised for export), and the art of charcuterie is highly developed. The characteristic boudin aux châtaignes (blood and chestnut sausage), for instance, is a miracle of unctuousness. The region also boasts an abundance of cherries and wild mushrooms, excellent trout fishing, tiny green plums, and several local varieties of apple. There is not much here in the way of grande cuisine—no temples of gastronomy, no distinctive tradition of aristocratic or even bourgeois cooking—nor does it have any wines of note. This is simple, satisfying fare—peasant food that depends greatly on the quality of the ingredients. Musically, the Limousin is especially rich in accordion players, who tend toward the musette style of playing developed in Paris at the end of the 19th century by folk who had moved up from the Auvergne (next to the Limousin). But they also retain in their repertoire some of the older folk dances called bourrées, which the fiddlers of the Corrèze had performed with a particularly subtle rhythm. In 1919, the now-famous accordion manufacturer Maugein set up shop in the town of Tulle, and by the 1930s, accordions were widespread in the region, to the detriment of the strong fiddling tradition of the Corrèze. In the late 1970s, the vast local fiddle repertoire—fast disappearing—was rediscovered by revivalists, who managed to document the last surviving fiddlers born at the turn of the last century. During this period, another instrument, of uncertain origin, was rediscovered. This was the richly decorated chabrette—a bagpipe with its own distinctive timbre. The Creuse is known for its hurdy-gurdies, which the native stone masons sometimes took with them as they traveled around France building a great many of the 19th century structures still visible in Paris and other large cities. People of the Limousin tend to be communally oriented; they are more likely than in other regions of France, for instance, to invite neighbors into their homes. A common expression in patois, when someone approaches the entrance to a house, is “Chabatz d’entrar,” meaning “Finish entering, already!” If there is one thing that unites the food and music of the region, it is this easy conviviality: both food and song are to be shared, often at the same occasion. Recently, this conjoining of food and live music is most conspicuous at weekly bals traditionnels (traditional dance gatherings)—revivalist events that seek to keep rural traditions alive. Not so long ago, when agriculture depended more strongly on collaborative labor, singing and eating were less self-consciously combined. The following is Anne Lavaud’s account (translated from the French) of two such occasions. Although primarily raised in the city of Limoges in a bourgeois family for whom the main dance music was jazz, Anne knew the countryside well from frequent visits to see relatives on her mother’s side.

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Anne Lavaud:

But we . . . even at home . . . whenever we were feeling happy, on Sundays or in the evening, as soon as the meal was over, one of us would start . . . It would start off with a religious song, usually a cantique [sacred hymn in French, which, in a situation such as this, would have been atypical of the Limousin, where anticlerical sentiments have long predominated]. And from the cantique it would go on to other things . . . Jean-Paul, Claude, everyone, even Mother. Everyone sang. But, actually, we sang because we were happy to be together. Nowadays people launch into discussions after dinner, and they don’t sing the way they used to. Marc Benamou: [Did it veer into] bawdy songs? AL: Oh, my word, no! Those were for the med students. No, no, no. In general, no. Well, on threshing days, maybe. When they had the huge meals, they would celebrate for two days straight, because they would trade the machine off [from farm to farm]. They rented the machine, and would use each other’s elbow grease, and would go from one place to the next. I have memories of being a kid—we loved to go to the repas de batteuse [threshing meals]. We would go for dessert, you know. We were so happy to be able to slip in there like that. I remember seeing men climb up on a table to sing so that everyone could see them, because when there are one or two hundred people in the room, it’s hard to be seen, so you climbed up. They had probably had a bit to drink, and they would sing like that. It was all very spontaneous. Françoise has attempted, over the past couple years, to bring back some of this atmosphere by organizing what she calls repas chantants (singing meals), mostly to give older folk a chance to share their songs. At one of these, a fellow by the name of Jean Célérier sang a song titled “Lo Pelhaire”— probably composed by Georges Montazaud about a hundred years ago—whose main subject is the clafoutis, the Limousin’s most famous dish (see recipe). Here are the lyrics as sung in the Limousin dialect on that occasion, with an English translation (jaques, by the way, are chestnuts that have been dessicated, then rehydrated and cooked):

1. A la sason passada Tornava de Glanjas Passí per la Valada País de cireisas Trobí la Marion Sur son bassuelh de pòrta M’arrestí un moment Faguerem compliment

1. This past season, Coming back from Glanges, I passed through la Valade, The land of cherries. I found Marion Standing in her doorway. I stopped awhile, We exchanged pleasantries.

2. Janton disset la bela Entratz vos repausar ’La me tendet ’na sela N’ausí pas refusar ’La ‘viset dins lo forn Surtiguet dins ’na tòla Un gente clafotis Qu’avia fach l’emmandin

2. Janton, said she, Come in and rest. She offered me a chair, I dared not refuse. She looked in the oven And took out a pan, A fine clafoutis She had made that morn.

136  •  Marc Benamou, Francoise Étay, and Anne Lavaud

3. El’ espandet ’na tiala Blancha coma la flor La chalor me passava Lo pastis fregissia Ela casset daus uòus Los botet dins ’n’escunla Emb de la vinheta Faguet ‘na moleta

3. She spread out a cloth, As white as a flower. I was feeling less hot, The cake was cooling. She broke some eggs, Put them in a bowl, And, with some sorrel, She made an omelette.

4. Nos ’siclierem a taula Joïos coma daus reis Ela viset dins l’orla Surtiguet daus jaques Buguerem lo vin blanc Mingerem la pitança En guisa de ròstit L’i aguet lo clafotis

4. We sat down at the table, Happy as kings. She looked in the pot, Took out some jaques, We drank white wine, We ate our fare, And in place of a roast We had the clafoutis.

5. Nos lo ’chaberem presque Quoique fuguessa grand Lo bocin que ne’n restet Ne’n faguet pas de franc La ’trapet dau papier Flan dins ma carnassiera Aguei beu m’entestar Foguet lo n’emportar

5. We finished it, nearly, Though it was big. [With] the remaining piece, Without hesitation, She grabbed some paper, [And] into my hunter’s bag it went. I put up a fight, But with it I left.

6. Tots ’quilhs qu’an fach la festa Aïen bona santat A la propchena festa Siran representats Per far un clafotis Vau dire la maniera Qu’es pas un brave afar Veiquí coma fau far

6. To all those celebrating, I wish good health. At the next celebration May they all be present. To make a clafoutis I’ll now tell how. ‘Tis a simple matter, This is how it’s done:

7. Per far un bon pelhaire Fau sapcher desboirar Lo burre dau Repaire Lo lach de l’Escuras Lo froment dau Mont-Riau Au chasteu La Ribiera Las bonas cireisas E los uòus dau Charjas

7. To make a good clafoutis You must know how to mix Butter from le Repaire, Milk from Leycuras, Flour from Montréal, [From] château La Ribière Cherries most fine, And eggs from Chargeas.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Auvergne et Limousin (1913–1998) : Une anthologie des musiques traditionnelles. Frémeaux & associés CD. Chanteurs et musiciens en Limousin : Enregistrements 1974–1991. CRMT Limousin. Silex Auvidis CD Y225113.

The Limousin, France  •  137 French Folks Songs from Corrèze: Chants Corréziens. Collected and edited by Hugh Shields. Topic 12T246 (LP). Jean Célérier singing “Lo pelhaire” can be heard here: http://mustradamus.free.fr/RCh2014/ (the song is listed under “A la sason passada,” about a third of the way down the page) Roule et ferme derrière: Musique à danser en Limousin. [2014]. Self-published CD RFD 01. (www.rouleetferme. over-blog.com) The website of L’Institut d’ Etudes Occitanes du Limousin: http://la-biaca.org/ (to listen to digitized field recordings go to “consultez les collections,” then, under “choisissez un département” choose either “Corrèze,” “Haute-Vienne,” or “Creuse”) Vive Jean Ségurel et ses troubadours. Marianne Melodie CD 328724.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Chauvirey, Marie-France. 2009. Connaître la cuisine du Limousin. [Bordeaux]: Editions Sud Ouest. Durif, Oliver. 1998. Musiques des monts d’Auvergne et du Limousin. Paris: Cité de la Musique/Actes Sud. (Includes a CD with tracks from Chanteurs et musiciens en Limousin.) Étay, Françoise. 1983. “Le violon populaire en Limousin.” Master’s thesis, University of Paris-Sorbonne. http:// mustradilim.free.fr/doc/memoire/index.html Larousse des cuisines régionales. 2005. Paris: Larousse. Limousin: Produits du terroir et recettes traditionnelles. 1998. L’inventaire du patrimoine culinaire de la France. Paris: Albin Michel.

GALICIA, NORTHWEST SPAIN Lucy M. Long Both falling in love and kneading (bread) take time.

Figure 26.1  Galician pimientos de Padrón, photo courtesy of Sean Williams

Menu: Caldo Galega (Galician Soup), Bread (similar to French loaf or Italian “peasant” loaf—buy in a shop), Empanada Gallega de Atun (Galician tunafish pie), Pimientos de Padrón (Padrón-style peppers), Teta Gallega (Mild Cow’s Milk Cheese), Torta de Santiago (Almond Tart), and herbal liqueur or Galician wine to accompany meal. Preparation Time: 3–4 hours. Cooking Process: Some of these ingredients will be available only in ethnic markets or specialty groceries. The Padron peppers are small, sweet green peppers that originate in Galicia. The cheese might have to be substituted with a mild cheese carried by Latino groceries. The kale for the soup is a special variety grown in Galicia, but regular kale, young turnip greens, or Swiss chard can be substituted. 138

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Figure 26.2  Galician torta de Santiago, photo courtesy of Sean Williams

Spanish meals are served in courses, so you can have some foods cooking while you eat the first course. You can make the torta de Santiago a day ahead. Otherwise, get the soup started first before the cake, so that it can simmer slowly. The bread should be purchased the day that it is eaten. The peppers should be cooked immediately before serving for the second course, so prepare them ahead of time. Include olive oil and salt on the table for people to add if wanted. Finish off the meal with a queimada ritual, setting alight liquor mixed with sugar, orange and lemon peel, and wine. Let the flame burn off as much of the alcohol as desired before sharing the drink to, depending on one’s interpretation, keep evil spirits at bay, affirm friendships, celebrate Galician heritage, or make amends with other individuals.

The Recipes Caldo Galega (Galician soup) 1 T olive oil 1 ham hock or salt pork 1 onion, diced 3–6 cloves garlic, minced salt paprika—optional bay leaf (optional)

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black pepper potatoes kale (chard or young turnip tops also work) 1½ c. cooked white beans (cannellini or northern white if Spanish varieties are not available) 2–3 c. sliced pork sausage (Spanish chorizo) In a large soup pot, fry olive oil, ham hock, and onion until onion is soft. Stir in garlic, 1 t. salt, 1 t. paprika, bay leaf, and ½ t. black pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add 9 c. of water and bring to boil. Add potatoes and kale and simmer for 1 hour. Add beans and sausage. Simmer for another hour. Remove ham hock, cut meat from bone, dice, and return to pot. Serve soup with bread, ideally in earthenware bowls.

Pimientos de Padrón (Padrón-style peppers) 1 lb. Padrón peppers (shishito peppers can be substituted) 1 T olive oil 1 t. coarse sea salt Peppers can either be fried quickly in olive oil in a hot pan or coated in oil then grilled. They are ready when they began to blister. Remove from heat, drain, and sprinkle with salt.

Empanada Gallega de Atun (Galician Tunafish Pie) 1 onion, chopped 1 sweet red pepper, chopped 1 T olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 plum tomatoes, chopped (use seeds and liquid) or 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes 4 cans (5 oz.) tuna, drained. Can be packed in either water or olive oil. dough for crust—use 2 sheets of thawed puff pastry or favorite yeast-based dough 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced Prepare the filling by frying onion and pepper in oil until soft. Add garlic and tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the drained tuna until mixed thoroughly, then let cool. Add salt to taste. To assemble the empanada, place one sheet of dough in baking pan. Pour in filling. Place sliced eggs on top. Cover with second sheet of dough. If desired, give an egg wash (of beaten egg whites) to the top. Bake in preheated 400°F oven until crust is golden. Cut into squares or rectangles for individual servings.

Teta Gallega (Mild Cow’s Milk Cheese) Slice and serve on a plate. If desired, the slices can be eaten with quince jelly, available in Hispanic markets in the United States.

Torta de Santiago (Spanish: Tarta de Santiago) ½ lb. (1¾ c.) almonds 6 eggs separated 1¼ c. sugar (superfine is preferable)

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zest of 1 lemon and/or zest of 1 orange (optional) almond extract (½ teaspoon) (optional) confectioner’s sugar Blanch then grind the almonds. Beat egg yolks with sugar until creamed. Add zest and almond extract if desired, then add almonds. Beat egg whites until they peak, then fold into almonds. Bake in a round pan either greased or dusted with flour at 350°F degrees for 40 minutes. When cooled and removed from pan, place a stencil of St. James’ cross on top and dust with confectioner’s sugar. Remove the stencil and admire the design left on the cake.

Food Pilgrimages, Bagpipes, and the Camino de Santiago Galicia, an autonomous province in northwestern Spain, is best known for the city of Santiago, a pilgrimage site since the 11th century. The Camino de Santiago runs from the border of France along the northwest coast of Spain to Santiago de Compostela, taking pilgrims (historically, sinners seeking absolution) to the cathedral where St. James’s bones are interred. Recently revitalized as a tourist attraction, midlife crisis “project,” physical endurance test, and occasion for social bonding and community, as well as a site for emotional healing and personal and spiritual renewal, the Camino draws thousands of pilgrims every year. While food along the route was officially and historically a necessity rather than a source of pleasure and entertainment, the revitalization of the Camino has led to new recognition of the food of this region, drawing culinary tourists making pilgrimages to places where they can experience these foods in an “authentic” setting. Also benefitting from the revitalization of the Camino are music and dance traditions of Galicia, particularly those revolving around bagpipes. Although a part of Spain, Galicia is a world apart, separated from the rest of the country geographically by steep mountains and a colder, more humid climate than the central and southern part of the country. It was also set apart culturally because it was never ruled by the Moors. It has its own language, Gallega, and distinctive architecture and other expressive forms. Its extensive coastline and rugged mountains also made it easier to travel between Galicia and other coasts—Ireland, Brittany, Cuba, Brazil, New Jersey—than to the center of Spain. Irish settlements along the western coast, just north of Portugal, date to 1000 BCE, and although those settlements did not last, the blue eyes and red hair that are not uncommon among Gallegos demonstrate other legacies of the Celts. Food and music are also perceived as reflecting interchanges with Ireland—fish and potatoes figure prominently in the cuisine and bagpipes in the music—so that many native scholars, residents, and musicians see themselves as part of the Celtic diaspora. Galicia’s music also reflects its unique history. Bagpipes, usually more associated with the Celtic world, are found in both classical “conservatory” music and folk tradition. The mouth-blown gaita Galega has a chanter and two drones—a bass and an octave—although it is possible to have two more drones that play the tonic and the dominant. The traditional ensemble is a bagpipe accompanied by two drums, tambril (snare drum) and bombo (bass drum), and this is what is usually presented for tourists and pilgrims as well as for celebrations and festivals. Developed from the bagpipes common throughout Europe during the medieval ages, the gaita was highlighted in the folk music revival of the 1970s, and it has been used to explore Galicia’s Celtic connection as well as its distinctive musical identity. The food of Galicia reflects its geography and cultural history. Seafood plays a significant role, with fish, shellfish, and other sea creatures featured in everyday as well as celebratory dishes—in stews and soups, empanadas (pies), boiled, baked, and fried. The harbor city of Vigo is the largest producer of mussels in Europe, and other shellfish—goose barnacles, shrimp, scallops, clams, cockles, and octopus and squid—are also bountiful. A  regional specialty is octopus boiled with

142  •  Lucy M. Long

potatoes (in Spanish, pulpo a la Gallego or, in Gallego, polbo a feira, is translated as “fair-style octopus”). Traditionally cooked in large copper kettles over an outdoor fire, the dish is usually available in roadside stands or temporary restaurants set up during octopus season. Customers order by choosing the size of plate, using traditional wooden ones that come in six inches or nine inches. The women cooks (almost always women, and almost always wearing the traditional black dresses and shawls of the rural villages) then lift an octopus out of the cauldron and use scissors to snip off rings from the tentacles. A potato (cachelos) or two from the cauldron is added, and the dish is seasoned with salt, paprika (pimento picante), and olive oil, and washed down with red wine or liquors (not water!). Deep-sea fish, including tuna, hake, codfish, pollock, and mackerel, are exported as well as consumed within Spain. Tuna with garlic, onions, and tomato is a popular filling for the empanadas served at gatherings and for family meals. Instead of the one-person size, folded over tarts common elsewhere, empanadas in Galicia are generally a large rectangle with wheat-based dough on both the bottom and top and cut into squares. Also, unlike much of Spain, baking is common in Galician homes, reflecting the colder weather. As in much of Spain, pork—ham, sausage, bacon (lacon), lard—is essential in the cooking and is frequently featured in caldo gallega (Galician soup), a thick stew of potatoes, collard greens, and ham reminiscent of Irish stew. Beef is frequently the preferred meat, but goat, mutton, and poultry are also consumed. Cheese is a also a standard part of the diet, and a distinctive regional one is queixo de tetilla (also referred to as teta gallega) made from cow’s milk and shaped, as the name suggests, like a woman’s breast. Potatoes are a staple starch, as is bread baked daily in long loaves as it is in the rest of Spain. Vegetables distinctive to the region include chard, which frequently grows to a lofty six or more feet, and young turnip greens. Peppers are made into the regional specialty, pimientos de Padron. Beans are dried and used in soups and stews. Desserts and sweets tend to be similar to those found elsewhere in Spain, but the torta de Santiago is particularly well known. Meaning the “cake of St. James,” the ground almond, egg, and sugar pastry frequently flavored with lemon is round and dusted with powdered sugar to make a design of the cross of St. James. The cake has recently been recognized by the European Union as having PGI (protected geographical indication) status. These foods are washed down with a variety of regional wines and liquors. Of particular fame is Aguardiente de Orujo, a liquor made from distilling whole crushed grapes. Mixed with sugar, orange and lemon peel, and red wine or coffee to make queimada; it is lit afire and stirred, burning the alcohol off, and, according to popular culture (and tourism brochures), scaring away evil spirits. Sometimes included in St. John’s Eve celebrations, it was also a family ritual of simply bonding and speaking forgiveness. According to one source, though, it was invented in the 1950s among Gallego migrants to other parts of Spain—perhaps in response to the stereotypes of backwardness and superstition attached to them.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Recordings of Galician bagpipes are frequently not available outside of Spain, but videos can be found on the internet of some of the better known musicians and groups, particularly, Susana Seivane, Carlos Nunez, Xose Manuel Budino, Christina Pato, and Hevia. Also, a number of Medieval music ensembles perform music associated with the Camino de Santiago: Susana Seivane, Carlos Nunez, Xose Manuel Budino, Christina Pato, and Hevia.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION http://www.galiciaguide.com/Galicias-cusine.html http://www.galiciaguide.com/Galicias-music.html http://www.spanishfoodworld.co.uk/regional-spanish-cuisine/galicia/ http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187508-c143161/Santiago-De-Compostela:Spain:Typical.Galician.Food. html https://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_18/foxo_6_18.pdf Albala, Ken. 2003. Food in Early Modern Europe. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Foxo, Xose Lois. 2007. “The Celtic Legacy of the Gaita in Galician Music.” Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies. Vol. 6: 851–902. Gamella, Juan F. 1995. “Spain.” In International Handbook on Alcohol and Culture, ed. D.B. Heath. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Gonzalez, Turmo Isabel. 1997. “The Pathways of Taste: the West Andalusian Case.” In Food Preferences and Taste: Continuity and Change, ed. Helen Macbeth. Oxford: Berghahn Books. Medina, F. Xavier. 2005. Food Culture in Spain. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press. Santich, Barbara. 1995. The Original Mediterranean Cuisine: Medieval Recipes for Today. Devon, UK: Prospect Books.

PORTUGAL Katherine Brucher Na casinha portuguesa, pão e vinho sobre a mesa. (In a Portuguese house, bread and wine on the table.) Meal: Caldo Verde (Green Soup), Bifanas à Maria Sebastião (Pork Cutlets), Rolls, Potato, or Rice, Salada de Alface (Lettuce Salad), Pão de Ló (Sponge Cake), and Salada de Fruta (fruit salad) Preparation Time: 1 to 1½ hours. Suggested Drink Pairings: For a large festive meal or Sunday dinner, you may want to start with an aperitif. In the region where I’ve conducted fieldwork, one would typically serve a small glass of sweet vermouth—called martini after the brand Martini Rossi—with a twist of lemon peel. During the meal, you could serve a light vinho verde, but in the villages, most people drink red wine regardless of the main course. I did my fieldwork in the Bairrada region, so most people drank vinho tinto da Bairrada made from their own grapes by the local wine cooperative. Bairrada wines are rarely exported, and they can be very tannic. In the United States, you may find moderately priced Portuguese wines in some well-stocked wine shops. I recommend a fruity red wine from the Alentejo or Dão regions. In addition to wine, people serve soda (Coca Cola, Fanta, Sumol) and sparkling or still mineral water. With dessert, you could serve a small glass of port, although in the Bairrada the most common dessert drink is a glass of local espumante, especially at a feast or a birthday party. Following dessert, one always serves espresso as the final cadence of the meal.

Caldo Verde (Green Soup) ¼ c. olive oil large chopped yellow onion 2 cloves garlic, chopped 2 large white potatoes, thinly sliced (Maine or New England potatoes are closest to the variety grown in Portugal, but any white potatoes will do.) 2 quarts water 6 ounces or 1 large link chouriço sausage, sliced (Optional: try to get a Portuguese chouriço or Spanish chorizo. Mexican chorizo has a very different flavor.) 1 lb. thinly sliced kale or collard greens (see note below) This soup can be prepared very simply by throwing 3 T olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, and potatoes in water in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil and simmer partially covered until the potatoes are cooked. If you have the time, you get a richer flavor if you sauté the onion and garlic in 3 T of olive oil in the soup pot for around 3 minutes. Once the onions and garlic are translucent (not brown), add the potatoes and water. Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes until very soft, about 20–30 minutes. Using an immersion blender or potato masher, mash them in the pot with the broth. You can leave the potatoes as chunky or smooth as you like. In the meantime, fry the sliced chouriço in a skillet until most of the fat is rendered out. Drain slices on a paper towel. At this point, you can add the chouriço directly to the soup, or if you are serving both meat eaters and vegetarians, serve them on the side for people to add as they like. Add 144

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the greens to the soup and simmer the soup for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls and drizzle with olive oil. A note on slicing the greens: The greens should be sliced very thinly. First remove any tough stems. Then roll a pile of leaves into a tight cylinder lengthwise. Chop the cylinder crosswise as finely as possible.

Bifanas à Maria Sebastião (Pork Cutlets) 2 lbs. pork sliced ¼'' thick (Sliced loin or cutlets will work.) 1 big onion, chopped 1 clove of garlic, chopped 2 T olive oil (approximately) 2 c. beer or white wine (approximately) 1 T paprika (approximately) salt to taste maybe a little hot pepper sauce Simmer all ingredients together in a big pot for 30 minutes or more until the onions disintegrate. The amounts are flexible depending on the number of people you intend to serve and your taste preferences. Increase the amount of beer or wine, onion, and spices accordingly because you want to be able to really braise the meat in the liquid. Some recipes call for you to marinate the pork, cook it in the liquid, and then brown the cutlets in a frying pan or on a grill. Marinating the pork in some olive oil, onion, garlic, paprika, and hot pepper sauce will intensify the flavor, but Maria’s recipe skips these steps and works very well. Bifanas are traditionally served as a sandwich on a roll. Although it’s not traditional at all, they’re also good served alongside rice or potatoes because the braising liquid and onions make a tasty gravy.

Salada de Alface (Green Salad) fresh leaf lettuce (Green or red leaf or Boston lettuce are especially good.) sweet onion, sliced olive oil wine vinegar sea salt Portuguese salads tend to be based on a central fresh vegetable and call for minimal preparation. Just wash lettuce and tear leaves into manageable pieces. Add sliced onion. Dress with liberal amounts of olive oil, wine vinegar, and sea salt. You could vary this recipe by using cucumber or tomato instead of lettuce.

Pão de Ló (Sponge Cake) 1⅔ c. all-purpose flour ¼ t. baking powder 9 eggs pinch of salt 1½ c. sugar

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Butter a large tube pan and line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour and baking power together in a small bowl. Beat the eggs and pinch of salt with an electric mixer until very light. Gradually mix in sugar and continue beating for about 20 minutes. You want the egg and sugar mixture to be both very light and very thick. Turn mixer to the lowest setting and gradually mix in the flour and baking soda mixture one spoonful at a time. Once flour is incorporated, pour batter into tube pan. Bake in oven for about 40 minutes. The top of the cake should be nicely browned. Remove from oven and cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Lift the cake out using the parchment paper and then peel if off before cooling cake on a rack. Slice and serve for dessert. It goes well with fruit salad. The leftover cake is particularly good for breakfast, dunked in hot milky coffee (a galão or meia-de-leite).

Salada de Fruta (Fruit Salad) seasonal fruits sliced into roughly ½'' pieces, for example: apples oranges strawberries pineapple 1 T port wine Slice the fruits and put in a large bowl. If you are using apples or pears, which brown quickly, slice the citrus fruit first, and then add the apples to the bowl. The acid in the citrus juice will keep the other fruit from discoloring. Add 1 T of port. You shouldn’t be able to taste the port, but it will lightly macerate the fruit and bring out the sweetness.

Food and Music from the Backyard in Rural Portugal Vem do quintal! When I visit my friends in the Bairrada, the central coastal region of Portugal, and join them for a home-cooked meal, my hosts often declare, “It comes from the backyard!” as they proudly place the food on the table. Locality and provenance figured in the discussions of the food that was served, and much that I ate was exceedingly local. Indeed, it usually came from the quintal, the kitchen garden: a few fruit trees, a shed with pigs, a chicken coop, and sometimes larger plots of land with vineyards, kiwi trellises, orchards, and potato fields. Some staples such as rice were store bought, but even these tended to be grown somewhere on the Iberian Peninsula. Much of this food was grown by the women in the family. When I stayed with the family of Fausto, the band director of the Sociedade Filarmónica de Covões, his mother maintained the family’s garden, orchard, vineyards, chickens, pigs, and rabbits, in addition to working plots of land owned by neighbors. The parents of Fausto’s wife, Adelaide, had bought tracts of land after working abroad, and they too cultivated a variety of food crops and vineyards. At dusk, Fausto’s mother Adélia would bicycle home from a distant field with a bushel of couves—Galician cabbage—balanced on her head. She boiled couves, onions, potatoes, and bacalhau (salt cod) and served it dressed with olive oil and vinegar, alongside a chunk of broa (country bread) for supper before Fausto, his daughter Inês, and I  would hurry off to an evening band rehearsal. Fausto’s wife, Adelaide, runs a busy hair salon, and when she had evening clients, we would drop off a small basket with a dinner plate balanced on a pan of hot water to keep the food warm. On Sunday afternoons, we would usually all go over to Adelaide’s parents’ house for a more elaborate meal. In the winter months when we didn’t have afternoon services with the band, we would sit around and talk or watch TV. I have a vivid memory of relaxing on the couch with Inês and Fausto and watching the movie Marley and Me dubbed into Portuguese.

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The three of us began crying when Marley, the Labrador Retriever, inevitably passed on to doggie heaven, leaving the older folks, who were intimately familiar with the life cycle of the animals they raised and accustomed to slaughtering the chickens and pigs for the meals that we ate, chuckling at our sentimentality. While an interest in growing and eating more local food has become more common in North America, eating local has been a way of life, not a trend, in rural Portuguese communities. Agriculture was the primary employment in the Bairrada until the mid-1980s. During the lean years of the Estado Novo (“New State”—the totalitarian dictatorship that lasted from 1926–1974), people depended on raising their own food to survive. Even though more goods are now available, food that came from farther away was viewed as suspicious and less delicious (“Of course, it’s not so good; it’s bought, homemade is better.”). My friends would even note that they only fed their pigs the leftovers of food that they themselves consumed. Commentary on locality often extended to music as well. At saints-day feasts, food and music are closely connected in the rituals of the day. Families gathered to eat large multicourse meals made of the food raised in the quintal. Although the menu varies little from feast to feast or family to family, one might deviate the typical menu if you didn’t have a certain ingredient in your garden, even if you could readily buy it in the store. A similar mode of thinking often applied to the sociedade filarmónicas—the amateur community wind bands that perform for concerts, mass, parades, and processions—during the feast. Locals would proudly tell me that “a banda é a prata de casa” (the band is the house silver) to indicate that all the musicians came from the band’s hometown. Conversely, a band that played well but had contracted professional musicians to fill their ranks would be roundly critiqued because “os músicos vem da fora” (the musicians come from outside). The metaphor of musicians and bands as homegrown fruits of the local community came to the fore when Fausto proclaimed, “É a banda da minha terra.” (It’s my hometown band.) In addition to hometown, terra also signifies the soil and earth. The community nurtures its musicians, who in turn give music back to the community, much as the farmer tends her crops and animals, who in turn feed the family. The meal I suggest is shaped by what can realistically be obtained where I live now and prepared by people with busy schedules. While the entire menu might be delicious for a large dinner, individual dishes can be prepared for a light supper or a special treat. When I devised this menu, my initial inclination was to include a main dish with bacalhau (salt cod), but it’s relatively hard to get outside big cities in the United States. On the other hand, pork loins or cutlets are readily available, and while bifanas are more likely to be served as a snack or light supper, they are delicious and leftovers keep well. Pork in all forms is common in Portuguese cuisine, so much so that some American musician friends on tour in Portugal began betting “Pork or No Pork” before every meal, and pork always won. This bifanas recipe also reflects how recipes may be adapted in the diaspora. Maria Sebastião regularly cooked these bifanas for the Lusitana Band of Cumberland, Rhode Island. She explained that typically you braise the pork in white wine but that you could cook it in whatever you have. When she gave me the recipe, she had cooked her most recent batch, which was delicious, in Miller Lite beer because that’s what her husband Manny brought home from the store. Caldo verde can be easily made vegetarian if you leave out the sausage—just be sure to use a flavorful vegetable broth as a base. Salads and dessert can be very simple, especially if you have seasonal ingredients. Whatever variations you introduce, it is most important that you take the time to savor your meal, preferably with people whose company you enjoy. I was once asked by a set of very cosmopolitan Lisboetas if it was really true that Americans ate lunch in less than 20 minutes. I horrified them by answering yes and that we sometimes eat it in our cars or standing up! While the trope of sociability and Mediterranean meals often verges on stereotype, there is a real benefit to sitting down, even if by yourself, to focus on your meal and appreciate where your food comes from and the work that you put into preparing it.

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RECOMMENDED LISTENING Cristina Cruz, Coimbra Menina do Meu Olhar (2007) Deolinda, Dois selos e um carimbo (Four Quarters Entertainment, 2010) Quim Barreiros, O Melhor de Quim Barreiros (Espacial Musica, 2006) Sociedade Filarmónica de Covões, Sociedade Filarmónica de Covões (Afinaudio, 2010)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Anderson, Jean. 1994. The Food of Portugal. New York: William Morrow. “Bairrada Masterclass: serious red wines from Portugal’s most misunderstood wine region,” Wine Anorak, http://www.wineanorak.com/bairrada.htm Although the wine recommendations are a bit out of date, the short essay gives a good explanation of why Bairrada wine has a very distinctive taste. Castelo-Branco, Salwa El-Shawan, 2000. “Portugal,” pp. 576–587 in Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 8: Europe, ed. Timothy Rice. Routledge. Castelo-Branco, Salwa El-Shawan, ed. 2010. O Enciclopédia de Música em Portugal no Século XX, 4 volumes, Círculo de Leitores/Temas e Debates. “The Music of Portugal: Traditional Riches, Fate & Revolution,” 6 August 2012. World Music Network. http:// www.worldmusic.net/guide/portugal/ Tia Maria’s Portuguese Foodie Blog, http://portuguesediner.com/tiamaria/

REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA Jeremy W. Foutz “The road runs where an old road ran; the river flows in the bed of a former river.” —Proverb from Province of Mingrelia Menu: Tabaka with Kindzis Satsebela (Chicken with Walnut and Cilantro Sauce), Lobio (Beans, Onions, and Tomato Soup), Puri (Skillet Bread), Sliced Tomatoes, Cheese, and Plums. Serve with a light- to medium-bodied red wine (preferably Georgian varietals, like the semisweet red khvanchkara or dry red saperavi), water, carbonated water, or black tea. Preparation Time: 4–8 hours (most of that is unattended, however). Cooking Process: The lobio and puri will take the most time and can be made ahead. Unless you happen to have a cylindrical clay oven, the bread will require high heat and a dense surface, such as a cast-iron skillet or a cooking stone. The sauce will come together quickly but will benefit from resting for an hour or two to let the flavors come together. The key to cooking the chicken evenly in this recipe is by spatchcocking the chicken prior to cooking, a method used around the world, including in Georgia (for making a chicken dish called tabaka). While the chicken is cooking, slice the tomatoes, cheese, and plums to serve on separate small plates. A typical Georgian meal has many small dishes on the table—the more, the better. Serves six people.

The Recipes Kindzis Satsebela (Walnut and Cilantro Sauce) ¼ c. dried apricots, loosely packed 1 c. toasted walnuts 2 c. chopped fresh cilantro ¼ c. chopped basil (or 3 t. dried basil) ¼ c. chopped dill (or 3 t. dried dill or ¾ T. dried dill seed) ⅓ c. chopped flat-leafed parsley (or 1.5 T dried parsley) ⅓ c. chopped tarragon (or 1 T dried tarragon) 2–3 garlic cloves (a hardneck variety if possible, like Georgian Fire) ½ c. olive oil ¼–⅓ c. water or vegetable stock (optional for thinning sauce) ¼ c. lemon juice ½ t. salt ½ t. ground black pepper Begin by soaking the dried apricots in hot water to soften them for easier blending. In a light sauté pan, toast the roughly chopped walnuts until fragrant and immediately remove from the pan. They are easily burned, so be vigilant. While they are cooling, chop all the fresh herbs, garlic, and apricots. Reserving the walnuts, oil, lemon juice, and water/vegetable stock, use a food processor or immersion blender to combine all remaining ingredients. Crush the cooled walnuts with a mallet, skillet, 149

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or anything heavy and add the pieces to the mixture and combine, slowly adding the oil to help bring everything together. If the mixture starts to look more like batter, it is too thick and should be thinned with the water until it flows easily. Pour into a serving container and cover, allowing the sauce to rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour before serving, 2 hours if using dried spices.

Puri (Skillet Bread) 1 c. warm water 1 t. active dry yeast (or 1 package) ½ t. sugar 3½ c. unbleached bread flour plus ¼ c. for kneading (optional) 1 t. salt 1 medium egg If using an electric mixer with dough hook, pour warm water into a bowl and add the yeast and sugar. Briefly stir and then let it rest for 5 minutes. Then add the flour, salt, and egg, taking care not to add the salt directly to the water. Run the mixer with the dough hook attachment for 10 minutes. If kneading by hand, mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl and pour onto a dry, smooth surface. Create a small mound with a hole in the center and pour half the warm water into the hole along with the yeast. Begin slowly mixing the flour mixture with the water using your hands. When no water is visible, recreate the hole and add the rest of the water and the egg. Continue mixing until a slightly sticky dough forms. Knead the dough for 20 minutes, adding up to ¼ c. of flour to the surface as needed. If making the dough ahead, put the dough into a lightly oiled covered container (plastic bag, bowl, etc.) and immediately place in a refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When ready to proceed, allow the dough to come to room temperature. Otherwise, cover the bowl with a damp towel and let the dough rise for at least 2 hours at room temperature. Heat a large cast-iron skillet on high for 8–10 minutes or, if using a pizza stone or clay tiles, preheat the oven to 500°F. Divide the dough in three equal portions and roll it out on a floured surface into a long canoe or boat shape about ¼'' thick. Lightly press your fingertips into the dough, creating a dimpled surface. Place dough on cooking stones or skillet until the dough rises and the top starts to bubble, about 5–7 minutes. Flip the dough and cook for another 2–3 minutes and then remove from heat, wrapping the dough in a towel or parchment paper.

Lobio (Beans, Onions, and Tomato Soup) 30 oz. canned kidney beans (or 1 lb. of dried) 3 bay leaves 3 medium sweet onions 1 T olive oil 3 medium tomatoes 1 mild chile, such as Cubanelle, poblano, Anaheim ¼ c. flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped plus additional for garnish ½ t. ground fenugreek 1½ t. ground coriander 1 t. salt to taste If using dried beans, soak them in 1½ to 2 quarts of water overnight (or longer if the beans have been around more than 2–3 months). Drain the water or not, depending on your preference. Pour beans

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into a heavy pan, such as a Dutch oven. If you drained the water, add enough new water to cover the beans. Add the bay leaves and cook over medium-high heat for 3–4 hours or until tender. If using canned beans, rinse and pour them into a heavy pan, such as a Dutch oven. Add enough water to cover the beans and, along with the bay leaves, cook over medium heat until heated through and tender. Finely chop the onions and sauté in the olive oil with a pinch of salt over medium low heat. While the onions are cooking, dice the tomatoes and add them to the onions when the onions are lightly browned. Meanwhile, remove the seeds from the pepper of your choice and finely chop. Add it to the onion and tomato mixture along with the fenugreek and coriander. Cook together over high heat for 4–6 minutes to bring the flavors together and reduce the liquids, stirring often. Add this mixture to the beans, stirring to combine. Finally, add the parsley and salt and cook over low heat for at least 30 minutes. Serve hot in small bowls with additional parsley for garnish.

Tabaka (Roasted Chicken) 1 chicken (approximately 4–5 lbs.) 2 T vegetable oil 1 T salt Preheat oven to 450°F. Place the chicken spine up on a cutting board. Using kitchen shears or a very sharp chef ’s knife, remove the spine by cutting on each side. Turn the chicken over and, with your hands overlapping each other on the breastbone of the chicken, forcefully and quickly push down, flattening the chicken (you may hear a quiet snap—likely, it is from the chicken). If you like, use a flat mallet or a heavy skillet to flatten the chicken further, depending on your mood and temperament. Move the chicken to a sheet pan with a wire rack. Rub the oil over the chicken to lightly coat, and then season with salt. Cook for 15–20 minutes until slightly brown. If the skin is dark brown, cover with foil. Reduce the heat to 400°F and cook for another 15 minutes or until the temperature of the chicken breast reaches 160°F. Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for 5–10 minutes before carving into pieces. Serve on a large platter with the walnut and cilantro sauce. A note on cheese: the Imeritian cheese that is most common in Georgia is completely unknown in the United States, in my experience. While some recipes say aged Gouda, Munster, feta, or Havarti varieties can work, they are nothing like the real thing (which is probably no surprise). Look for a medium or mild raw cow’s milk cheese with a dry crumbed texture and sharp tang. Serve it sliced on its own plate.

Following the Roads and Rivers For the length of their history, Georgians have fought, cultivated, and accepted influence from their neighbors. In many ways, this is probably not much different from situations elsewhere. It is the breadth of time and topic, however, that gives the Georgian situation more color, more spice, and more depth. Even before its emergence from a loose set of tribes, to a kingdom, to a country, to a nation, this seemingly constant barrage of influence covers nearly every area: the arts, religion, politics, and economics—and, naturally, these are thoroughly entangled with one another. Music—as a companion for celebrating, working, worshipping, teaching, mourning, remembering, and even eating—has been a central resistance point, a way of being Georgian in the face of all these influences and pressures. Before being known in recent years for its struggle against Russia, before its emergence from its civil war and the Soviet Union, and even before the rise of the Ottoman Empire, Georgia had been

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admired for the music, dance, food, wine, and visual arts of its people. Though somewhat romanticized in the last century by those within and outside Georgia, the supra, the musical Georgian feast, is a prime example. Everyone is encouraged to sing, tell stories, and remember as they share the meal, which can last long into the night. Experiencing these things firsthand is a rare privilege, and I feel that fact fully. Listening—and watching Georgians sing and listen—to sacred songs in Svetistkhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta or the First Baptist Church in Tbilisi, it would be hard not to notice their hope in the midst of their struggle. Being welcomed into homes in Dighomi, Tbilisi, and Telavi, strangers become fellow travelers, eager to share songs and stories that will take years to begin to understand. Smelling dinner being prepared and watching a dancing young boy reconnect with a culture long suppressed through Soviet policies gave me a sense of the incredibly varied, deep, and unpredictable connections to the past we experience if we are willing and attentive.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Music in Georgia, much like other parts of the world, can have elements familiar to Western listeners as well as textures, timbres, and scales that can grab the attention as something completely different. Because of Georgia’s geographic and geopolitical situation, influences can be very broad or nearly nonexistent. Though traditional Georgian music is sometimes only thought of as men’s vocal music, instrumental works, accompanied songs, and women’s voices are represented in this list, just as they would be in Georgia. For music that takes an approach that is, as Georgians would say, traditional and ancient, groups such as The Anchiskhati Choir, Mtiebi, and Mzetamze offer deep and varied presentations of sacred and secular music informed by the work of Georgian ethnomusicologists. Groups from outside Georgia, such as Trio Kavkasia, are also highly regarded. Because of a long history of audio recording in Georgia, many archival recordings survive but are only available in the country and most of those are in the process of restoration and preservation. Luckily, there are some collections of archival recordings that are easier to access, such as Drinking Horns & Gramophones 1902–1914: The First Recordings in the Georgian Republic and Before the Revolution: A 1909 Recording Expedition in the Caucasus and Central Asia by the Gramophone Company. Recordings from the prolific Rustavi Choir and other Melodiya record releases from the 1940s–1960s show some Soviet influences and are vital historical touchstones and good listening. Similarly, the group Zedashe has some modern influences while remaining in the traditional vein, offering songbooks and educational materials to those outside Georgia. Though harder to come by physically in the United States, there are many online recordings of Georgian music that blend elements of Western and Russian pop music. At the Rustavi metro station in Tbilisi, I  have heard archival recordings remixed with a Europop dance beat. At the same time, because of deepening ties with the Western world and the cosmopolitan history of some larger Georgian cities, the work of European and American musicians can readily be heard. In newly renovated commercial neighborhoods, I was surprised to hear Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, and Marvin Gaye—which led to some interesting/ embarrassing conversations about the exact song meanings. It is likely you will hear Western blues and jazz at more formal restaurants, as it was part of the soundtrack to Soviet resistance in the 1960s and 1970s. It then becomes a matter of personal taste that I encourage you to explore on your own.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Jeffery, Peter. 1994. “Earliest Christian Chant Repertory Recovered: The Georgian Witness to Jerusalem Chant.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 47/1: 1–28. Jordania, Joseph.1984.“Georgian Folk-Singing: Its Sources, Emergence, and Modern Development.” International Social Science Journal 101, UNESCO vol. 36/3: 537-549. ———. 2000. “Georgia,” in The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 8 (Europe), ed. Timothy Rice, James Porter and Chris Goertzen. New York: Garland Publishing, pp. 835–836. Tsurtsumia, Rusudan and Joseph Jordania, eds. 2010. Echoes from Georgia: Seventeen Arguments on Georgian Polyphony (Focus on Civilizations and Cultures—Music). New York: Nova Science.

GEORGIA, THE CAUCASUS Andrea Kuzmich Bread and cheese is like a kind heart.

Figure 29.1  Preparation for mokharshuli (eggplant salad), photo courtesy of Andrea Kuzmich

Figure 29.2  Frying onions for kharcho (beef walnut stew), photo courtesy of Andrea Kuzmich

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Menu: Charkhlis Mkhali (Beet Purée), Kharcho (Walnut Beef Stew), Mokharshuli Badrijani Saladi (Cooked Eggplant Salad), and Khachapuri (Cheese-Filled Puff Pastry). Serve with fresh bread, wine and/or vodka, and small salad plates of washed mini cucumbers, grape tomatoes, fresh parsley, and cilantro. Preparation Time: About 4 hours. Cooking Process: The night before, place the package of frozen puff pastry into the fridge to defrost. Prepare khachapuri and refrigerate. Start to low boil the meat for the kharcho. Fry up onions with tomatoes for kharcho and set aside; start baking beets and prepare eggplant, then add eggplant to the oven (while beets are cooking, assuming your oven is large enough). Prepare walnut and spice mixture for kharcho and set aside; prepare mkhali; finish eggplant and walnut salad; finish preparing kharcho. The table should be set with small serving plates of salads/vegetables and the kharcho. These should be refilled before they get emptied in order to make the food on the table always look fresh. I recommend putting the khachapuri in the oven just before sitting down so it arrives to the table hot after everyone has already had a chance to savor the other foods. Both vegetable dishes can be prepared the day before and brought to room temperature before serving. Serves six with, following Georgian tradition, lots of leftovers.

The Recipes Khachapuri (Cheese Bread) 16–18 oz. grated cheese (suggest equal combinations of mozzarella and feta with a little (approximately 2 oz.) gruyere or other strong Swiss cheese) flour for rolling 2 sheets (one package, approximately 15–16 oz.) of thawed frozen puff pastry Mix cheeses together and set aside. Line a cookie sheet pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle flour on the rolling surface and on each side of one sheet of puff pastry. Roll out the dough evenly and large enough so that it’s a little larger than a cookie pan and place carefully on the pan. Sprinkle with flour and roll out the other piece of dough to the same size. Place cheese mixture evenly onto the pastry in the pan and cover with the other sheet of pastry. Trim excess pastry and pinch the sides together. Chill for at least ½ hour. Remove from fridge and poke some holes with a fork on the top. Cook in a 350°F oven for approximately 30–40 minutes or until the underside is light brown in color.

Kharcho (Beef Walnut Stew) 2 lbs. stewing beef, trimmed of fat 1–2 bay leaves ½ t. salt 2 medium onions 3 T oil 1 tomato 1 T tomato paste 2 c. (plus a little more) shelled walnuts 3–4 garlic cloves

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1–2 t. dried fenugreek leaves (This can easily be found in South Asian food markets, if not your usual food store, under its Indian name, methi. It substitutes for ground blue fenugreek seeds, which can only be acquired in Georgia.) 1 t. ground coriander seed 1 t. marigold (Optional: substitute could be ⅛ t. of saffron and ¼ t. of mustard powder.) ½–1 T chili ½–1 T chili peppers ½–1 T paprika Boil beef, bay leaves, and salt in 4 c. water for 1–2 hours on low to mid-low heat. Fry up onions in oil on medium heat until translucent. Add chopped tomato and tomato paste and fry for another 3–5 minutes. Grind walnuts and garlic in food processor. Mix walnut/garlic mixture with other spices add ½ c. water from the boiled beef and mix into walnuts to form a paste, and then add to the beef and water. For a soupier consistency, turn heat off and cover until serving. For a thicker consistency, boil some of the water out.

Charkhlis Mkhali (Beet Purée) ½ t. salt ½ c. walnuts ½ c. cilantro tightly packed (can include stems) ½ c. parsley, loosely packed ¼ t. each of coriander seeds and oregano (optional) 2 t. good quality balsamic vinegar 1 lb. beets 3–4 cloves of garlic pepper to taste pomegranate seeds Bake beets in a 375°F oven until tender, approximately 1 to 1½ hours. Grind salt and walnuts in food processor; add garlic, cilantro, and parsley and process to a fine paste. Add spices (optional) and vinegar and process. Peel the skin off of cooled beets and grate them up. Add to walnuts and process until well blended. Let sit for a while or refrigerate (can keep in the fridge for over a week), and then bring to room temperature before serving. Serve, with ice scream scooper, 3–4 scoops on a bed of lettuce (I recommend spinach arugula mix, though any will do). Garnish with pomegranate seeds and sprigs of parsley.

Mokharshuli Badrijani Saladi (Cooked Eggplant Salad) This is a no-fry variant of my mother-in-law’s awesome but not-so-heart-friendly salad. 5–6 Chinese (long, light purple) eggplants pepper and salt 1 medium sweet onion 1 large red pepper 4 medium sized garlic cloves, crushed 1 t. sugar (optional) 2 liberal splashes of good balsamic vinegar

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½ t. ground coriander seed (optional) ⅓ c. chopped walnuts ½ c. chopped fresh cilantro, tightly packed pomegranate seeds Slice eggplant lengthwise into 3–4 strips. Slice each strip lengthwise into 3–4 long strips. Prepare 2 nonstick baking sheets/pans with parchment paper or aluminum foil; spray with cooking spray oil. Place strips onto the prepared pans with space between the strips. Spray with cooking spray and add salt and pepper. Cook in 375°F oven for about 40–50 minutes, until strips are brown, crispy in parts, and otherwise soft. It is easy for the strips to cook unevenly, so keep checking and remove those that are already cooked. While the eggplant cooks, slice the onion and red pepper thinly and place in salad bowl. Allow eggplant to cool and add with the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. Stir and serve.

A Georgian Supra: The Poetics of Food, Song, Wine, and Toasts Since ancient times, Georgia has been known to host a vibrant singing culture: the Assyrian King Sargon from the 8th century BCE noted their “joyous songs”; four hundred years later the Greek historian Xenophon reported on their “peculiar” singing. The contemporary world continues in awe, as is evident in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s 2001 declaration of Georgian polyphony as an intangible masterpiece of humanity. The small mountainous country that hosts this ancient singing tradition is located at the cross roads of Asia and Europe. Despite its size (it’s comparable to the state of West Virginia) Georgia shows a remarkable wealth of landscape and ecosystems: from desserts and arid woodlands to subtropical seasides, lush forests, and snow-bound mountains. The land is historically known to be very productive, affording Georgians a wealth of grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. This is why the Greeks called Georgians georgos (workers of the land) and explains how Georgia may have acquired its foreign name, for Georgians refer to themselves as Kartvelebi and their country as Sakartvelo. While Georgia’s strategic location has subjected itself to countless invasions and occupations, the mountainous nature of the county has encouraged a cultural diversity that can be witnessed not only in their fifteen different singing dialects, but also in the variety of their regional cuisines. There are a numerous parallels to be made between Georgian songs and cuisine. One notices that despite the variety of styles and the likely influence of foreign aesthetics and flavors, there is still a unique Georgian character to the cultural expressions—whether they be the use of multipart song forms for the musical, or the use of walnuts for the gastronomical. But perhaps the most important commonality, which extends beyond the physical parameters and leaps into the esoteric experiential ones, can only be understood through the consumption of food and music during the elaborate feasting tradition known as the supra. It is in this social space where— like the spices in a Georgian stew, or the blending of voices in a Georgian song—the flavors, the music, the toasts, and the wine meld seamlessly into an unforgettable experience of heightened intimacy and an intense sense of communion. Georgian songs are striking for their mesmerizing harmonies that even outside of the context of a supra are often experienced as transformatively visceral. The songs are almost always in three parts, in a very limited range of baritone-tenor, which results in a kinesthetic experience of unexpected dissonances. As mentioned, Georgian songs come in diverse styles: from dense buzzing chords that move in rhythmic synchronicity; to complex melismatic harmonized top parts moving over sustained bass lines; to an all-out exploding contrapuntal style, possibly featuring yodeling in the top voice. And while there is a solo ballad singing tradition of the North Eastern mountains that links to the traditions of Central Asia through Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus, it is the

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three-part polyphonic structure that is most identifiably Georgian. Foreign influences have certainly made their mark, but instead of singing highly ornamented songs in a solo or unison tradition, as is done through Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey, Georgia repackaged them into three-part forms. Examples are more obviously observed in the table songs of the eastern provinces (e.g., “Shen Bicho Anagurelo” or “Chakrulo”) but can also be found in the dance songs of the western provinces (e.g., “Gandagana”). Most important for Georgians, however, are the harmonies that foster a uniquely Georgian experience and—as is often reiterated through toasts, tales, and conversation—the singing of Georgian songs functions as a metaphor for deep friendship and love. As a country at the crossroads of East and West, it cannot be denied that foreign foods and flavors have influenced Georgian cuisine, like the khinkali (dumplings) of northeast Georgia that can be traced to Mongol influence, or the Persian-like pilafs of southeast Georgia. Similar to other Mediterranean cultures, bread and pungent raw-milk cheeses are staples in the Georgian diet. Interestingly, however, the breads made on the side of a round clay oven (called a tone) show similarities with North India, most likely through historical Mughal relations in both countries; and corroboratively, the word for bread, puri, is the same in Georgian and Hindi. One can argue that cheese and bread form the staple of a supra, but the cheese-grain combination is also essential to one of the most distinctive and celebrated Georgian foods, khachapuri. Just as every province hosts its own musical dialect, each also has its own culinary distinction, and so khachapuri comes in a variety of forms. The one on this menu uses puff pastry but others use a yeast or baking-soda dough and results in something of a round, inside-out, cheese-only pizza, with slight variations on the cheese stuffing (to include eggs or potato) as well as how it should be ornamented on top (with cheese, egg, or just butter). A few derivatives are achma, which involves layers of lasagna-like pasta with cheese and elardji, consisting of chunks of cheese buried in white polenta. The cheese-grain combination aside, walnuts are of significant importance in Georgian food. One could say that what polyphony is to Georgian music, the walnut is to Georgian cuisine. The varied use of walnuts—in pastes, purées, sauces, soups, stews, salads and sweets—is perfected in Georgian cuisine and distinctive of Georgian flavor. Whatever the meal—elaborate walnut infused stews and purees, or the simple staple of bread and cheese—Georgians rarely eat alone. The communion of dining is part of a larger cultural discourse on the cult of hospitality in the Caucasus, so evident in the supra. Literally, supra means tablecloth. As a highly ritualized event, it can be complex and exhausting, yet exhilarating, potentially lasting for days, with copious amounts of food and wine, and an intricate series of thematic toasts that mediate the consumption of both. Because the supra is an ordered, performative act led by a tamada (toast master) who is respected for his orating skills, background music is not necessary for a supra. Toasts are first made to God, to peace, and to the meeting; then toasts to love, friendship, mothers, parents, neighbors, homeland, ancestors, the departed, children, and other subjects. It is something like an extended form of grace, for each toast is elaborated upon and personalized by the skillful communications of the tamada, who intuitively understands his fellow diners. Before drinking (and usually it is the entire glass of wine that is drunk!) each guest must contribute to the toast, and thus alcohol consumption is regulated while creating a cohesive and inclusive dialogue for all. Rather than relegate music to an ambient effect, songs—like the food, the wine, and the poetics of the toasts—are conspicuously consumed when guests, inspired by a toast, break out into song. And if one isn’t already overwhelmed by the food, the wine, and the toast making, then the singing of Georgian songs leads to a heightened experience, where the melding of meaningful words, personalized toasts, exceptional Georgian flavors and wine, and the resonating visceral harmonies of ancient songs momentarily alters the perception of time and space, and diners bathe in a sense of unspeakable communal joyousness and celebrated union. For this reason, instead of using the recommended listening for background music during your dinner, I encourage you to invite a musician or singer

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to your table and/or to prepare your own songs and poems. They do not even need to be Georgian; rather, they need to be organized around a series of meaningful toasts that inspire a synesthetic moment of communion.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING http://www.alazani.ge/index-eng.html?georgian-folk. This site hosts the greatest variety of contemporary ensembles or traditional Georgian polyphony. A side menu allows you to choose the songs by choir or by region. Archived recordings can be accessed from the menu titled “G-old tracks.” https://soundcloud.com/singinkuz/sets/zari. This site hosts samples of the author’s own trio.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION http://georgianrecipes.net/ http://polyphony.ge/index.php?m=555 Goldstein, Darra. 1993. The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia. New York: Harper Collins.

SKOPELOS ISLAND, GREECE Yona Stamatis He who is shy goes hungry.

Figure 30.1  Greek psari plaki, photo courtesy of Yona Stamatis

Menu: Skopelitikes Tiropites (Cheese Pies from Skopelos), Tzatziki (Cucumber Yogurt Dip) with Bread, Maroulosalata me Kremmidi kai Anitho (Lettuce Salad with Onion and Dill), and Psari Plaki (Baked Fish). Accompany with a dry white wine. Preparation Time: 3 hours. Cooking Process: On the day of the meal, buy a baguette or a loaf of European peasant bread to serve with the meal. Accompany the meal with a bottle of light, dry white wine. Serves six people.

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The Recipes Skopelitikes Tiropites (Cheese Pies from Skopelos Island)—makes three large pies 4 c. all-purpose flour 1 t. vinegar ¼ c. plus 1 T olive oil 1 c. water flour for dusting 1 lb. fresh feta cheese in water 4 c. sunflower oil for frying (depending upon size of frying pan) Pour 4 c. of flour into a large bowl. Create a small indent in the center of the flour and pour in the vinegar and the olive oil. While kneading the flour slowly, add water 1 T at a time until it forms a soft and pliable dough. (You may need more or less flour or water, depending upon the weather.) Break the dough into three even pieces and place into a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour. Sprinkle a handful of flour on a clean dry surface. Then, open one ball of dough with a rolling pin until it is about a ¼'' thick and shaped into a circle. Sprinkle 1 T of olive oil onto the open dough. Take the feta cheese out of the water and crumble it up into very small bits on a separate plate. Sprinkle 2–3 generous handfuls of the crumbled feta cheese in a straight line 1'' below the outer edge of half of the dough. Then fold the top edge of the dough down over the feta cheese until it is hidden from view. Continue to roll the dough until it is in a long tubular shape with the crumbled feta in the center. Then wrap the tube of dough around into a spiral. Repeat these steps for the other two balls of dough. Fill a frying pan with ½'' of sunflower oil. Heat the oil over medium heat. Do not let the oil get too hot. If it begins to boil, let it cool down to a steady hot temperature before frying. Once the oil is ready, place one cheese pie in the frying pan. Gently move the cheese pie around the pan with a fork so that the pie cooks evenly. When golden brown on one side, flip the cheese pie over with a spatula. Frying time: 8–10 minutes.

Tzatziki (Cucumber Yogurt Dip) 2 medium cucumbers salt 3 cloves fresh garlic ½ bunch of fresh dill 2 T lemon juice 1 T vinegar 4 c. Greek yogurt 3 T olive oil pepper Peel the cucumbers and slice them in half lengthwise. With a spoon, remove the seeds. Shred cucumber into small thin pieces. Salt and leave to strain in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. A colander works well for this. When you remove the cucumber from the refrigerator, squeeze out the excess water. Add to the cucumber, garlic, dill, lemon, olive oil, and vinegar and mix well. Pour all the excess liquid from the yogurt and strain. Add the strained yogurt to the mix and combine ingredients as thoroughly as possible. Add salt and pepper as needed. Place in the refrigerator

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for 20 minutes. To serve, place a portion of the tzatziki into a plate and garnish with a black kalamata olive or with a piece of dill. Serve with bread.

Maroulosalata Me Kremmidi Kai Anitho (Lettuce Salad with Onion and Dill) 2 heads of romaine lettuce 5–7 fresh spring onions/chives ½ c. fresh dill ½ c. extra virgin olive oil ⅓ c. red wine vinegar 1 t. salt Clean the lettuce and remove the stem and damaged leaves. Shred the lettuce into small thin pieces. Clean and finely chop the fresh onions (bulb and stalk). Finely chop the dill and combine with the spring onions and lettuce. In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt. Pour the dressing on the salad when ready to serve.

Psari Plaki (Baked Fish) 3 lbs. of fish, scaled and cleaned (gilt-head bream, bass or cod) 3 large onions 4 cloves of garlic 2 T tomato paste 2 c. water 2 c. olive oil 2 dry bay leaves salt pepper 5 allspice berries, or 1 t. ground allspice 1 medium-size tomato 1 small bunch of parsley Preheat the oven to 325°F. Place two whole cleaned fish in a large pan. Remove three sprigs of parsley to place on top of the fish as it cooks; chop and reserve the rest. Cut the onions into large circles and place the pieces on and around the fish. Clean the garlic cloves; slice them in half and place them around the pan. Add the tomato paste, the water, reserved chopped parsley, and the olive oil. Make sure there is enough olive oil and water so that half of the fish is submerged in liquid. This may require more than the required amount of olive oil and water, depending upon the size of the pan. Then add bay leaves, salt, pepper, and allspice. Finally, cut the tomato into thin circles, and place them on top of the fish. Place the pan into the preheated oven and cook for about 1–1½ hours. While cooking, add water and olive oil as needed so that the liquid does not evaporate. Serve with bread and wine.

A Little Bit of This and That Greece is Henry Miller’s luminous carrefour of a changing humanity. It is a geographical and cultural crossroads, whose rich tapestry of history and culture has inspired centuries of travelers, artists, and writers. Countless romantics have visited Greece in search of a glorious ancient past. The noted 15th

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century Hellenist Cyriac of Ancona once boldly declared, “I go to [Greece to] wake the dead.” And the eccentric philhellene Lord Byron longed to resurrect ancient glories, even while he marveled at contemporary Greek culture. When I first visited Greece in 1996 as a young teenager, I was entirely unconcerned with ancient Greece. I was about to meet my cousins, aunts, and uncles for the first time and to visit Kos island where my father had spent the first seventeen years of his life. Stepping off the airplane and into a car packed with suitcases and family, I remember the sudden and profound assault on my senses: the latest pop songs blared out of the car radio so loudly that they surely covered the vehicle in a visible cloud of sound; the bright sunlight danced about on the sparkling ocean, bringing tears to my eyes. I remained glued to the window, staring in wonder at the jagged arid terrain. Like a great sleeping mammoth, the island seemed to have sprawled out accidentally for an afternoon snooze in the middle of the sea. As we followed the winding highway up the mountain and careened across the sandy potholed roads, I wondered how we would find our way. With little warning, we screeched to a halt in front of a small, whitewashed house. My grandmother (yiayia) quickly brought us a great spread of food: juicy tomatoes, salty feta cheese, pungent olives that she had picked and pickled herself, and traditional cheese pies that were still hot from the frying pan. “Yiayia, you must teach me how to make these!” I exclaimed in awe. “You want to make cheese pies? That’s easy,” she told me. “You make the dough and fill it with cheese and spices—you know, a little salt and pepper and a little bit of this and that. And then you put it in the pan over the fire . . . When it’s ready, you eat!” “How do I make the dough?” I wanted to know. “What were the ‘this’ and the ‘that’?” “If I did not have access to an actual fire, to what degree should I set the stove?” Yiayia answered these questions with nothing more than a quizzical look. Years later, I would receive that same quizzical look from a well-respected rebetiko musician when I asked him for bouzouki lessons. “Just sit down and play with us,” was his reply. Yet somehow among all of this approximation, food and music leave little room for error. Seemingly impromptu rebetiko improvisations actually follow a complex modal path and yiayia’s dishes are based on secret family recipes. To excel in the realms of food and music requires a certain savvy that one can gain only through experience: At the fresh fruit and vegetable market, buy at least one pound of any fruit or vegetable. When your head hurts, lather it with olive oil. Olive oil cures most minor ailments including earaches, joint pain, and dizziness. Ask the musicians at the village panigyri (religious festival) to play your favorite song, but do not ask too early in the evening. As the festival continues late into the night, join the circle of dancers with modest assurance as if the grandmothers have not stopped their chatter to scrutinize your every move. I was delighted to learn that in Greece, often food accompanies music rather than the other way around. However, learning to match food and music correctly takes time. For example, the urban popular song genre rebetika and roasted lamb is a terrible match: “You can’t have people cutting meat while listening to rebetika,” musician Pavlos Vasilliou once told me. “The music demands respect. It demands the listener’s full attention.” However, lamb and nisiotika (island songs) is a perfect combination that forms the heart of numerous celebrations in the Greek Orthodox calendar. Food and music converge in another significant way in Greece: both have been used time and again as pawns in Greek national identity discussions. For example, the “Europeanness” of Greece has long been a topic of contention and countless recipes, and songs have been altered to fulfill Europeanizing trends. Nicolas Tselementes, born in Sophos but raised in Constantinople, wrote his infamous cookbook in the early 1920s in an effort to refine Greek foods for European tastes. And in 1864, Nikolaos Mantzaros composed the music for the Greek national anthem in the style of contemporary Italian art music.

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“Which foods do match rebetika?” I asked my musician friends. “One should not accompany rebetika with a lot of food. For, rebetika is music of people who do not have enough of anything. It is music of people who are suffering. It has nothing in common with imported European music that calls for extravagance and overindulgence,” Vassiliou replied. “The food should match this understanding of the music. . . . A light meal of mezedes (appetizers) is fitting.” The musicians consider rebetika music an expression of the Greek people, and thus an antidote to the hybridizing effects of Europeanization. Accompanying appetizers should support this belief. Their mezedes of choice include cheese pies, tzatziki, salad, and fish. As you listen to your CD of rebetika songs, serve these dishes together in that seemingly accidental Greek way of creating a delicious spread. Be sure to reach over the table to dish second helpings onto your plate. Kali orexi! (Hearty appetite!) Note: A special thank you to Pavlos Vassiliou for sharing these recipes.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Rembetika: Greek Music From the Underground 1928–1946. (Available at www.amazon.com)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Calotyhos, Vangelis. 2003. Modern Greece: A Cultural Poetics. New York: Berg. Kiros, Tessa. 2010. Food from Many Greek Kitchens. Australia: Murdoch Books. Leontis, Artemis. 2009. Culture and Customs of Greece. Westport Conn: Greenwood Press.

KÁLYMNOS ISLAND, GREECE Panayotis (Paddy) League A table set for nine can surely feed ten. Menu: Arvítsa sto Foúrno (Baked Chickpeas with Caramelized Onions), Keftédes (Kalymnian Meatballs), Skordaliá (Garlic and Potato Dip), and Mermizéli (Kalymnian Salad). Serve with plenty of hearty bread for dipping and scooping. To drink, try retsína, a red table wine (such as an Agiorgítiko, Moschofílero, or Xinómavro), or ouzo (Barbagiánni or Ouzo 12) cut with water. Chilled watermelon, accompanied by rakí (a Greek liquor made from distilled grape skins), is the perfect dessert. Preparation Time: Approximately 3 hours. Cooking Process: Put the chickpeas to soak the night before. Cook the chickpeas. Peel and boil the potatoes. While the potatoes are cooling, prepare the arvítsa sto foúrno and place in the oven. Make the skordaliá and set aside. Prepare the meatball mixture, fry the keftédes, and place on a paper toweled plate to drain. Finally, put together the mermizéli immediately before serving the meal.

The Recipes Arvítsa sto Foúrno (Baked Chickpeas with Caramelized Onions) 1 lb. chickpeas 1 c. olive oil 3–4 large onions, thinly sliced 3 sprigs fresh rosemary 2–3 small dried chili peppers salt and freshly ground pepper Cook the chickpeas for an hour or so until tender; drain and set aside. Meanwhile, heat half of the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet. Add the onions to the skillet, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized (they’ll be a lovely golden brown color). Remove the onions with a slotted spoon and set them aside in a bowl. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Using the oil left over from the onions, sauté the rosemary and chili peppers in the same skillet for roughly a minute. Stir in the chickpeas and cook for a few minutes, making sure that they are thoroughly coated with the oil (you can add the rest of the oil here too if they seem dry). Season the chickpeas with salt and pepper, cover with the caramelized onions, place the skillet directly in the oven, and cook uncovered for 20–25 minutes. Traditionally, this dish is eaten at room temperature, but it’s delicious hot out of the oven too! Alternately, you can cook this dish the old-fashioned way: soak the chickpeas overnight with a bit of salt; drain them, transfer to a deep roasting dish, and add all the other ingredients; mix together, seal tightly, and cook at 275°F for about 5 hours. This is how Kalymnian families would—and still do—prepare the traditional Sunday Lenten meal, carrying the clay pot to the communal neighborhood oven in the morning and retrieving it in the early afternoon. 164

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Keftédes (Kalymnian Meatballs) 2 lbs. ground beef 1 large onion, grated 2½ c. tomatoes, peeled and diced 2 eggs 1 t. each of oregano, mint, basil, parsley, and oregano ½ c. grated hard cheese, such as kaséri, graviéra, kefalotíri, or Romano 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 2 t. salt ¼ t. pepper ¾ c. flour oil for frying Combine all ingredients in a deep bowl and knead thoroughly until very soft, adding a small amount of water as needed. Let stand 20 minutes. Shape lightly into 2'' balls and roll in additional flour to coat. Heat cooking oil in a deep skillet and fry until brown. Let cool on a plate with paper towels to drain excess oil. This version of the recipe, given to me by my mother, is so strongly associated with the Kalymnian immigrant community of Tarpon Springs, Florida, that it is often known as “Keftédes Tarpon Springs.”

Skordaliá (Garlic and Potato Dip) 2½ lbs. potatoes 6–10 cloves of garlic (depending on your preference) 1½ t. salt 1½ c. olive oil juice of 3 lemons Peel the potatoes. Boil in a large pot until soft; mash thoroughly and let cool. Peel the garlic cloves, place in a mortar or heavy bowl, add salt, and pound to a smooth paste, adding a sprinkle of olive oil from time to time. Place the mashed potatoes in a large mixing bowl and blend thoroughly with the garlic paste. Slowly add lemon juice and remaining olive oil in small quantities, beating for several seconds after each addition. Continue beating until mixture is creamy and not too thick, yet stiff enough to hold its shape. Serve in a small bowl and top with an olive. Aside from meatballs, skordaliá is also the perfect accompaniment to fried fish, fried zucchini, and fried eggplant slices. Skordaliá is also delicious cold, so refrigerate any leftovers in a tightly sealed container or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and enjoy the next day.

Mermizéli (Kalymnian Salad) 2–3 barley rusks (paximádia, available at Greek, Cretan, and Cypriot grocery stores and bakeries) 3 cucumbers 1 onion 4 ripe tomatoes a few handfuls of olives ¼ c. capers

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1½ c. olive oil vinegar to taste salt and savory to taste 2–3 slices of feta or another Greek salad cheese (Kopanistí and mizíthra are worth trying!) anchovies (optional) Rinse the barley rusks under cold water for a few seconds. Shake off the excess water, break into bite-size pieces, and place in a deep serving bowl. Peel the cucumber and onion; cut the tomato, cucumber, and onion into bite-size pieces and add to the bowl. Add the olives, capers, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and savory. Toss the salad until all the ingredients are coated with the oil. Cut the cheese into bite-size pieces and add (along with the anchovies). Try the traditional method of eating mermizéli, with everyone eating directly from the serving bowl and dipping their bread to soak up the delicious oil at the bottom!

Explosive Tastes The rocky island of Kálymnos is known throughout the Greek-speaking world for its fiercely independent inhabitants, whose daring exploits as sponge divers throughout the Aegean brought fabulous wealth to their isolated community as well as a tragic end to innumerable lives off the Barbary coast. Kalymnians are equally famed for their love of explosives, particularly dynamite, which they delight in igniting on festive occasions: each Easter, the mountains surrounding the port city of Póthia echo for hours in a deafening chorus of massive explosions as rival groups of pyrotechnicians attempt to outdo each other in audacity. The island is also home to one of Greece’s most vibrant and virtuosic music and dance traditions, featuring violin, laoúto (steel-string lute), and tsamboúna (double-chanter bagpipe), acrobatic leaps, and subtle, improvised footwork. But visitors to ­Kálymnos are perhaps most impressed by the staggering variety of flavors found in the local cuisine and the overwhelming hospitality that accompanies them. Kálymnos’ geographical position (located just a few miles off the Asia Minor coast, near the Turkish port of Bodrum) and political history (controlled in succession since the Middle Ages by the Byzantines, Venetians, Knights of Rhodes, Ottomans, and Fascist Italy before finally joining the independent Greek state in 1947) assured a steady stream of cultural and culinary influences from East and West. Kalymnian sailors and sponge divers brought home tastes acquired in foreign ports, particularly the coast of North Africa, and added them to the local repertoire of music and food. Thus the visitor to Kálymnos can, in one memorable evening, hear local versions of medieval ballads, Ottoman-era Smyrnaic songs, and 19th century polkas; sample stuffed grape leaves and fresh pasta; and alternate between homemade sweet red wine and the sponge divers’ beverage of choice . . . fine aged whiskey. You may have seen the Travel Channel’s episode of Bizarre Foods, hosted by Andrew Zimmern, that featured the cuisine (and music) of the island: fried octopus ink sacs, whole roasted goat in a clay oven, and spiniálo, sea-squirts packed in a glass bottle with salt, olive oil, and lemon and aged for months in the sun. It’s no surprise that nearly all of Zimmern’s Kalymnian cooks are also well-known musicians; traditional music and traditional food are inextricably linked on the island, and the successful performance of a difficult soústa dance tune demands the same combination of technique, verve, and patience as producing a perfectly grilled octopus—crispy and seared on the outside, buttery and tender on the inside. As in other regions of Greece, performances of traditional music on Kálymnos—both at informal gléndia or parties and panigíria or religious festivals in honor of a particular saint—are always accompanied by generous servings of mezédes, small one-plate dishes for sharing, and jugs of homemade wine, ouzo, or rakí. Some annual celebrations are associated with particular dishes; for example, the feast of the Dormition of the Theotókos in Kálymnos and the

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small satellite island of Psérimos, celebrated on the evening of August 14 and renowned as the peak of the traditional music season, always features the first dish on our menu, arvítsa sto foúrno. Kalymnians are talented and mischievous versifiers, and their improvised, rhyming couplets—known as mantinádes, from a Venetian word meaning “songs sung at dawn”—often feature references to the transformative power of food and drink. These range from the romantic (“You devil’s daughter, you tormenter / I drank neither wine nor rakí, but I’ve gotten drunk on your beauty”) to the earthy (“They cook the greens from the ground; the young girls eat them and sprout up”) to the teasing (“You’re as short as a lemon tree and as plump as a loaf of freshly baked bread / I wish I had you in my arms for three and a quarter hours!”). Aromatic edible herbs, especially basil, are a frequent metaphor for beauty and the beloved, as are particularly prized fish (“My red mullet, my golden fish / I’m the one who caught you, but another will take you home”). Conversely, when the time comes for the satirical peismatiká, in which several singers engage in a (generally) good-natured competition where teasing gradually gives way to obscenities and insults, the most damning verses are often accusations of lack of hospitality, manifested as stinginess with food and drink for guests. Sometimes this paradigm is itself inverted as a threat: “You’ve decided to mess with me, but I’ll give you a treat / I’ll set you up with a mess of hay, so you can eat like the ass that you are!” Like thousands of Kalymnians attracted by the virgin sponge beds of the Gulf of Mexico, my mother’s family immigrated to Tarpon Springs, Florida, to work in the booming sponge industry in a climate and cultural atmosphere reminiscent of their Greek island home. My childhood memories of Tarpon Springs are saturated with the sounds of the tsamboúna bagpipe, the stomp of dancing feet, heady aromas wafting from kitchens full of frenetic activity, and a thousand exciting flavors exploding in my mouth. On my first visit to Kálymnos as a young man, a few hours after stepping off a rickety old ferry, a friend and I sat on an isolated beach with a group of villagers, explaining to their incredulous ears that we had come from Athens (and America!) on a musical pilgrimage. Piping hot keftédes and stuffed grape leaves were produced, seemingly out of thin air; a bottle of ouzo went around; and an old sponge diver with more fingers than teeth inflated our tsamboúna and began to play. As the sun sank over the Aegean, those memories of Kalymnian food and music in Tarpon Springs came rushing back, and, despite the thousands of miles of distance, I felt completely and utterly at home. I hope that these recipes become part of your store of memories, full of friends, music, laughter, and explosive tastes. Kalí órexi—Good appetite; Stin igiá mas—To our health; And kalí hónepsi! Good digestion!

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Various Artists. Tis Kálymnos Paihnítza—The Instruments of Kálymnos. Center for Research and Promotion of National Greek Music, 2010. CRPNGM 002. (Field recordings made in Athens and Kálymnos by pioneering Greek folklorist Simon Karas; features virtuosic performances violin and laoúto by Mikés and Manólis Tsouniás, as well as astounding tsamboúna playing by Nikólaos Tálias.) Various Artists. Skopoí tis Kalymnou—Kalymnian Folk Music. Lykion ton Hellinidon Branch of Kálymnos, 1997. E2–276–97. (A double CD of currently active singers and musicians, notable for the variety of song forms and dances.) Various Artists. The Guardians of Hellenism Volume 9: Pátmos, Kálymnos, Léros, Kos, Astypálaia. FM Records, 1998. FM 824. (A compilation of music from various Dodecanese islands, this disc features five selections from Kálymnos performed by violinist Michális Káppas, laoúto player Antónis Koukouvás, and tsamboúna player Manólis Hoúllis.)

168  •  Panayotis (Paddy) League

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION http://www.instruments-museum.gr http://www.sylogoskalymnion.blogspot.com Alexiadou, Vefa. 2009. Vefa’s Kitchen. New York: Phaidon Press. Kalafatas, Michael. 2003. The Bellstone: The Greek Sponge Divers of the Aegean. Waltham: Brandeis University Press. Sutton, David. 2001. Remembrance of Repasts: An Anthropology of Food and Memory. Oxford/New York: Berg.

CYPRUS Michalis Poupazis A wedding without resi is like winter without rain. Menu: Hand-Cut Pasta with Boiled Chicken, Resi (Cyprus Wheat and Lamb Pilaf), and Preserved Baby Aubergine. Serve with red wine. Preparation Time: Approximately 7 hours. Excluding preparations for dessert and soaking of the wheat. Cooking Process: Start preparation of dessert at least 48 hours before the desired serving time by keeping them in the jars ready to serve. Overnight, let the wheat soak. On the day, begin by preparing the main course, and while the lamb is boiling, start preparing the pasta. Salt and pepper are not mentioned in all the recipes, as according to elder Cypriots “to analaton essastin, tsie to almiro epetaktin”: plain food can always be seasoned, while overly salted food can only be thrown away (Please don’t!—nothing that a bit of yogurt won’t fix!). Seasoning is therefore left to the diner’s palate.

The Recipes Hand-Cut Pasta with Boiled Chicken 2 c. plain flour a pinch of salt ½ c. water (more if necessary) 1 t. olive oil 1 small chicken (preferably organic free-range) ½ block of halloumi (a mild, firm Cypriot goat cheese) pinch of dried mint Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Slowly mix in the water to form a dough. Knead for approximately 10 minutes and form into a ball; lightly coat with olive oil and cover with cling film, allowing it to rest for at least 1 hour. When the dough has rested, take a small piece (around the size of golf ball) and shape into an oval. Pierce the oval lengthways with a wooden skewer, ensuring that the dough covers the length of the skewer (like a köfte kebab). Separate the dough on the skewer into 3 cm long pieces and then lay the skewer on a lightly floured surface. Repeat the process as many times as the dough will afford (this might take a few skewers). Allow the pasta to dry in the sun before transferring them into glass jars or muslin bags. While waiting for the pasta to dry, boil the chicken in a large pot, removing any foam that gathers on the surface with a ladle. When the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan and cook the pasta in the remaining chicken broth. Serve on a warm plate, grating generously with halloumi cheese and a sprinkling of dried mint.

Resi (Cyprus Wheat and Lamb Pilaf) 1.5 lbs. wheat grains (bulgur wheat can also be used) 1.5 lbs. lamb meat 169

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a pinch of salt 1.5 lbs. lamb fat (If possible taken from the animal’s tail—quantities might vary up to the desired amount. The given quantities are the ones used for the traditional dish.) Clean the wheat thoroughly with cold water and make sure there are no alien elements left before you let it soak in a bowl with three times its weight of water, for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight. Drain thoroughly before spreading it on cloths (tea towels will do), and let it dry completely, outdoors in the sun if possible. After it dries, smash the wheat (but gently) by covering it with another cloth and using any available utensil (e.g., a kitchen hammer). If prepacked bulgur wheat is used, none of the above should be necessary. Cut the lamb into big chunks and place them in a big pot, again with three times their weight in water. Season, and boil until the bones can be separated from the meat. Sieve the meat from the broth, and keep both separate. Cut the meat and fat into small cubes, add to the broth, and boil for 30 minutes. Then add in the wheat while lowering the heat to a medium level, and let it cook for approximately 5 hours, or until it reduces to a thick paste. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. You may need to add, glass by glass, up to one more liter of cold water. Serve in bowls and eat with a spoon.

Preserved Baby Aubergines (Eggplants) 1 lb. baby aubergines (the smallest possible) 1 lb. blanched almonds 1 lb. powdered sugar 1 c. boiling water 5 cloves 1 t. vanilla powder 4 c. cold water 4 medium lemons Wash the aubergines and remove stems. Remove half the skin in diagonal stripes, and with a small knife make a slit in the side of each fruit large enough to take an almond. Soak in cold water for 24 hours covered with a lid, changing the water 3 to 4 times during the day. Drain and place a peeled almond nut in each through the precut slit. Tie a thread round each aubergine to hold it closed, and boil for 15 minutes. Drain the boiled aubergines and place them in a bowl with cold water and ⅔ of the juice of the four lemons. Leave for at least 2 hours until they turn hard. Then remove the threads and spread the aubergines out to drain on a tea towel. Leave them out until they are completely dry on the outside. Dissolve the sugar in a saucepan of warm water and bring to a boil with the cloves. Add the aubergines and boil until the syrup thickens, using a ladle to skim off any froth that may appear. After the syrup thickens, add the remaining lemon juice and the vanilla powder and keep boiling for 5 more minutes before removing the saucepan from the heat. Cover the saucepan with a tea towel and let it stand for 24 hours. If the next day there is any excess water, boil for a further 15 minutes before letting the preserve cool down. Place the dessert in sterilized glass jars with tight lids. Any aubergine preserve that remains unconsumed should be stored in a cool dark place, such as a kitchen cupboard.

The Cypriot Wedding as Cultural Narrative The marriage of flavor and sound represents in global understanding an interchangeable bond, and this can be found in plenty within the Cypriot sociocultural calendar. The islanders are passionate about their culinary experiences, which peak during celebrations; Cypriots also love drinking,

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and they are constantly hungry! Intimate smells and sounds have always been linked to everyone’s special life occasions, and the more important the event is, the bigger the feast that follows. The dishes presented here belong to the most compendious ritual of Greek-speaking Cypriot society, the wedding. One gets married only once . . . If food is found, have a seat, if commotion is found, run away . . .

—Cypriot proverbs

The Cypriot wedding is a round of celebrations, customary observances, music, dancing, and culinary detonation, all defined down to the last detail in local cultural reflection and understanding. The 1930s village weddings are understood by most Cypriots as the traditional and authentic way of getting married on the island; the event lasted for six days. In modernity, Cypriots remain passionate and hungry about the cultural fusions of musical and culinary traditions, and even in contemporary day-long wedding rituals, they still attempt to reenact some 1930s traditions—not always successfully, but turning potentially catastrophic enactments into humor nonetheless. The three recipes offered here were made on three out of the 1930s ritual’s six days, and are explained here in their modern forms, each illustrating what multifarious functions the wedding in Cyprus has. A wedding dish unique to Paphos is the resi, ritually prepared on the first of the traditional six days. Tradition suggests that the preparation started with cleaning unwanted components from the wheat with a wooden sieve before it was brought by the local women to the fountain, carried in wooden containers covered with a red scarf. After rinsing and washing the wheat seven times, the female flock returned to the bridal house, where the women scattered the washed wheat on clothes arranged on the ground. They now pounded the wheat with wooden utensils (faouta) until it was crushed to the desired point. In the modern adaptation, these ritualistic enactments do not apply, as most people use prepacked bulgur wheat instead. The quantity of animal fat that this dish also contains makes one understand that Cypriots back in the 1930s were either bionic or had some major cholesterol problems. In its modern form, the dish is prepared with much less animal fat, down to the quantity desired by each cook. The traditional Cypriot musical ensemble, the zygia, a violinist and a lute player, performed the five verses of the appropriate song (“To Resi”) repeatedly, animatedly describing the participants’ actions. Interestingly, it has been recorded that the females who pounded the wheat followed the specific rhythmic pattern of “To Resi,” performed in 7/8. The same song was also performed on the Sunday of the wedding during the serving of resi:

Verse I

Hey! Madonna of the peak, with the belt at your waist, (x2) come along and help us too to grind the resi. (x2)

Verse ΙΙ

All the women of the village come to the fountain, (x2) to wash their resi, and, at their wedding, to eat it. (x2)

Verse IΙΙ

Five red scarves and a beautiful fesi [Ottoman-type hat], (x2) come on girls let’s wash the resi. (x2)

Verse IV

Come on girls, let’s cook the resi, (x2) for the new married groom to eat, and see if he likes it. (x2)

172 • Michalis Poupazis

Verse V

Forty-five lemon trees and all of their blossom, (x2) the resi is ground by ornamented girls. (x2) In the 1930s, three days came between our main course and starter. Resi usually took place on a Friday, while on the Saturday, participants sewed the bridal mattress; Sunday was the “crowning day” that involved a series of rituals; and on Monday morning came what locals call the day of the “bride’s virginity display,” followed by the newlyweds dancing in front of everyone. These three days and their events, beyond the embarrassment that the newlyweds had to go through, also involved a strong interplay of local musical and culinary expression. And that takes us to the Tuesday, the day that our menu’s starter comes from, the hand-cut pasta with the boiled chicken. There was also a dish preparation ritual for Tuesday’s celebrations, the last large feast on the comprehensive wedding agenda. The musical aspects of this event replicated those of the resi preparation, with five verses describing the actions and gestures of the participants, the words now referring to the cutting of the pasta instead of the pounding of the wheat. Although this event had the same rationale as the resi, it had its distinct expressions. The participants were not only the women cutting the pasta and the musicians; this time the cast included both male and female observers from the close family circle of the newlyweds. Another interesting feature of this culinarily infused event was the passage from women protagonists to male ones, from femininity to masculinity, as the next act after cutting the pasta was the “round-the-village chicken collection,” carried out solely by young men. Following the zygia and marching from door to door in the village, their aim was to collect as many chickens as possible for the night’s feast. Perhaps it was all this exercise that made the young men able to feast once again on the same night, something they had already been doing for days by that point. Seven days after the crowning, back in the 1930s, it was the couple’s turn to open their new house’s doors and facilitate an event, the andigamos (“instead-of-wedding”). The newlyweds invited to their house people of very close kin (e.g., parents, best man, maid of honor, sisters, and brothers). With music accompanying the couple’s gastronomic offerings, this can be characterized as analogous to the US wedding’s rehearsal lunch or dinner; however, this was no rehearsal, but the closing reception, a significantly scaled-down event in comparison to the festivities of the previous week. Fruit preserve in syrup, otherwise known as the “spoon’s sweet” (as it fits in a spoon) was the main treat offered to the guests. These fruit preserves varied from one andigamos to another, or were offered in choices varying from walnut, almond, and aubergine to apple, watermelon, and bitter orange. In step with the major culinary scaling-down, music was also of diminished importance. It did not function as a central element; this time it had to be in the background, the spoon’s desserts being too sweet not to be in the foreground. We must capture Cyprus. In this Island there is a treasure which only the King of Kings is worthy of possessing [referring to commandaria—a Cypriot sweet red wine]. —Sultan Selim II, 1571 My pairing of red wine with the menu comes with my suggestion to leave your car keys somewhere you will not be able to find them afterward. Wine, apart from its culinary affinity with the recipes, is also chosen as the only brew product of Cyprus that is celebrated, having its own annual festival in mid-September. The annual Limassol wine festival includes, apart from many drunken Cypriots, traditional dancing competitions, poetry duels, songs, and lots of free wine infusing the festive mood among participants. In addition to that, wine was and still is consumed in quantity

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during wedding festivities, perhaps to drown the sorrows of the groom who is no longer a bachelor. With Cyprus’ climate and landscape supporting vineyards in abundance, a dense winemaking and zivania (a kind of Cypriot moonshine made from grapes) industry has developed in modernity. Several travel and wine tasting experiences incorporating local culinary and music expressions are available nowadays in Cyprus, both for natives and visitors. For the starter, I would recommend the sweet red wine that drove kings to the island, KEO’s St. John’s Commandaria. Commandaria is a rich amber-colored wine produced by local vineyards only in small quantities, something that makes it more difficult to find as opposed to its western equivalents of port and sweet sherry. Commandaria’s rarity adds mystique to its flavor, making it one of the world’s classic wines. For the main resi course, I would suggest KEO’s d’Ahera, a dry, deep red wine with a smoked oak aroma, a rich and long palate, and the fruity aftertaste of berries and brambles, perfect with all red meat dishes. Made from a mixture of grape pomace and local dry wines, from the Xynisteri and Mavro varieties, zivania would be a perfect match to the overpowering sweetness of our dessert. kali oreksi and stin igiá mas (have a good appetite and drink to our health)

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Collecting folk songs and dances is not an easy task. Even though some old fiddlers attempted to transcribe Cypriot tunes, dances, and songs, only a very small number of such transcriptions have been recovered, and when found, they have been unsigned. The rather secretive mentality of Cypriot musicians at the time made both transcripts and audio recordings from those days very rare. However, as part of modern revival attempts by modern folkloric groups and musicians, songs like “To Resi” and other wedding-related tunes are now accessible to hear and see in live performance recordings. There are no known official studio recordings. YouTube is the only source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=406D1HuUc5c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtbLqwUcddU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BbCpo55VEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zywkUMyp1w

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Argyrou, Vassos. 1996. Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Averof, George. 2001. The Demotic Songs and Popular Dances of Cyprus. 3rd ed. Nicosia: Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation. Cassia, Paul Sant. 2000. Exoticizing Discoveries and Extraordinary Experiences: “Traditional” Music, Modernity, and Nostalgia in Malta and Other Mediterranean Societies. Ethnomusicology, 44:2, pp. 281–301. Giorgoudes, Panicos. 1999. Music of Cyprus. Ethnomusicology Research Program. Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Cyprus. [Online], Available: http://www2.ucy.ac.cy/research/ethno/ article2.htm [Accessed 29/01/2012]. Nicolaou, Nearchos. 2004. Cooking from Cyprus, the Island of Aphrodite. 15th ed. Nicosia: Vrakas Publishing. Papacharalambous, George. 1965. Cypriot Morals and Customs. Nicosia: Eteria Kypriakon Spoudhon. Papandreou, Andreas. 2003. Cyprus Wedding and Dance. Nicosia: Power Publishing. Poupazis, Michalis. 2013. Nostalgia and Traditional Music in the Greek-Cypriot Diaspora: An Ethnomusicological Study of the Greek-Cypriot Community in Birmingham. MA Ethnomusicology Thesis, University of Durham, Great Britain. Salacuri, Antonio. 2008. Cyprus Cuisine at Its Best. US: Lulu.com. Tompolis, Sozos. 1980. Traditional Cyprian Songs and Dances. Nicosia: Tompolis. Yiangoullis, Kyriacos. 1999. Cyprus: Popular Music. Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation: A.A. Bastas & ASS. Zarmas, Panicos. 1993. Sources of Cypriot Demotic Music. Nicosia: Iera Moni Kykkou.

CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS, HUTSUL REGION, UKRAINE Maria Sonevytsky Ne pechy pechenoho khliba. (Don’t bake bread that has already been baked.) Menu: Borshch (Beet Soup) with Khlib (Bread), Salat z Kapustoju (Cabbage, Parsley, and Dill Salad), Banosh z Hrybamy i Brynzoju (Creamy Polenta with Wild Mushrooms and Feta Cheese), paired with Horilka z Medom i Pertsem (Vodka Infused with Honey and Pepper), and pickled vegetables. Kutia (Wheat Berry, Poppyseed, Raisin, Honey, and Walnut Pudding) for dessert. Preparation Time: In advance: Horilka: 3–14 days. Borshch: 1 day with 60–90 minutes to prepare. Kutia: Start the night before and plan for 4 hours to assemble on the day. Day of meal: 1 hour. Cooking Process: The infused vodka should be started first, 3–14 days before you plan to serve it. Borshch is always best when it gets at least a day to mature, so you are advised to start it the day before. The wheat berries for kutia should be allowed to soak overnight and can be prepared days in advance if you prefer. On the day of the meal, you can purchase a loaf of bread (pumpernickel or rye with caraway seeds are both good options), or, if you’re feeling ambitious, bake it fresh. Make the salata first on the day of the meal and let it sit in its dressing. Make the banosh with mushrooms shortly before serving. Begin with borshch, served with bread, raw sliced garlic, and horilka, and then follow with banosh and salad. Serve kutia for dessert. Toast between every course, or more frequently if moved. Serves six people.

The Recipes Borshch (Beet Soup) Borshch is a flexible soup: you can make it as thin or as hearty as you desire, with a vegan or meat (ham or beef is recommended) stock. The list of ingredients below and suggested quantities are merely suggestions—feel free to add or subtract to the heartier elements, and make a basic stock to your liking. I personally like to add cauliflower, kidney beans, and peas to my heartier borshch. 1 yellow onion 6 porcini mushrooms, diced (dried or fresh) salt bay leaf pepper or peppercorns bunch of dill, stems separated and leaves diced bunch of parsley, stems separated and leaves diced 6 red beets, small to medium size ½ head of green cabbage 4 russet potatoes 2 medium carrots 2 T white vinegar 174

Hutsul Region, Ukraine  •  175

1 can red kidney beans sour cream (optional) 6 cloves fresh garlic, thinly sliced 2 lbs. ham or beef stock bones (optional) To make the stock, boil the ham or beef bones with an entire peeled onion, mushrooms, bay leaf, pepper or peppercorns, salt, plus dill and parsley stems tied in a bundle or wrapped in cheesecloth. Let boil for at least 15 minutes. Before adding anything else, take out all those stems. While the broth is broiling, wash your beets, and then set them to steam with skins on. The fastest way to steam beets is to put them in a microwavable container with an inch of water on the bottom, but a conventional stovetop steam will also work. Steam until beets are soft enough to poke through the skin with a fork, but not too mushy. Once they have cooled, the beet skins will slide off, no peeling necessary. Keep your beets cooling while you prepare the rest of the soup. Add cabbage, potatoes, and carrots, chopped as fine as you like. Let everything boil gently until cooked–usually 5 minutes of boiling will do, and then just keep it hot. Add a little vinegar. When the soup has stopped boiling, shred your peeled beets into the pot. Do not allow your beautiful beet red borshch to boil again or it will turn orange. You may add kidney beans at this stage as well. Borshch is always best after the first day. Serve hot with fresh chopped dill and parsley and a dollop of sour cream. Serve with bread and thinly sliced fresh garlic, which should be dipped in salt, eaten raw, and chased with soup (and, if desired, horilka).

Banosh z Hrybamy i Brynzoju (Creamy Polenta with Wild Mushrooms and Feta Cheese) 1½ c. dry stone-ground polenta (or corn grits) 3 c. water 1–2 c. sour cream butter, optional 1 c. porcini or other mushrooms 1 onion, diced 3 T oil, preferably sunflower salt and pepper to taste thick-cut pork cracklings (optional) ½ c. goat or sheep’s cheese (preferably sharp, like a feta) To begin this quintessential Hutsul dish, combine polenta, water, and salt to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent the corn from sticking to the pan or bubbling over. Once it has boiled, turn the heat down to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the polenta is soft. Add the sour cream (quantity depending on how thick you want the mixture to be) and allow to cook for a few minutes. Turn off the stove and add butter, if you desire. Note: banosh will thicken as it cools. On a separate pan, fry mushrooms and onions in sunflower oil until soft. Salt and pepper to taste. As a delicious nonvegetarian option, fry pork cracklings (which Hutsuls call shkvarsky) in a separate pan. Serve banosh hot, topped with mushrooms, cheese (the Hutsuls make a sharp sheep’s or goat’s cheese called brynza), and shkvarky or cracklings. Also delicious when paired with pickled vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, or garlic.

176 • Maria Sonevytsky

Salata z Kapustoju (Cabbage Salad) ½ head of green cabbage ½ c. thinly diced parsley ½ c. thinly diced dill ¼ c. sunflower oil ¼ c. white vinegar salt and pepper to taste Shred or dice cabbage thinly and combine in a bowl with diced parsley and dill. In a separate small bowl, combine sunflower oil, white vinegar, salt, and pepper. Stir to make a basic dressing that suits your taste. Add dressing to the bowl with cabbage and toss well. Cover and let sit in a cool place.

Horilka z Medom i Pertsem (Vodka Infused with Honey and Pepper) Buy a bottle of potato or grain-based vodka. Add approximately 2 T of any variety of peppercorns or hot chilies to the bottle (depending on your desired degree of heat) and honey (anywhere from ⅓ c. to ⅔ c., depending on your desired degree of sweetness). Seal tightly. Allow it to steep for 3 to 14 days (or longer!), stirring the bottle occasionally.

Kutia (Wheat Berry, Poppyseed, Raisin, Honey, and Walnut Pudding) 1½ c. wheat berries, soaked in warm water overnight and strained 6 c. water (or milk), approximately ½ c. honey (add more to taste) ¾ c. poppy seeds 1 c. walnuts ¾ c. raisins cinnamon to taste After they have soaked overnight, bring wheat berries to a boil and then reduce heat. Let simmer covered for 3 hours, checking periodically that the kernels are under water. If needed, add water or milk. In a bowl, cover poppy seeds with boiling water and allow to steep for 30 minutes. Drain and grind (either with a mortar and pestle or in a food processor). In a pan, toast walnuts lightly. Dissolve honey in 1½ c. boiling water. Combine all the ingredients—including the raisins—in a bowl and stir. Add cinnamon and additional honey to taste. Traditionally served as the first or last course of the twelve-dish Christmas Eve dinner, kutia can be enjoyed at other times of the year as well, and will keep in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

Koliada: Winter Cycles of Song, Food, and Dance Verkhovyna, a storied town set in a picturesque valley ringed by mountains in Western Ukraine, is miles from the Romanian border, and, in winter, a harrowing drive to the nearest train station. Yet annually, when snow blankets the landscape, tourists and adventurers descend upon Verkhovyna to witness and take part in the cycle of winter rituals that join together song, spirituality, and feast. I spent the winter of 2009 in Verkhovyna, living in a two-room wooden cottage where I adapted to a sleep schedule that my personal wood stove demanded, where I mastered the art of frying an egg on

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my cast-iron skillet and making tea when guests came to visit. Though I never advanced beyond the most rudimentary, culinary wooden-stove feats, I benefited from the expertise of families throughout the Verkhovyna region, whose culinary delights I experienced as I trudged through mountain villages to attend gatherings and parties around the season of Koliada. In Verkhovyna and its surrounding highland villages, January—the time of Koliada—is a time to gather at long tables laden with last summer’s pickled vegetables and steaming hot plates of banosh (creamy polenta), sing a Koliada, and toast. Koliada is a pre-Christian winter ritual period that extends from January 6th through the 19th. Traditionally, as it is still practiced in some Hutsul towns and villages, the Koliada period was defined by the packs of male carolers—koliadnyky—who were charged with the task of visiting every household in a given village with song. These koliadnyky were meant to rely solely on the hospitality of the homes that they visited during the Koliada period. The head of the koliadnyky, known as the Bereza, was responsible for keeping long texts of winter songs in his head and also improvising toasts and blessings to the heads of households in the village, while the other men would join in on the refrain (often something like “Oj, daj Bozhe”). Songs of koliadnyky would be accompanied by a sole fiddler, while all of the other men would keep time by rhythmically gesturing with bartky, decorative axes. Traditionally, Koliada marked the advent of the New Year. Later, it merged with Eastern-rite (Julian calendar) Christian liturgical holidays, including Christmas and Epiphany (as the date of the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the River Jordan; Vodokhreshchia or Iordan in Ukrainian). In many parts of the Slavic world, Christmas Eve dinner (Sviata vecheria) features twelve traditional courses, served vegan. In many regions of Ukraine, courses include borshch (beet soup), varenyky (pierogies, often made with potato, sauerkraut, and buckwheat fillings), fish (considered vegan), holubtsi (cabbage rolls), and kutia (a sweet dish made of wheat berry, poppy seed, honey, raisin, and walnut). For many Hutsuls, who have retained pre-Christian elements in their modern-day Christian practices, Christmas Eve can also be a time to honor deceased ancestors, shoo unclean spirits from the house, or to divine the future spouses of the unmarried guests in attendance. Memorably, when I celebrated Christmas Eve with my host family in Verkhovyna, all of the guests were instructed to climb under the food-covered table and shake its legs to frighten away evil spirits. After the meal, I—unmarried at the time—was told to go out into the snowy night with my soupspoon in hand, and to bang the spoon against the house until a dog barked. The direction from which the dog barked was supposed to reveal the direction from which my future partner would come. On January 13, the Old New Year, or Malanka, is celebrated in a carnivalesque style: revelers costumed in all manner of outrageous garb parade through villages visiting households, singing winter carols, playing pranks, and partaking in the snacks and libations that local households offer. All of the holidays in the Koliada period offer opportunities for gatherings, where food, song, and dance become a repeated cycle: eat, drink, sing, take a spin around the (usually makeshift) dance floor, eat some more, and on through the night. I remember one exceptional occasion—the last night of Koliada—when my friend Oksana, a local Verkhovynka, and I were invited to attend the party at a household on a mountainside a few hours hike from Verkhovyna. The hosts had designated a large wooden barn-like structure as the dance hall. Inside the unheated barn, we could see our breath in the dim light. But once the local instrumentalists—a hammered dulcimer player, fiddler, drummer, and saxophone—started to play the frenetic Hutsulkas, iconic of this region, the guests fell into the accompanying partner dances, and soon we were shedding layers. After some time, we were invited into the home, where tables laden with food awaited us. The Bereza, head of the local Koliadnyky who were the guests of honor at the gathering, proposed a toast, and we began the cycle of vodka, black bread, pickled vegetables, marinated pork fat (salo), and other delicacies. Eventually, the koliadnyky broke into song, an extended Koliada with a simple refrain that became hypnotic after some time. As the night wore on, we went

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through another cycle of furious dancing, joyful toasting, eating, and eating. Finally, a few hours before dawn, I, the Amerykanka, requested a place to close my eyes for a few minutes. Gas pipelines do not reach Verkhovyna or its surrounding villages, so many homes rely on large wood-fired stoves, which function as both the heart and hearth of Hutsul homes, especially during the subzero Carpathian winter. Like most elements of Hutsul traditional life, these stoves are often elaborately decorated, with hand-painted or colorful ceramic tiles. These stoves provide heat for entire homes as well as surfaces for cooking. Often, they include nooks for drying damp boots, compartments for bread baking, and sometimes, the top of the stove is designed as a warm platform for sleeping or napping. As it was, this particular household had such a warm stovetop sleeping platform, and for a few blissful minutes in the predawn, I closed my eyes. Too soon, I was roused by my friend Oksana, who did not want me to miss the final Koliada of the season. Bleary-eyed, I threw on my parka and stepped outside, microphone in hand. Circling around in the snow, the last standing koliadnyky sang, a Koliada in honor of the woman of the house, she stood by with a tray full of vodka shots. When the men completed their last Koliada, they drank one final toast—Bud’mo! Hey!—and chased it with some black bread. That winter, I came to appreciate the deep social link that food, music, and dance share in the Hutsul world. Despite the short days and frozen nights, despite the barriers presented by snowed-in roads and snow-covered mountains, individuals came together nightly, insistently, to delight in the pleasures of communal food and song.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING Most Ukrainian releases are hard to find outside of Ukraine, but www.umka.com is an excellent resource for all sounds Ukrainian that will ship internationally, and clips from most recordings can be previewed on the site. The Western Ukrainian and Hutsul-specific catalog on the website is expansive, and all of the following recordings can be found there: The Carpathian Album. Compilation from the 2008 Sheshory LandArt summer music festival. Taras Bulba Entertainment, 2008. (A compilation that includes both traditional and contemporary interpretations of Hutsul music.) Horry! Perkalaba. Taras Bulba Entertainment. 2004. (The debut record of the Western Ukrainian “Hutsul-punk” band notorious for their energetic performances.) Melodiji Karpat (Carpathian melodies). The Tafiychuks Family Group. UKRmusic, UM-CD 090, 2007. (Recordings of a self-taught Hutsul family band from a highland village.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION The Pickle Project: http://pickleproject.blogspot.com/

VII Encore

NUSSTORTE* (NUT CAKE) Bruno Nettl This famous torte, even an idiot like me can make. Raw walnuts: take eight ounces, or it might be six or ten, And measure out by weight the same amount of sugar; then You’re on your way to make Vienna’s “Second Walnut Cake.” Next, in your blender grind the nuts the way you’d make a shake, And in proportion separate nine eggs, or five, or seven. Be sure to stay away from baking powder, salt, or leaven, But beat the egg whites thoroughly until they’re stiff and quake. Mix yolks with sugar, beat a bit, and then let the nuts partake. The whites are added gently to the batter. And, if handy, Put in a tablespoon or cap of decent rum or brandy. Now pour into your buttered, bread-crumbed springform, and just bake. Three-fifty F. In fifty minutes test—now stay awake! It’s better slightly underdone than dry—be no one’s fool! Add apricot preserves with a dash of rum on top, when cool; For icing, sweetened Schlag is best—that’s never a mistake.

*From a book of 1936, the author: Alice Urbach. A book for sure most comprehensive, of the ones I’ve seen, Its title, though, is unpretentious: “So kocht man in Wien.” (Did Urbach, asked her music love, say, “selbstverständlich nur Bach”?) That book has music: dishes named for Schubert, Liszt, and Mahler, And naturally some for Strausses, father, son, and cousin, But most for Amadeus, wow, I bet there are a dozen. All sweet, no savories; and for each I’d gladly pay top dollar. 180

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS Supeena Insee Adler (Northeast Thailand) is a performer and ethnomusicologist living in San Diego, California. She performs and teaches classical Thai music on traditional stringed instruments. Her areas of interest are mediums, healing rituals and music in Northeast Thailand and Southern Laos, literature in Thai traditional music performance, and Okinawan minyo. She earned degrees in Thai classical music from Mahasarakham University and in Southeast Asian Studies, text, ritual, and performance, at the University of California, Riverside. In the spring of 2014, she received the Ph.D. in music (ethnomusicology) at UCR with a dissertation titled Music for the Few: Nationalism and Thai Royal Authority. Gage Averill (Trinidad) grew up eating meals for which his mother had colorful names, such as “shit on a shingle” (corned chipped beef on toast), but in junior high school, he learned to cook expensive foods with French names in order to impress girls. Later, when exposed to a wider range of microscopic flora and fauna in the foods in such places as Haiti, Cuba, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago, he developed a regimen of drinking strong coffee with breakfast, Coca Cola with lunch, and rum or beer with dinner, a practice to which he credits never having gotten terribly sick while living abroad. Gage prides himself on his competitive gourmet cooking on group ocean kayak trips, and has caught his own conch and crabs while scuba diving! He is married to Giovanna Perot-Averill, from Trinidad and Tobago, who contributed mightily to the recipes found in this chapter. Marc Benamou (France) made his first omelet at the age of seven and has hardly stopped cooking since. French on his father’s side and American on his mother’s side, he has learned much from the talented women cooks in his family, including his French godmother, Anne Lavaud. Since 2001 he has taught in the music department at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. A specialist in Javanese vocal music, his research has focused primarily on central Javanese musical aesthetics, with recent forays into the music of the Andean saxophone orchestras of the Mantaro valley of Peru. Katherine Brucher (Portugal) is an Associate Professor of Music at the DePaul University School of Music in Chicago, Illinois. When she’s not off on a tangent explaining where students can find the best pączki in Chicago on Pączki Day (Fat Tuesday), she writes about brass bands and feasts in Portugal and the Portuguese diaspora. Basil Considine (Mauritius and Réunion) is an American composer and musicologist who serves on the faculty and staff of Walden University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When not traveling the world in search of opera manuscripts, mezzo-sopranos, and gelati, he researches 18th century French opera singer-courtesans and alliteratively composes operas about similarly scandalous subjects. The motto of his opera company, Really Spicy Opera, is “Drama that burns and music that sates”—and it’s almost as spicy as a typical Mauritian curry. Niyati Dhokai (Gujarat) received a Ph.D. in Music (Ethnomusicology) from the University of Alberta. During her doctoral research in Gujarat, India, she developed a strong interest in applied ethnomusicology, as well as the habit of taking two spoons of sugar with her tea. She currently works as a music facilitator with participants who are recovering from traumatic brain injury in a community-based rehabilitation program in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area. Her current work often involves complex discussions of regional pie recipes, from pumpkin to apple to blackberry . . . and, sometimes, cheesecake . . . with her participants.

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Françoise Étay (France) is a Professor at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Limoges, where she heads the department of traditional music. She has conducted numerous research projects on the traditional dance and music of the Limousin. She is equally enamored of the region’s other traditions, at the top of whose list she would put la Salers, an apéritif wine made with gentian root—unquestionably the best of its kind in all of France! Originally from near Saint-Étienne, she venerates—even more than she does the famous local soccer team (Go Verts!)—Weiss chocolate in all its forms. Jeremy W. Foutz (Republic of Georgia) is an independent researcher who works with various organizations on art integration projects, cultural program evaluation, and public education. Besides being amazed at the serendipity of his life so far, he is always trying to learn from anyone kind enough to share his or her time with him. Jeremy currently has enough spices in his home to purchase a small kingdom, if he lived 400 years ago. He has made his peace with that and prefers to live free of dysentery and plague with ready access to fresh water. Jennifer Fraser (West Sumatra) is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Anthropology at Oberlin College, where she leads a talempong ensemble. Her research uses music as a frame to understand the institutionalization of music, ethnicity, gender, Islam, media, and natural disasters, among the Minangkabau in Indonesia. She is so obsessed with Minangkabau food that it features in parts of her forthcoming book, Gongs and Pop Songs: Sounding Minangkabau in Indonesia. She has been known to consume large amounts of sambalado (hot chili sauce), carry a large stone mortar and pestle in her luggage, transport frozen durian across four US states, and cook rendang every semester for students in an attempt to recreate Minangkabau culinary delights. She has not yet succeeded in learning how to make dadiah (water buffalo yoghurt). Colin Harte (Brazil) is currently a Ph.D. candidate and Instructor in Ethnomusicology at the University of Florida’s School of Music. His academic interests in Brazilian music education and community has led him to conduct fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro. During his stay there, he was able to learn a number of wonderful Brazilian recipes and sambas. However, his ability to dance samba is something left to be desired, inspiring one dance partner to mention that he was surprisingly light on her feet! Sydney Hutchinson (Dominican Republic) is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Syracuse University, where she teaches courses on Caribbean and Latin American music and dance. Her previous occupations have included salsa dancer, public folklorist, lab assistant, and elevator operator. In her spare time, she enjoys eating and yodeling, although doing both at the same time is not recommended. Claire Jones (Zimbabwe), who earned her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, lives in Seattle and teaches Zimbabwean marimba and mbira as well as online ethnomusicology courses. She and Tsitsi Maraire Smith have been great friends since rooming together in Mozambique in 1981, and often cook for one another. Songül Karahasanoğlu (Turkey) is a Professor in the Turkish Music State Conservatory at Istanbul Technical University, where she teaches ethnomusicology and popular music. She is the author of Muş Türküleri ve Oyun Havaları and Mey ve Metodu, the only works of their kind currently in publication. Her family comes from Muş, and that is where she learned how to cook these delicious foods. She continues her research and publications in the area of Turkish popular music, Islam and music, transculturalism in Muş, and the Turkish folk instrument called the mey. She regularly gives concerts on the mey.

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Andrea Kuzmich (Republic of Georgia) completed her M.F.A. in ethnomusicology, has led voice classes, and directed the World Music Chorus at York University. She sings/has sung in the awardwinning Georgian ensembles Darbazi and ZARI; co-leads Georgian singing workshops with her husband (Shalva Makharashvili); performs regularly with Toronto vocal improvisors, and the Ukrainian groups Kosa Kolektiv and Kalyndar; and, as a mother of two boys who sing a lot, runs ethnomusicological-inspired summer kids’ camps. If she could only stop singing for a bit, she will complete her Ph.D. dissertation on Georgian polyphony! Anne Lavaud (France)—the oldest of seven children—grew up in the city of Limoges, where she helped her mother run the large household. Shortly after the second world war, the family moved to the country estate Le Petit Buisson, in the Haute Vienne, which they maintained while living and working in Paris and in whose former orchard Anne and one of her sisters built the house where she lives today, surrounded by hazelnut, chestnut, plum, pear, cherry, fig, and apple trees, along with red and black current bushes, from whose bounty (when the blackbirds don't get there first) she makes endless delicacies, to the delight of her many nieces, nephews, and godsons. Panayotis (Paddy) League (Greece) is a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at Harvard University and Instructor of Modern Greek Studies at Hellenic College. A multi-instrumentalist and composer active in the worlds of Greek, Irish, and Brazilian music, he grew up in a kitchen where reels and jigs were frequently paired with mousakás and bouzoúki tunes, which went great with Jameson. He can frequently be found playing the fiddle in a Cretan coffeehouse beside a plate of snails and stuffed zucchini flowers, or trying not to spill cachaça on his accordion. Lucy M. Long (Galicia) is Director of the nonprofit Center for Food and Culture and adjunct Assistant Professor in Bowling Green, Ohio, where she combines an MA in Ethnomusicology and a Ph.D. in Folklore to study, among other things, the intersections of food and music. She spent six months researching bagpipes, dance revival, and culinary tourism in Spain in the early 2000s, deciding it was better to listen to music while eating than to eat while playing music, especially mouth-blown bagpipes. Andrew Martin, Ph.D. (Trinidad) is Professor of Music at Inver Hills College, Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, where he teaches courses in music history, music analysis, percussion, and directs the African music ensemble and steel drum band. Andrew’s research areas focus on intersections between American and Caribbean music as well as popular and folk music and musicians during the cold war. After performing with the Petrotrin Hatters Steelband of San Fernando, Trinidad, during Carnival 2014, Andrew hopes in the future to improve his steelpan playing enough to meet the exacting standards of the eleven-year-old Trinidadian girl pannist standing next to him who kept yelling “wrong notes doctor” during rehearsals. Jonathan McCollum (Armenia) is an Associate Professor of Music at Washington College, where he teaches courses on music history, ethnomusicology theory, Japanese music, Armenian music, and low brass. Jon’s love of food stems from assisting his beloved grandmother, Sara, in the art of biscuit rolling, fish frying, and summer squash sautéing. Jon has eaten grilled fish and underdone potatoes on the shore of Lake Sevan in Armenia, slurped gelatinous sea cucumber in noodle soup in Xi’an, China, and eaten delicious vegetarian food at Buddhist monasteries in the mountains of Japan. Jon plays many instruments; when not teaching, Jon might be performing shakuhachi or koto in Kyoto, trombone in orchestras and swing bands in the Washington, DC, area, or duduk in Yerevan. Colin McGuire (Hong Kong) recently completed his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology at York University, and is an Associate at the York Centre for Asian Research. As an unrepentant foodie, he is fortunate

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that his research on music and martial arts keeps him physically active. Before beginning postsecondary education, he was working as a cook and seriously considered a career as a chef. Music won out, but Colin remains an active home cook. Tanya Merchant (Uzbekistan) is an ethnomusicologist who teaches in the music department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research focuses on the music of Uzbekistan, especially in the capital city of Tashkent and more recently on the music of Bosnian communities in the United States and the former Yugoslavia. One day she hopes to pick a research area that doesn’t require her to find ways to politely refuse pickled beets while at the table. Edmundo Murray (Colombia) is a writer based in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a publishing editor at the World Trade Organization, and a frequent lecturer and contributor to journals about trade, migrations, and cultural history. Born in Argentina, Murray holds a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich, where he graduated with a thesis on the history of the Irish in Latin America. He has carried out research about musical and culinary traditions in Cape Verde and eight South American countries and edited A Symphony of Flavours: Food and Music in Concert (forthcoming, 2015). He plays jazz guitar and Cuban tres with his family and friends, and enjoys cooking and singing Brazilian, Cuban, Colombian, Peruvian, and other Latin American recipes and food songs. Bruno Nettl (Nusstorte) is Professor Emeritus of Music and Anthropology at the University of Illinois, where he first went in 1964. He has done fieldwork with native peoples of North America and in Iran and India, and published books about ethnomusicology as a field of research. His hobbies include low-stakes poker games, making marzipan and Viennese nut cakes with his wife Wanda, and writing light verse for family and friends. Lonán Ó Briain (Vietnam) is an Irish ethnomusicologist based at the University of Nottingham. He has previously taught at the universities of Birmingham and Sheffield (United Kingdom), and currently serves as the reviews editor for Ethnomusicology Forum. During his fieldwork in northern Vietnam, he had the luxury of sampling an exceptional range of dishes. Although the quality and convenience of street food was often more attractive than his home-cooked options, he has had plenty of time to refine his cooking skills since returning to Europe. Marie-Christine Parent (Seychelles) is completing a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the Université de Montréal (Québec, Canada) and the Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis (France). She is currently writing her dissertation about intangible heritage, memory and identity issues related to moutya, a musical genre and practice from the Seychelles Islands (Indian Ocean). She has also done fieldwork in Brazil during her master’s degree, and has worked as a cultural and artistic consultant and/ or musician in different countries. Creolization processes being one of her research focuses, she enjoys applying it to any musical, dance, and culinary new experience that she loves to share in good company. Giovanna Perot-Averill (Trinidad) is an interior designer, so it’s no surprise that she has a love of creating and designing food in the kitchen too. She was delighted to be asked by her other half to help contribute to this great project, not to mention to loan him some of her “street cred” as a native-born Trinidadian! Determined to keep traditions alive, she has made her daughter, Fiona, the Averill household sous chef, especially at holiday time where they can be found in the kitchen cooking (and eating much of their concoctions before they even hit the table). They are also usually busy protecting their ingredients, slapping away the stealthy fingers of the professorial interloper (aka Gage Averill). “Eat till ya belly bus’!”

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Michalis Poupazis (Cyprus) is currently a Ph.D. candidate and part-time lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the University College Cork. His CACSSS-funded doctoral research explores the cultural world of Greek- and Turkish-speaking Cypriot migrants in Birmingham, and aims to make available findings from the diaspora as a resource for improving intercommunal relations in Cyprus. His previous occupations have included nightclub owner, bar manager, music producer, DJ, radio broadcaster, and professional basketball player. In what he claims as “spare time,” Michalis loves eating and exposing his palate to global flavors and smells. Sarah Quick (Western Prairies) is an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist teaching at Cottey College in southwestern Missouri. Her research in Western North American fiddle performance easily converted her from a violinist to a fiddler, although she can still play some Bach and Handel. As a fledgling gardener, she aspires to be able to combine her food and fiddle interests as a busker who also sells veggies. Sonia Tamar Seeman (Thracian Roma) is an Associate Professor in the Butler School of Music and Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. An avid cook and baker since childhood, her cuisine has been profoundly shaped by fieldwork among Roma and other ethnic groups in Macedonia and Turkey, and she has had extensive gum-line fillings due to fueling her master’s and Ph.D. thesis writing with Turkish tea. If you’d like to try this out (the tea, not the cavities!), come visit her Middle Eastern Ensemble “Bereket” rehearsals on Thursday nights in Austin; we always have a tea break at 8:30 p.m.! Helena Simonett (Mexico) is a Swiss ethnomusicologist who has spent many hours in Sinaloa’s open kitchens, watching, helping, and tasting food. A woman’s domain par excellence, the kitchen is an ideal place to hear “the other side of the story” and to contribute to the well-being of all fiesta participants. When not cooking or eating, she is teaching at Vanderbilt University, where she also serves as Associate Director of the Center for Latin American Studies. Gabriel Solis (Papua New Guinea) cooks, eats, sings, dances, and is an Full Professor of Music, Anthropology, and African American studies in Urbana, Illinois. He does research on jazz and on the transnationalism of music in Pacific Indigenous modernity. He admits to having as much passion for food trucks as he does for ethnomusicology. Maria Sonevytsky (Ukraine) is Assistant Professor of Music at Bard College, New York. Her scholarly interests include critical organology and the accordion, and post-Soviet Ukrainian popular musics. Maria is also a singer, pianist, and accordionist who has played reputed New York City halls as well as a variety of rural weddings throughout Ukraine and punk clubs in Siberia. While doing fieldwork in Crimea, she once labored to produce a pumpkin pie in the Spartan kitchen of her rental apartment, and upon presenting it to her adopted Crimean Tatar family, was politely told that it was inedible. They preferred their pumpkin savory. Yona Stamatis (Greece) is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Illinois Springfield. As part of her research on rebetika music of Greece, she spent three years in Athens performing bouzouki and violin with the renowned Rebetiki Istoria band and writing about the effects of the economic crisis on musical practice. This was a considerable accomplishment considering her early struggles in her rebetika performance career: the very first bouzouki that she bought online before entering the field turned out to be a very tiny and very expensive bouzouki ornament! Patricia Tang (Senegal) is Associate Professor of Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she enjoys playing sabar drums and teaching courses in ethnomusicology, especially African

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music and global pop. After an initial whetting of appetite through the music of Youssou N’Dour, her love affair with Senegalese music, food, and culture began nearly two decades ago when the pungent aroma of stinky dried fish sizzling in hot oil first hit her nose, as her ears were filled with the powerful sounds of sabar drums on the streets of Dakar. Jessie M. Vallejo (Ecuador) is an American ethnomusicologist and musician who graduated with her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UCLA and B.M. in music education and Spanish from SUNY Potsdam. She has taught courses on Latin American music at UCLA and UC Riverside, and in her spare time, Jessie freelances as a violinist in mariachi, Andean, and Western classical ensembles. While she enjoys her well-earned bragging rights of roasting guinea pigs over a fire, Jessie hopes to one day brave trying fried potato grubs. Sean Williams (editor) has had the happy task of connecting with dozens of ethnomusicologists all over the world, most of whom have introduced her to delicious and exciting new flavors through their contributions to both the first and second volumes of The Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook. She loves most foods and musics, and classifies herself as an Arbitrarian when it comes to preferences in either. She notes that closing one’s eyes when one tastes a new flavor combination or listens to a new type of music dramatically enhances the experience. Sarah Willner (Bali) is a musician with the San Francisco Bay Area’s Gamelan Sekar Jaya and ShadowLight Productions, specializing in gender wayang music for traditional and contemporary shadow theater. Always a top contender of the Sekar Jaya sambal cook-offs, she has cooked and studied in Bali and in California with some of Bali’s most revered music and dance teachers. Not included in this chapter are some of the favorite foods she, her husband Wayne Vitale, and daughter Antonia Vitale’s Balinese favorites: raw pork lawar hash with blood, fried dragonflies and bee larvae snacks, dragonfly larvae sauce, gladiola stem sambal, and good old deep-fried eels.

HOW TO MAKE THESE MEALS SUIT YOU Sean Williams The world includes people with all kinds of eating preferences and restrictions. This brief guide is intended to help you make decisions appropriate to your own needs. In reading through the recipes, if you wish to make something vegetarian or vegan, substitutions abound in the form of soy-based foods such as tempeh, textured vegetable protein, or tofu. Beans are an excellent source of protein, as are nuts. For people who regularly avoid meat-based dishes, the possibilities are rich, and the substitutions are part of one’s normal adaptations of recipes. A new designation in this chapter is GF or gluten-free. Because gluten is a featured aspect of many sauces, any premade sauce, such as soy sauce or fish sauce, is likely to contain gluten unless otherwise indicated on the label itself. Tamari generally contains no gluten products and is a safe substitute for soy sauce. Rice, corn, and tapioca appear in various chapters of the present volume, and they are gluten-free as well. For baking, a combination of potato and rice flour (or tapioca flour) can work wonders. Fortunately, recipes for such flours abound on the Internet. While some tempeh products contain gluten (and are identified as “made with wheat”), most do not. Please note that although the designations kosher and halal bear some similarities, they belong to different cultural and religious practices that cover much larger practices than those surrounding food. Please note that recipes that contain pork or shellfish are unacceptable according to both Jewish and Islamic law; that is a shorthand explanation, though, so you may wish to check with your guests to be certain. Because the contributors to this volume do not know whether the meat that you select in a shop, for example, comes from an animal that has been ritually slaughtered according to the precepts of Jewish or Islamic law, it is up to you to figure out the right source for your meats if that is important to you. You can assume that there is so much diversity among the world’s religious populations that no one rule dominates any one group of people. When in doubt, ask! By using the following key, you can quickly discern which recipes might work for you and your guests. Be sure to check any recipes in question, though, to be sure that a simple substitution might not do the job. As the introductory chapter to this volume states, “Happy improvising!”

Key:

K Kosher NK Not kosher K/NK Alternatives are presented in the recipe V Vegetarian VG Vegan (no meat, dairy, or honey), automatically vegetarian GF Gluten-free (no wheat, barley, or rye)

Africa

Senegal Zimbabwe Mauritius/Réunion

Fish and Rice Mango Chicken Stew Maize-Meal Porridge Peanut Butter Greens Black-Eyed Peas, Corn Fermented Drink Cabbage Curry Manioc/Lentils

K, GF K, VG, GF K, GF K, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF

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Seychelles

Asia and the Pacific Hong Kong Gujarat NE Thailand Vietnam West Sumatra Bali Papua New Guinea

The Middle East Eastern Turkey

Rice with Onions Vanilla Rum Coconut Braised Bananas Papaya Chutney Red Lentils Rice Chicken Curry Bananas in Coconut Milk

K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, GF K, VG, GF

Vegetables with Oyster Homestyle Tofu BBQ Pork Ribs Steamed Eggs/Pork Chicken and Peppers Steamed Rice Sweet Soup Potato, Peanut Salad Tapioca Pudding Ground Meat Salad Puffball Soup Parboiled Eggs Jasmine Rice Steamed Sticky Rice Pork and Noodles Crab Spring Rolls Dipping Sauce Beef Curry Tempeh Vegetables with Coconut White Rice Nut Crackers Rice with Yam Vegetables with Sambal Chicken Soup Steamed Fish Roasted Coconut Sambal Fried Chicken Skin Bananas with Coconut Chicken and Greens Sweet Potato/Plantain

NK K, GF NK, GF NK K K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF NK, GF K K, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF NK NK, GF NK K, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF NK, GF NK, GF NK, GF NK, GF NK, GF K, GF K, VG, GF K, GF K, VG, GF

Stuffed Meatballs Meat with Eggplant Rice with Chickpeas Cucumber and Yogurt Flour Halva

K K K, V, GF K, V, GF K, V

How to Make These Meals Suit You • 189

Thracian Roma Roasted Vegetables Rice with Chickpeas Peas, Lamb, Potatoes Shepherds’ Salad Armenia Flat Bread Cheeses (purchased) Hummus Vegetable Salad Dressing Barbecued Meats Potatoes Uzbekistan Pilaf Cucumber/Tomato

The Americas

Western Prairies Trinidad/Tobago Dominican Republic Mexico Ecuador Colombia Brazil

K, V, GF K K, GF K, VG, GF K, V K, V K, VG, GF K, VG, GF K, VG, GF NK K, VG, GF K K, VG, GF

Neck Bones NK Rice Pudding K, V, GF Bannock NK Fried Berries NK Bake and Shark NK Jerk Chicken K Peas and Rice NK/GF Green Mango Slaw K/V/GF Saltfish Accra K Rice and Beans K, GF Marinated Fried Fish K Fried Green Plantains K, VG, GF Cassava Fritters K, GF Coconut Cupcakes K, GF Beef Stew K, GF Meatball Soup K, GF Pinto Beans K, VG, GF Corn Flatbread K, VG, GF Roasted Meat/Hominy K/NK, GF Bread K, VG Chili Salsa K, VG, GF Corn Soup NK Juice K, VG, GF Cornmeal Tortilla K, V Smashed Plantains K, V, GF Potato Stew with Chicken NK, GF Sweet Cornmeal Porridge K, V, GF Sugarcane Drink K, VG, GF Cassava Cheese Bread K, V, GF Seafood Coconut Stew NK Manioc Flour Bananas K, V, GF Brazilian Rice K, VG, GF Passion Fruit Drink K, VG, GF

190 • Sean Williams

Europe

France Sorrel Soup K, V Buckwheat Pancakes K, VG Pan-Grilled Trout K, GF Mushrooms K, GF Green Salad K, V, GF Cherry Dessert K Galicia Galician Soup NK Grilled Peppers K, VG, GF Tunafish Pie K Almond Torte K, V, GF Portugal Green Soup NK, GF Pork Cutlets NK, GF Lettuce Salad K, VG, GF Sponge Cake K, V, GF Fruit Salad K, VG, GF Republic of Georgia I Roasted Chicken K, GF Walnut/Cilantro Sauce K, VG, GF Bread K, V Beans Republic of Georgia II Beet Purée K, VG, GF Beef and Walnut Stew K Eggplant Salad K, VG, GF Cheese Pastry K, V Skopelos, Greece Cheese Pie K, V Cucumber Yogurt Dip K, V, GF Lettuce Salad K, VG, GF Baked Fish K, GF Kálymnos, Greece Baked Chickpeas K, VG, GF Meatballs NK, GF Garlic and Potato Dip K, VG, GF Salad K, V Pasta with Chicken K Cyprus Lamb Pilaf K Baby Aubergines K, VG, GF Ukraine Beet Soup K/NK, GF Cabbage Salad K, VG, GF Mushroom Polenta NK, GF Wheat Pudding K, V

Appendix Nusstorte

Nut Cake

K, V, GF

Index A cookbook is only as good as its index. I have left out the most obvious ingredients here, such as the savories (onions, garlic, shallots) and the most common household herbs and spices, and normal baking ingredients (flour, sugar, etc.). In addition, once you find a recipe, please scan the whole chapter so that you can understand it in the context of a meal. If you don’t find a recipe that you were hoping to find, try another! If you seek out a particular music- or dance-specific item, check under “music, dance styles, and musical instruments.”

A About the Contributors 181 – 6 adapting recipes 187 – 90 Adler, Supeena (Northeast Thailand) 39 – 43, 181 “Adoption and Adaptation: the Flexibility of Ancestral Sounds and Foodways in Highland Papua New Guinea” (Papua New Guinea essay) 62 – 4 Africa: Mauritius and Réunion 22 – 5; Senegal 8 – 11; Seychelles 17 – 21; Zimbabwe 12 – 16 aguapanela con limón (sugarcane drink with lemon  –  Colombia) 120 ajiaco (potato stew with chicken  –  Colombia) 119 – 20 almonds: preserved baby aubergines [eggplants] (Cyprus) 170; sabudana kheer (tapioca pudding  –  Gujarat) 37; torta de Santiago (almond tart  –  Galicia) 140 – 1 Americas: Brazil 123 – 6; Colombia 118 – 22; Dominican Republic 102 – 6; Ecuador 112 – 17; Mexico 107 – 11; Trinidad (Averill) 94 – 101; Trinidad (Martin) 90 – 3; Western Prairies 86 – 9 animal slaughter: in Zimbabwe 15; ritual 187 anyang (vegetables with coconut chili sauce  – West Sumatra) 48 – 9 apricot: kindzis satsebela (walnut and cilantro sauce  –  Georgia) 149 – 50; nusstorte (nut cake) areca nut crackers (West Sumatra) 48 arepa de choclo con queso Latino (tortilla with farmer’s cheese  –  Colombia) 119

arepitas de yuca (cassava fritters  –  Dominican Republic) 104 Armenia 76 – 80 Armenian culture 68, 76 – 80 arroz Brasileiro (Brazilian rice  –  Brazil) 124 arroz con habichuela (rice and beans  –  Dominican Republic) 102 – 3 arvitsa sto foúrno (baked chickpeas with caramelized onions  –  Greece) 164 Asia: Bali 53 – 9; Gujarat 35 – 8; Hong Kong 28 – 34; Minangkabau, West Sumatra 47 – 52; Papua New Guinea, Highland 60 – 4; Thailand, Northeast 39 – 43; Vietnam 44 – 6 aubergine see eggplant Averill, Gage (Trinidad and Tobago) 94 – 101, 181 avocados, chuchuka api (mature corn soup  – Ecuador) 114 – 16

B baahk faahn (steamed rice  –  Hong Kong) 32 bake and shark (Trinidad & Tobago) 90 – 1 baked chickpeas with caramelized onions (Greece) 164 baked fish (Greece) 161 Bali 53 – 9 bamboo, kakaruk long mambu (chicken and greens in bamboo tubes  –  Papua New Guinea) 61 – 2 bananas: bananes au lait de coco (coconut-braised bananas  –  Mauritius) 24; farofa de banana (crunchy

191

192 • Index manioc flour-covered bananas  –  Brazil) 123; ladob banan (bananas in coconut milk  –  Seychelles) 18 – 19; pisang rai (boiled bananas with shredded coconut  –  Bali) 56; bannock (Western Prairies) 87 banosh z hrybamy i brynzoju (polenta with mushrooms and feta  –  Ukraine) 175   barbecue: cha siu paaih gwat (barbecued pork ribs  –  Hong Kong) 30 – 1; khorovats and kednakhntsor (barbecued meat with potatoes  – Armenia) 77 – 8 barbecued meat with potatoes (Armenia) 77 – 8 barbecue pork ribs (Hong Kong) 30 basa genep (basic spice paste  –  Bali) 53 – 4 basic spice paste (Bali) 53 – 4 beans, black, sauce: sih jap choi sik jiu gai (chicken and peppers in black bean sauce – Hong Kong) 31 – 2 beans, green: anyang (vegetables with coconut chili sauce  –  West Sumatra) 48 – 9 beans, kidney; borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5; lobio (beans, onions, and tomato soup  –  Georgia) 150 – 1 beans, pink, arroz con habichuela (rice and beans  –  Dominican Republic) 102 – 3 beans, pinto; chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16; frijoles (pinto beans  – Mexico) 109 beans, white, caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40 beans, onions, and tomato soup (Georgia) 150 – 1 bean sprouts, anyang (vegetables with coconut chili sauce  –  West Sumatra) 48 – 9 beef: bezelye (peas, ground beef/lamb, and potatoes  –  Thracian Roma) 72;   borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5; chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16; guacabaqui (beef stew  –  Mexico) 107 – 8; keftédes (Kálymnian meatballs  –  Greece) 165; kharcho (beef walnut stew  –  Georgia) 154 – 5; muş içli köftesi (stuffed meatballs  –  Turkey) 66; osh (beef/lamb pilaf  –  Uzbekistan) 81 – 3; rendang (spicy dry beef curry  –  West Sumatra) 47 – 8, 50; sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup  –  Mexico) 108 beef stew (Mexico) 107 – 8 beef walnut stew (Georgia) 154 – 5 beet: borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5; charkhlis mkhali (beet purée  –  Georgia) 155 beet purée (Georgia) 155 beet soup (Ukraine) 174 – 5 Benamou, Marc (France) 128 – 37, 181 berries, fried Saskatoon berries or chokecherries (Western Prairies) 87 beverages see drinks bezelye (peas, ground lamb, and potatoes  –  Thracian Roma) 72  

bifanas à Maria Sebastião (pork cutlets  –  Portugal) 145 black-eyed peas and corn (Zimbabwe) 13 – 14 boiled bananas with shredded coconut (Bali) 56 bok choy, ga seuhng dauh fuh (homestyle tofu  –  Hong Kong) 30 borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5 “Brasilidade in Food and Music” (Brazil essay) 124 – 6 Brazil 123 – 6 Brazilian rice 124 bread: khachapuri (cheese bread  –  Georgia); puri (yeast bread  –  Georgia) 150; runa tanta (yeast bread  –  Ecuador) 113 – 14 broccoli, yauh choi (vegetable with oyster sauce  –  Hong Kong) 29 Brucher, Katherine (Portugal) 144 – 8 buckwheat pancakes (France) 129 – 30 bún cha? (grilled pork and noodles  – Vietnam) 44 – 6 “Byen Manze Kreol (Eat the Good Creole Food)” (Seychelles essay) 19 – 20

C cabbage: anyang (vegetables with coconut chili sauce  –  West Sumatra) 48 – 9; borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5; ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; curry de chou avec mangues (cabbage curry with mangoes  –  Mauritius) 22; salata z kapustoju (cabbage salad  –  Ukraine) 176 cabbage salad (Ukraine) 176 cacık (cucumber and yogurt  –  Eastern Turkey) 67 caipirinha de maracujá (passion fruit caipirinha  –  Brazil) 124 cake: nut 180; of St. James (Spain) 140 – 1; sponge (Portugal) 145 – 6 caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40 caldo verde (green soup  –  Portugal) 144 – 5 Canada 86 – 9 Cantonese food, Hong Kong 28 – 34 Carpathian Mountains, Ukraine 174 – 8 carrots: borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5; ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16; guacabaqui (beef stew  –  Mexico) 107 – 8; hummus (chickpea mix with vegetables  – Armenia) 77; nem ? cua bê (crab spring rolls  – Vietnam) 44 – 6; nu,Ó,c ´ châm (dipping sauce  – Vietnam) 45; osh (beef/lamb pilaf  –  Uzbekistan) 81 – 3 cassava: arepitas de yuca (cassava fritters  – Dominican Republic) 104; ceebu jën (whitefish with

Index • 193 rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; farofa de banana (crunchy manioc flour-covered bananas  – Brazil) 123; manioc aux lentilles (stewed lentils with manioc  – Mauritius) 22 – 3; nasi sela (rice with yam or cassava  – Bali) 53, 56; pan de bono (cassava cheese bread  – Colombia) 120 – 1; tempeh sambalado manih (tempeh with a sweet chili sauce  – West Sumatra) 48 cassava cheese bread (Colombia) 120 – 1 cassava fritters (Dominican Republic) 104 çay (Turkish tea  –  Thracian Roma) 73   cayenne, muriwo unedovi (peanut butter greens  –  Zimbabwe) 13 ceebu jën (Senegal) 8 – 11 celery, pescado en escabeche (marinated fried fish  –  Dominican Republic) 103 – 4 “Central Bali and Central California” (Bali essay) 56 – 9 charkhlis mkhali (beet purée  –  Georgia) 155 cha siu paaih gwat (barbecued pork ribs  –  Hong Kong) 30 – 1 cheese: banosh z hrybamy i brynzoju (polenta with mushrooms and feta  –  Ukraine) 175;   hand-cut pasta with boiled chicken (Cyprus) 169; in Armenia 76; in France 132 – 3; in Georgia 151; keftédes (Kálymnian meatballs  –  Greece) 165; khachapuri (cheese bread  –  Georgia) 154; mermizéli (Kálymnian salad) 165 – 6; pan de bono (cassava cheese bread  –  Colombia) 120 – 1; Skopelitikes tiropites (cheese pies  –  Greece) 159 – 60 cheese bread (Georgia) 154 cheese pies from Skopelos (Greece) 159 – 60 chicken: ajiaco (potato stew with chicken  – Colombia) 119 – 20; gerangasem with basa genep (chicken soup with spice paste  –  Bali) 54, 59; hand-cut pasta with boiled chicken (Cyprus) 169; huku (chicken stew  –  Zimbabwe) 12; jerk chicken (Trinidad & Tobago) 95 – 6; kakaruk mambu (chicken and greens in bamboo tubes  –  Papua New Guinea) 61 – 2; kari poul (chicken curry  –  Seychelles) 18; kulit bé siap (fried chicken skin  –  Bali) 56; kusashka aycha mutiwan (roasted meat with hominy  –  Ecuador) 113; laap (spicy ground meat salad  –  Northeast Thailand) 40; sadza nehuku (stewed chicken with maize porridge  –  Zimbabwe) 12 – 13, 15, 16; sih jap choi sik jiu gai (chicken and peppers in black bean sauce  –  Hong Kong) 31 – 2; tabaka (roasted chicken  –  Georgia) 151 chicken and greens in bamboo tubes (Papua New Guinea) 61 – 2 chicken and peppers in black bean sauce (Hong Kong) 31 – 2 chicken soup with spice paste and chayote or green papaya (Bali) 54, 59

chicken, roasted (Georgia) 151 chickpeas: arvitsa sto foúrno (baked chickpeas with caramelized onions  –  Greece) 164; guacabaqui (beef stew  –  Mexico) 107 – 8; hummus (chickpea mix with vegetables  – Armenia) 77; nohutlu pilav (rice with chickpeas  –  Eastern Turkey) 67 chili, flakes, dried red: ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; ga seuhng dauh fuh (homestyle tofu  –  Hong Kong) 30; laap (spicy ground meat salad  –  Northeast Thailand) 40 chili, peppers, green whole fresh: arroz con habichuela (rice and beans  –  Dominican Republic) 102 – 3; basa genep (basic spice paste  –  Bali) 53 – 4; ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; çoban salatası (shepherds’ salad  –  Thracian Roma) 72; curry de chou avec mangues (cabbage curry with mangoes  – Mauritius) 22; frijoles (pinto beans  –  Mexico) 109; kari poul (chicken curry  –  Seychelles) 18; kharcho (beef walnut stew  –  Georgia) 154 – 5; lobio (beans, onions, and tomato soup  –  Georgia) 150 – 1; moqueca de peixe (seafood coconut stew  –  Brazil) 123; muş içli köftesi (stuffed meatballs  –  Turkey) 66; pescado en escabeche (marinated fried fish  –  Dominican Republic) 103 – 4; pimientos de Padrón (peppers from Padrón  –  Galicia) 140; sabudana khichadi (tapioca, potato, and peanut dish  –  Gujarat) 35 – 7; sambal goreng (fried spicy condiment  –  Bali) 55; satini papay (papaya chutney  –  Seychelles) 17; yahni (meat with eggplant  –  Turkey) 67 chili, peppers, red whole fresh: green mango slaw (Trinidad & Tobago) 97; jerk chicken (Trinidad & Tobago) 95 – 6; kaeng het pau (puffball mushroom soup  –  Northeast Thailand) 40 – 1, 42; moqueca de peixe (seafood coconut stew  –  Brazil) 123; nu,Ó,c châ´m (dipping sauce  – Vietnam) 45; peas and rice (Trinidad & Tobago) 96 – 7; rendang (spicy dry beef curry  –  West Sumatra) 47 – 8, 50; saltfish Accra (Trinidad & Tobago) 97 – 8 chili peppers, yellow whole fresh: kusashka aycha mutiwan (roasted meat with hominy  –  Ecuador) 113 chili salsa (Ecuador) 114 China 28 – 34 Christmas; in Trinidad and Tobago 100; in Ukraine 177 – 8 chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16 chutney, satini papaya (papaya chutney  –  Seychelles) 17 cilantro, kindzis satsebela (walnut and cilantro sauce  –  Georgia) 149 – 50 clafoutis, “Marie” (France) 133–4 çoban salatası (shepherds’ salad  –  Thracian Roma) 72 cocadas (coconut sweets  –  Dominican Republic) 104

194 • Index coconut, grated: anyang (vegetables with coconut chili sauce  –  West Sumatra) 48 – 9; cocadas (coconut sweets  –  Dominican Republic) 104; pisang rai (boiled bananas with shredded coconut  –  Bali) 56 coconut, milk: bananes au lait de coco (coconut-braised bananas  –  Mauritius) 24; kaeng het pau (puffball mushroom soup  –  Northeast Thailand) 40 – 1, 42; kari poul (chicken curry  –  Seychelles) 18; ladob banan (bananas in coconut milk  –  Seychelles); moqueca de peixe (seafood coconut stew  –  Brazil) 123; rendang (spicy dry beef curry  – West Sumatra) 47 – 8, 50 coconut, oil: basa genep (basic spice paste  –  Bali) 53 – 4; paesan bé pasih (steamed fish packets  –  Bali) 54 – 5 coconut, roasted: sambal nyuh (spicy coconut condiment  –  Bali) 55 coconut, sugar: tempeh sambalado manih (tempeh with a sweet chili sauce  – West Sumatra) 48 coconut sweets (Dominican Republic) 104 collard greens, muriwo une dovi (peanut butter greens  –  Zimbabwe) 13 Colombia 118 – 22 colonization: in Ecuador 116; in Mauritius and Réunion 24 – 5; in Seychelles 19 – 20; in Trinidad and Tobago 91, 99 Considine, Basil (Mauritius and Réunion) 22 – 5, 181 Contributors, About the 181 – 6 cooked eggplant salad (Georgia) 155 – 6 corn: ajiaco (potato stew with chicken  –  Colombia) 119 – 20; arepa de choclo con queso Latino (tortilla with farmer’s cheese  –  Colombia) 119; chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16; guacabaqui (beef stew  –  Mexico) 107 – 8; importance of (Ecuador) 116; kusashka aycha mutiwan (roasted meat with hominy  –  Ecuador) 113; mutakura (black-eyed peas and corn  –  Zimbabwe) corn flatbread (Mexico) 109 cornmeal/flour: arepa de choclo con queso Latino (tortilla with farmer’s cheese  –  Colombia) 119; banosh z hrybamy i brynzoju (polenta with mushrooms and feta  –  Ukraine) 175  ; mahewu (fermented beverage  –  Zimbabwe) 14; pan de bono (cassava cheese bread  –  Colombia) 120 – 1; sadza (maizemeal porridge  –  Zimbabwe) 12 – 13, 15, 16; sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup  –  Mexico) 108; tortillas de maiz (corn flatbread  –  Mexico) 109 cornmeal tortilla with sweet corn and farmer’s cheese (Colombia) 119 crab, nem cua ba? (crab spring rolls  – Vietnam) 44 – 6 crab spring rolls (Vietnam) 44 – 6

cream: ajiaco (potato stew with chicken  –  Colombia) 119 – 20; truite en Galetou (pan-grilled trout wrapped in buckwheat pancakes  –  France) 131 – 2 creamy polenta with wild mushrooms and feta cheese (Ukraine) 175   creole culture: in Mauritius and Réunion 24 – 5; in Seychelles 19 – 20 crunchy manioc flour covered bananas (Brazil) 123 cucumbers: cacık (cucumber and yogurt  –  Eastern Turkey) 67; çoban salatası (shepherds’ salad  –  Thracian Roma) 72; cucumber and tomato salad (Uzbekistan) 82–3; green mango slaw (Trinidad & Tobago) 97; hummus (chickpea mix with vegetables  – Armenia) 77; laap (spicy ground meat salad  –  Northeast Thailand) 40; mermizéli (Kálymnian salad) 165 – 6; salat (cucumber and tomato salad  –  Uzbekistan); tzatziki (cucumber yogurt dip  –  Greece) 160–1 cucumber and tomato salad (Uzbekistan) 82–3 cucumber and yogurt (Eastern Turkey) 67 cucumber yogurt dip (Greece) 160–1 cultural identity; in Brazil 124; in Cyprus 170 – 3; in Georgia 151 – 2; in Vietnam 46 curry: curry de chou avec mangues (cabbage curry with mangoes  –  Mauritius) 22; kari poul (chicken curry  –  Seychelles) 18; rendang (spicy dry beef curry  –  West Sumatra) 47 – 8, 50 “Cypriot Wedding as Cultural Narrative, The” (Cyprus essay) 170 – 3 Cyprus 169 – 73 Cyprus wheat and lamb pilaf (Cyprus) 169 – 70

D daikon, ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11 dancing, in Senegal 11   Dhokai, Niyati (Gujarat) 35 – 8, 181 dipping sauce (Vietnam) 45 Dominican flag (Dominican Republic) 105 Dominican Republic 102 – 6 drinks: aguapanela con limón (sugarcane drink with lemon  –  Colombia) 120; caipirinha de maracujá (passion fruit caipirinha  –  Brazil) 124; çay (Turkish tea  –  Thracian Roma) 70, 73;   horilka z medom i Pertsem (vodka infused with honey and pepper  –  Ukraine) 176; Muskeg tea (Western Prairies) 86, 87 – 9; rhum (vanilla rum  –  Mauritius) 22, 23 – 4 drumming, in Senegal 11  

Index • 195

E Ecuador 112 – 17 eggs: arepitas de yuca (cassava fritters  –  Dominican Republic) 104; cocadas (coconut sweets  –  Dominican Republic); empanada gallega de atun (tunafish pie  –  Galicia) 140; jing gai daan yuhk seui (steamed eggs with ground pork  –  Hong Kong) 31; kai tom (parboiled eggs  –  Northeast Thailand) 39–40; keftédes (Kálymnian meatballs  –  Greece) 165; lavash (flatbread  –  Armenia) 76 – 7; “Marie” clafoutis (cherry custard  –  France) 133–4; nem cua ? bê (crab spring rolls  – Vietnam) 44 – 6; nusstorte (nut cake); pan de bono (cassava cheese bread  –  Colombia) 120 – 1; pão de ló (sponge cake  –  Portugal) 145 – 6; puri (yeast bread  –  Georgia) 150; sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup  –  Mexico) 108; soupe à l’oseille (sorrel soup  –  France) 128 – 9; torta de Santiago (almond tart  –  Galicia) 140 – 1; wild rice pudding (Western Prairies) 86 – 7 eggplant: ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; grilled vegetable salad (Armenia) 77; mokharshuli badrijani saladi (cooked eggplant salad  –  Georgia) 155 – 6; preserved baby aubergines [eggplants] (Cyprus) 170; şaraşura (roasted/ sautéed vegetables  –  Thracian Roma) 70 – 1; yahni (meat with eggplant  –  Turkey) 67 empanada gallega de atun (tunafish pie  –  Galicia) 140 Encore 179 – 90 endive, grilled vegetable salad (Armenia) 77 Étay, Françoise (France) 128 – 37, 182 Europe: Cyprus 169 – 73; France (The Limousin) 128 – 37; Galicia 138 – 43; Georgia (Foutz) 149 – 52; Georgia (Kuzmich) 153 – 8; Greece (League) 164 – 8; Greece (Stamatis) 159 – 63; Portugal 144 – 8; Ukraine 174 – 8 “Exercise in Plantainization, An” (Dominican Republic essay) 105 – 6 “Explosive Tastes” (Greece essay by P. League) 166 – 7

F “Family, Friends, and Khorovats!” (Armenia essay) 78 – 9 farofa de banana (crunchy manioc flour-covered bananas  –  Brazil) 123 fasting 37 – 8 festivals: in Bali 57; in Mexico 110 – 11; in the Western Prairies 88 fiddling: in the Western Prairies 88; in Ukraine 177 First Nations people (Western Prairies) 88

fish: bake and shark (Trinidad & Tobago) 90 – 1; ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; empanada gallega de atun (tunafish pie  –  Galicia) 140; moqueca de peixe (seafood coconut stew  –  Brazil) 123; paesan bé pasih (steamed fish packets  –  Bali) 54 – 5; pescado en escabeche (marinated fried fish  –  Dominican Republic) 103 – 4; psari plaki (baked fish  –  Greece) 161; saltfish Accra (Trinidad & Tobago) 97 – 8; truite en Galetou (pan-grilled trout wrapped in buckwheat pancakes  –  France) 131 – 2 flatbread (Armenia) 76 – 7 flour halva (Eastern Turkey) 67 – 8 “Following the Roads and Rivers” (Georgia essay by J. Foutz) 151 – 2 “Food and Music from the Backyard in Rural Portugal” (Portugal essay) 146 – 7 “Food and Music Nourish Daily Life and Ceremonial Occasions” (Zimbabwe essay) 14 – 16 “Food and Music of the Limousin” (France essay) 134 – 6 “Food of the Fragrant Harbor” (Hong Kong essay) 32 – 4 “Food Pilgrimages, Bagpipes, and the Camino de Santiago” (Spain essay) 141 – 2 Foutz, Jeremy (Republic of Georgia) 149 – 52, 182 France 128 – 37 Fraser, Jennifer (West Sumatra) 47 – 52, 182 fresh juice (Ecuador) 115 fried chicken skin (Bali) 56 fried green plantains (Dominican Republic) 104 fried spicy condiment (Bali) 55 fried Saskatoon berries or chokecherries (Western Prairies) 87 frijoles (pinto beans  –  Mexico) 109 “From Rubaboo to Neck Bone Soup: Serving Up a Good Time with Métis Music, Dance, and Food” (Western Prairies essay) 87 – 9 fruit, as dessert: in Papua New Guinea 62; in Portugal 146; in Senegal 10; in Thracian Roma 72; in Vietnam 45; in Uzbekistan 83 fruit: caipirinha de maracujá (passion fruit caipirinha  –  Brazil) 124; hilli (fruit juice  –  Ecuador); “Marie” clafoutis (cherry custard  –  France) 133–4; meva-cheva (fresh fruit  –  Uzbekistan); meyveler (fresh fruit  –  Thracian Roma) 72; salada de fruta (fruit salad  –  Portugal) 146 fruit salad (Portugal) 146

G ga seuhng dauh fuh (homestyle tofu  –  Hong Kong) 30 galet, la (bannock  – Western Prairies) 87 galetous (buckwheat pancakes  –  France)

196 • Index Galicia, Northwest Spain 138 – 43 Galician stew (Spain) 139 – 40 Galician tunafish pie (Spain) 140 garbanzo beans, see chickpeas garlic and potato dip (Greece) 165 gender issues: in Armenia 78; in Bali 57; in Cyprus 171 – 2; in Eastern Turkey 68; in Ecuador 115; in Mexico 110; in Seychelles 19; in Uzbekistan 83; in Zimbabwe 15 Georgia, Republic of 149 – 52, 153 – 8 “Georgian Supra: The Poetics of Food, Song, Wine, and Toasts, A” (Georgian essay by A. Kuzmich) 156 – 8 gerangasem with basa genep (chicken soup with spice paste  –  Bali) 54, 59 ginger: basa genep (basic spice paste  –  Bali) 53 – 4; kakaruk mambu (chicken and greens in bamboo tubes  –  Papua New Guinea) 61 – 2; lantiy (red lentils purée  –  Seychelles) 17 – 18; rendang (spicy dry beef curry  – West Sumatra) 47 – 8, 50; sih jap choi sik jiu gai (chicken and peppers in black bean sauce  –  Hong Kong) 31 – 2 gluten-free recipes 187 – 90 “Gonzo Ethnographer’s Guide to Food and Music in Trinidad and Tobago, A” (Trinidad and Tobago essay by Averill and Perot-Averill) 98 – 101 Greece 159 – 63, 164 – 8 green mango slaw (Trinidad & Tobago) 97 green salad (Portugal) 145 green salad with cheese (France) 132 – 3 green soup (Portugal) 144 – 5 greens, collard, muriwo une dovi (peanut butter greens  –  Zimbabwe) 13 greens, kale, caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40 greens, mixed: chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16; kakaruk mambu (chicken and greens in bamboo tubes  –  Papua New Guinea) 61 – 2 grilled pork and noodles (Vietnam) 44 – 6 grilled vegetable salad (Armenia) 77 guacabaqui (beef stew  –  Mexico) 107 – 8 guinea pig (Ecuador) 113, 115 – 16 Gujarat 35 – 8

H Haitian popular music (Trinidad and Tobago) 99 ham, borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5 hand-cut pasta with boiled chicken (Cyprus) 169 Harte, Colin (Brazil) 123 – 6 hilli (fruit juice  –  Ecuador) 115 Hmong culture (Vietnam) 46

homestyle tofu (Hong Kong) 30 hominy: chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 15; kusashka aycha mutiwan (roasted meat with hominy  –  Ecuador) 113; mutakura (blackeyed peas and corn  –  Zimbabwe) 13 – 14 Hong Kong 28 – 34 hospitality: in Senegal 10; in West Sumatra 50 – 1; in Zimbabwe 14 – 16 How to Make These Meals Suit You 187 – 90 huku (chicken stew  –  Zimbabwe) 12 hummus (garbanzo bean mix with vegetables  –  Armenia) 77 Hutchinson, Sydney (Dominican Republic) 102 – 6, 182 Hutsul Region, Ukraine 174 – 8

I illustrations, list of ix improvisation 2 India, Gujarat 35 – 8 Indonesia: Bali 53 – 9; West Sumatra 47 – 52 industrialization, in Seychelles 20 insects, edible: in Colombia 121 – 2; in Ecuador 116; in Zimbabwe 15

J Jamaican culture (Trinidad and Tobago) 99 jasmine rice (Northeast Thailand) 39 jerk chicken (Trinidad & Tobago) 95 – 6 jing gai daan yuhk seui (steamed eggs with ground pork  –  Hong Kong) 31 Jones, Claire (Zimbabwe) 12 – 16, 182 jukut sambal goreng (spicy vegetables  –  Bali) 55

K kaeng het pau (puffball mushroom soup  –  Northeast Thailand) 40 – 1, 42 kai tom (parboiled eggs  –  Northeast Thailand) 39–40 kakaruk long mambu (chicken and greens in bamboo tubes  –  Papua New Guinea) 61 – 2 kale, caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40 Kálymnian meatballs (Greece) 165 Kálymnos Island, Greece 164 – 8 Karahasanoğlu, Songül (Turkey) 66 – 9, 182 kari poul (chicken curry  –  Seychelles) 18 kaukau and karapua (sweet potatoes and green plantains  –  Papua New Guinea) kednakhntsor (barbecued, marinated meat with potatoes  –  Armenia) 78

Index • 197 keftédes (Kálymnian meatballs  –  Greece) 165 khachapuri (cheese bread  –  Georgia) 154 khao haum mali (jasmine rice  –  Northeast Thailand) 39 khao nieo nueng (steamed sticky rice  –  Northeast Thailand) 39 kharcho (beef walnut stew  –  Georgia) 154 – 5 khorovats (barbecued, marinated meat with potatoes  –  Armenia) 77 – 8 kindzis satsebela (walnut and cilantro sauce  –  Georgia) 149 – 50 “Koliada: Winter Cycles of Song, Food, and Dance” (Ukraine essay) 176 – 8 kosher recipes 187 – 90 krupuk melinjo (areca nut crackers  – West Sumatra) 48 kulit bé siap (fried chicken skin  –  Bali) 56 kusashka aycha mutiwan (roasted meat with hominy  –  Ecuador) 113 kutia (wheat berry, poppyseed, raisin, honey, and walnut pudding  –  Ukraine) 176 kuy (guinea pig  –  Ecuador) 113, 115 – 16 Kuzmich, Andrea (Republic of Georgia) 153 – 8, 183

L laap (spicy ground meat salad  –  Northeast Thailand) 40 ladob banan (bananas in coconut milk  –  Seychelles) 18 – 19 lamb: bezelye (peas, ground beef/lamb, and potatoes  –  Thracian Roma) 72;   khorovats (barbecued, marinated meat with potatoes  – Armenia) 77 – 8; osh (beef/lamb pilaf  –  Uzbekistan) 81 – 3; resi (wheat and lamb pilaf  –  Cyprus) 169 – 70; yahni (meat with eggplant  –  Turkey) 67 lantiy (red lentils purée  –  Seychelles) 17 – 18 lavash (flatbread  –  Armenia) 76 – 7 Lavaud, Anne (France) 128 – 37, 183 League, Panayotis (Paddy) (Greece) 164 – 8, 183 lemon (or lime): aguapanela con limón (sugarcane drink with lemon  –  Colombia) 120; bake and shark (Trinidad & Tobago) 90 – 1; çoban salatası (shepherds’ salad) 72; green mango slaw (Trinidad & Tobago) 97; hummus (garbanzo bean mix  – Armenia) 77; kindzis satsebela (walnut and cilantro sauce  –  Georgia) 149 – 50; moqueca de peixe (seafood coconut stew  –  Brazil) 123; preserved baby aubergines [eggplants] (Cyprus) 170; sabudana khichadi (tapioca, potato, and peanut dish  –  Gujarat) 35 – 7; satini papay (papaya chutney  –  Seychelles); skordaliá (garlic and potato dip  –  Greece) 165; torta de Santiago (almond

tart  –  Galicia) 140 – 1; tzatziki (cucumber and yogurt dip  –  Greece) 160–1 lentils: lantiy (red lentil purée  –  Seychelles) 17 – 18; manioc aux lentilles (stewed lentils with manioc  –  Mauritius) 22 – 3 lettuce: bake and shark (Trinidad & Tobago) 90 – 1; bún cha? (grilled pork and noodles  – Vietnam) 44 – 6; maroulosalata me kremmidi kai anitho (salad with onion and dill  –  Greece) 161;   salada de alface (green salad  –  Portugal) 145; salade verte (green salad with cheese  –  France) 132 – 3 lettuce salad with onion and dill (Greece) 16 1 Limousin, France 128 – 37 lion dance, Hong Kong 33 – 4 “Little Bit of This and That, A” (Greece essay by Y. Stamatis) 161 – 3 lobio (beans, onions, and tomato soup  –  Georgia) 150 – 1 local foods: in France 134 – 6; in Portugal 146 – 7 Long, Lucy M. (Galicia) 138 – 43, 183

M mahewu (non-alcoholic fermented beverage  –  Zimbabwe) 14 maize, meal, sadza (stiff maize-meal porridge  –  Zimbabwe) 12 – 13, 15 – 16 maize, kernels, mutakura (black-eyed peas and corn  –  Zimbabwe) 13 – 14 maize-meal porridge (Zimbabwe) 12 – 13, 15 – 16 malt, mahewu (non-alcoholic fermented beverage  –  Zimbabwe) 14 mango: curry de chou avec mangues (cabbage curry with mangoes  –  Mauritius) 22; green mango slaw (Trinidad & Tobago) 97; fresh (Senegal) 10 manioc, see cassava maroulosalata me kremmidi kai anitho (lettuce salad with onion and dill  –  Greece) 161   “Marie” clafoutis (cherry custard  –  France) 133–4 marinated fried fish (Dominican Republic) 103 – 4 “Marriage of Food and Music, The” (West Sumatra essay) 49 – 51 Martin, Andrew (Trinidad and Tobago) 90 – 3, 183 Mauritius 22 – 5 mazamorra de plátano (sweet cornmeal porridge with plantain  –  Colombia) 120 – 1 McCollum, Jonathan (Armenia) 76 – 80, 183 McGuire, Colin (Hong Kong) 28 – 34, 183 – 4 measurement conversions 5 meat see individual meats (beef, chicken, lamb, pork, etc.)

198 • Index meat with eggplant (Eastern Turkey) 67 meatball soup (Mexico) 108 Merchant, Tanya (Uzbekistan) 81 – 4, 184 mermizéli (Kálymnian salad  –  Greece) 165 – 6 Mexico 107 – 11 Middle East: Armenia 76 – 80; Eastern Turkey 66 – 9; Thracian Roma, Western Turkey 70 – 5; Uzbekistan 81 – 4 Mild cow’s milk cheese (Spain) 140 “Mikupashun! Upyapashun! Let’s Eat! Let’s Drink!” (Ecuador essay) 115 – 17 milk: arepa de choclo con queso Latino (tortilla with farmer’s cheese  –  Colombia) 119; bannock  –  Western Prairies 87; kutia (wheat berry, poppyseed, raisin, honey, and walnut pudding  –  Ukraine) 176; “Marie” clafoutis (cherry custard  –  France) 133–4; mazamorra de plátano (sweet cornmeal porridge with plantain  –  Colombia) 120 – 1; soupe à l’oseille (sorrel soup  –  France) 128 – 9; wild rice pudding (Western Prairies) 86 – 7 Minangkabau culture 47 – 52 modernization: in Papua New Guinea 63; in Seychelles 20 mokharshuli badrijani saladi (cooked eggplant salad  –  Georgia) 155 – 6 moqueca de peixe (seafood coconut stew  –  Brazil) 123 multiculturalism: in the Dominican Republic 105; in Eastern Turkey 68; in Georgia 157; in Greece 166; in Seychelles 19–20; in Mauritus and Réunion 24; in Uzbekistan 83–4; in the Western Prairies 87 – 9 muriwo une dovi (peanut butter greens  –  Zimbabwe) 13 Murray, Edmundo (Colombia) 118 – 22, 184 muş içli köftesi (stuffed meatballs  –  Turkey) 66 mushrooms: banosh z hrybamy i brynzoju (polenta with mushrooms and feta  –  Ukraine) 176;   borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5; kaeng het pau (puffball mushroom soup  –  Northeast Thai? land) 40 – 1, 42; nem cua bê (crab spring rolls  – Vietnam) 44 – 6; poêlée de cèpes (mushroom pan-fry  –  France) 130 – 1 musical genres, dance styles, and musical instruments: accordion (Dominican Republic) 105; (France) 134; bombo (Spain) 141; bossa nova (Brazil) 125; bouzouki (Greece) 162; cantique (France) 135; chabrette (France) 134; cumbia (Colombia) 121; dikia rabano (West Sumatra) 50; duduk (Armenia) 79; fiddle (Western Prairies) 87 – 9; (Ukraine) 177; gaita Galega (Spain) 141; gamelan (Bali) 56; garba (Gujarat) 38; gender wayang (Bali) 57; gong kebyar (Bali) 57; Hutsulka (Ukraine) 177; karnay (Uzbekistan) 83; khaen (Northeast Thailand) 42; laoúto (Greece) 166; luk-

thung (Northeast Thailand) 43; makam (Thracian Roma) 75; maloya (Réunion) 24 – 5; mantinádes (Greece) 167; maqom (Uzbekistan) 83; maulam (Northeast Thailand) 42 – 3; mbalax (Senegal) 11; mbira (Zimbabwe) 15; merengue típico (Dominican Republic) 105; musette (France) 134; música popular brasileira (Brazil) 125; orgen tunggal (West Sumatra) 49; parang (Trinidad and Tobago) 100; peismatiká (Greece) 167; pilandera (Colombia) 121; polyphonic singing (Georgia) 156 – 8; pregón (Colombia) 121; rabab Pariaman (West Sumatra) 50; rebetiko (Greece) 162; reggae (Mauritius) 25; salawat dulang (West Sumatra) 50; saluang jo dendang (West Sumatra) 50; salsa (Colombia) 121; samba (Brazil) 125; séga (Mauritius) 24 – 5; sociedade filharmónicas (Portugal) 147; steelpan (Trinidad and Tobago) 91 – 2; surnay (Uzbekistan) 83; tambril (Spain) 141; taksim (Thracian Roma) 75; talempong (West Sumatra) 49 – 50; tassa (Trinidad and Tobago) 99; tsambouna (Greece) 166; vallenato (Colombia) 121 muskeg tea (Western Prairies) 87 mutakura (black-eyed peas and corn  –  Zimbabwe) 13 – 14

N “Navratri in Gujarat, India: Religious Observation and Cultural Festival” (Gujarat essay) 37 – 8 nasi putih (white rice  – West Sumatra) 49 nasi sela (rice with yam or cassava  –  Bali) 56 nationalism, in Senegal 11 neck bone soup (Western Prairies) 86 ? nem cua bê (crab spring rolls  – Vietnam) 44 – 6 Nettl, Bruno (Nusstorte) 180, 184 nohutlu pilav (rice with chickpeas  –  Eastern Turkey) 67 noodles, bún cha? (grilled pork and noodles  –  Vietnam) 44 – 6 North America, Western Prairies 86 – 9 “Not All Mexican Food Is Spicy” (Mexico essay) 109 – 11 nu,Ó,c châ´m (dipping sauce  – Vietnam) 45 nusstorte (nut cake)180 nut cake 180 nuts, see individual nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.)

O Ó Briain, Lonán (Vietnam) 44 – 6, 184 Oceania, Papua New Guinea 60 – 4 okra, ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11

Index • 199 one-pot dishes: ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; rubaboo (neck bone soup  –  Western Prairies) 88 osh (beef/lamb pilaf  –  Uzbekistan) 81 – 3 Otavalo, Ecuador 112 – 17

P Padrón-style peppers (Spain) 140 paesan bé pasih (steamed fish packets  –  Bali) 54 – 5 pancakes, buckwheat (France) 129 – 30 pan de bono (cassava cheese bread  –  Colombia) 120 – 1 pan-grilled trout wrapped in buckwheat pancakes (France) 131 – 2 pão de ló (sponge cake  –  Portugal) 145 – 6 papaya: gerangasem with basa genep (chicken soup with spice paste  –  Bali) 54, 59; nu,Ó,c châ´m (dipping sauce  – Vietnam) 45; satini papaya (papaya chutney  –  Seychelles) 17 papaya chutney (Seychelles) 17 Papua New Guinea 60 – 4 parboiled eggs 39–40 Parent, Marie-Christine (Seychelles) 17 – 21, 184 pasta: hand-cut pasta with boiled chicken (Cyprus) 169; pilav (rice with pasta  –  Thracian Roma) 71 patacón pisao (smashed plantains  –  Colombia) 119 peanut butter, muriwo une dovi (peanut butter greens  –  Zimbabwe) 13 peanut butter greens (Zimbabwe) 13 peanuts, crushed, sabudana khichadi (tapioca, potato, and peanut dish  –  Gujarat) 35 – 7 peas, black-eyed, mutakura (black-eyed peas and corn  –  Zimbabwe) 13 – 14 peas, green: bezelye (peas, ground beef/lamb, and potatoes  –  Thracian Roma) 72;   chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16 peas, ground lamb, and potatoes (Thracian Roma) 72   peas, pigeon (legume), peas and rice (Trinidad & Tobago) 96 – 7 peas and rice (Trinidad & Tobago) 96 – 7 peppers, bell (for chili peppers, see chili): chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16; empanada gallega de atun (tunafish pie  –  Galicia) 140; grilled vegetable salad (Armenia) 77; kari poul (chicken curry  –  Seychelles) 18; mokharshuli badrijani saladi (cooked eggplant salad  –  Georgia) 155 – 6; şaraşura (roasted/sautéed vegetables  –  Thracian Roma) 70 – 1; sih jap choi sik jiu gai (chicken and peppers in black bean sauce  –  Hong Kong) 31 – 2 Perot-Averill, Giovanna (Trinidad and Tobago) 94 – 101, 184

pescado en escabeche (marinated fried fish  –  Dominican Republic) 103 – 4 pilaf (Uzbekistan) 81 – 3 pilav (rice with pasta  –  Thracian Roma) 71 pimientos de Padrón (peppers from Padrón  –  Galicia) 140 pinto beans (Mexico) 109 pisang rai (boiled bananas with shredded coconut  –  Bali) 56 plantains: kaukau and karapua (sweet potatoes and green plantains  –  Papua New Guinea); ladob banan (bananas in coconut milk  –  Seychelles) 18 – 19; mazamorra de plátano (sweet cornmeal porridge with plantain  –  Colombia) 120; patacón pisao (smashed plantains  –  Colombia) 119; tostones (fried green plantains  –  Dominican Republic) 104 poêlée de cèpes (mushroom pan-fry  –  France) 130 – 1 politics, in Mauritius and Réunion 25 pomegranate seeds, charkhlis mkhali (beet purée  –  Georgia) 155 poppyseed, kutia (wheat berry, poppyseed, raisin, honey, and walnut pudding  –  Ukraine) 176 pork: banosh z hrybamy i brynzoju (polenta with mushrooms and feta  –  Ukraine) 175;  bifanas à Maria Sebastião (pork cutlets  –  Portugal) 145; bún cha’ (grilled pork and noodles  – Vietnam) 44 – 6; caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40; cha siu paaih gwat (barbecued pork ribs  –  Hong Kong) 30 – 1; jing gai daan yuhk seui (steamed eggs with ground pork  –  Hong Kong) 31; khorovats (barbecued, marinated meat with potatoes  – Armenia) 77 – 8; laap (spicy ground meat salad  –  Northeast Thailand) 40; neck bone soup (Western Prairies) ? 86; nem cua bê (crab spring rolls  – Vietnam) 44 – 6 pork cutlets (Portugal) 145 Portugal 144 – 8 potatoes: ajiaco (potato stew with chicken  –  Colombia) 119 – 20; bezelye (peas, ground beef/ lamb, and potatoes  –  Thracian Roma) 71; borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5; caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40; caldo verde (green soup  –  Portugal) 144 – 5; chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16; curry de chou avec mangues (cabbage curry with mangoes  –  Mauritius) 22; guacabaqui (beef stew  –  Mexico) 107 – 8; kari poul (chicken curry  –  Seychelles) 18; kednakhntsor (barbecued, marinated meat with potatoes  – Armenia) 77 – 8; neck bone soup (Western Prairies) 86; rendang (spicy dry beef curry  –  West Sumatra) 47 – 8, 50; sabudana khichadi (tapioca, potato, and peanut dish  –  Gujarat) 35 – 7; skordaliá (garlic and potato dip  –  Greece) 165

200 • Index potato stew with chicken (Colombia) 119 Poupazis, Michalis (Cyprus) 169 – 73, 185 praise singing: in Georgia 156 – 8; in Senegal 11 Prelude 2 – 6 preserved baby aubergines [eggplants] (Cyprus) 170 psari plaki (baked fish  –  Greece) 161 pudding: kutia (wheat berry, poppyseed, raisin, honey, and walnut  –  Ukraine) 176; tapioca (Gujarat) 37; wild rice (Western Prairies) 86 – 7 puff pastry, khachapuri (cheese bread  –  Georgia) 154 puffball mushroom soup (Northeast Thailand) 40 – 1, 42 pumpkin: arroz con habichuela (rice and beans  –  Dominican Republic) 102 – 3; uchu (chili salsa  –  Ecuador) 114 puri (yeast bread  –  Georgia) 150

Q Quick, Sarah (Western Prairies) 86 – 9, 185

R raisins: kutia (wheat berry, poppyseed, raisin, honey, and walnut pudding  – Ukraine) 176; sabudana khichadi (tapioca, potato, and peanut dish  – Gujarat) 35 – 7; wild rice pudding (Western Prairies) 86 – 7 religion: in Georgia 152; in Gujarat 37 – 8; in Mauritius and Réunion 25;   in Mexico 109 – 11; in Portugal 147; in Spain 141 – 2; in Trinidad and Tobago 91 – 2, 100; in Ukraine 177 – 8; in Zimbabwe 15 rendang (spicy dry beef curry  – West Sumatra) 47 – 8, 50 resi (wheat and lamb pilaf  –  Cyprus) 169 – 70 Réunion 22 – 5 rice and beans (Dominican Republic) 102 – 3 rice, importance of: in Northeast Thailand 41 – 2; in Seychelles 20 rice, noodles, bún cha? (grilled pork and noodles  –  Vietnam) 44 – 6 ? rice, paper, nem cua bê (crab spring rolls  – Vietnam) 44 – 6 rice, peas and (Trinidad and Tobago) 96 – 7 rice, pudding: wild rice pudding (Western Prairies) 86 – 7 rice, steamed/boiled: arroz Brasileiro (Brazilian rice  –  Brazil) 124; arroz con habichuela (rice and beans  –  Dominican Republic) 102 – 3; baahk faahn (steamed rice  –  Hong Kong) 32; ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; diri (plain rice  –  Seychelles) 17; khao haum mali (jasmine rice  – 

Northeast Thailand) 39; khao nieo nueng (steamed sticky rice  –  Northeast Thailand) 39; laap (spicy ground meat salad  –  Northeast Thailand) 40; mazamorra de plátano (sweet cornmeal porridge with plantain  –  ; Colombia) 120 – 1; nasi putih (white rice  – West Sumatra) 49; nasi sela (rice with yam or cassava  –  Bali) 56; nohutlu pilav (rice with chickpeas  –  Eastern Turkey) 67; pilav (rice with pasta  –  Thracian Roma) 71; riz (rice with onions  –  Mauritius) 23; sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup  –  Mexico) 108; wild rice pudding (Western Prairies) 86 – 7 rice with chickpeas (Eastern Turkey) 67 rice with pasta (Thracian Roma) 71 rice with yam or cassava (Bali) 56 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 123 – 6 ritual: in Cyprus 170 – 3; in Mexico 109–10; in West Sumatra 49 – 51; in Ukraine 177 – 8; in Zimbabwe 15; slaughter of animals 187 roasted chicken (Georgia) 151 roasted meat with hominy (Ecuador) 113 roasted vegetables (Thracian Roma) 70 – 1 Roma, Thracian 70 – 5 rum: “Marie” clafoutis (cherry custard  – France) 133–4; nusstorte (nut cake); rhum (vanilla rum  –  Mauritius) 23 – 4 “Rum, Drumming, and Dancing” (Mauritius and Réunion essay) 24 – 25 Runakuna people (Ecuador) 115 – 17 runa tanta (yeast bread  –  Ecuador) 113 – 14

S “Sabor! Singing to Colombian Food” (Colombian essay) 121 – 2 sabudana kheer (tapioca pudding  –  Gujarat) 37 sabudana khichadi (tapioca, potato, and peanut dish  –  Gujarat) 35 – 7 sadza nehuku (stewed chicken with maize porridge  –  Zimbabwe) 12 – 13, 15, 16 saffron, sabudana kheer (tapioca pudding  –  Gujarat) 37 salads: çoban salatası (shepherds’ salad  –  Thracian Roma) 72; mermizéli (Kálymnian salad  –  Greece) 165 – 6; mokharshuli badrijani saladi (cooked eggplant salad  –  Georgia) 155 – 6; salada de alface (green salad  –  Portugal) 145; salade verte (green salad with cheese  –  France) 132 – 3; salat (cucumber and tomato salad  –  Uzbekistan) 82–3; salata z kapustoju (cabbage salad  –  Ukraine) 176; salada de alface (green salad  –  Portugal) 145; salada de fruta (fruit salad  – Portugal) 146; salade verte (green salad  –  France) 132 – 3; salat (cucumber and ­tomato

Index • 201 salad  –  Uzbekistan) 82–3; salata z kapustoju (cabbage salad  –  Ukraine) 176 saltfish Accra (Trinidad & Tobago) 97 – 8 sambal goreng (fried spicy condiment  –  Bali) 55 sambal nyuh (spicy coconut condiment  –  Bali) 55 Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic 102 – 6 şaraşura (roasted/sautéed vegetables  –  Thracian Roma) 70 – 1 satini papaya (papaya chutney  –  Seychelles) 17 sauces: nu,Ó,c châ´m (dipping sauce  – Vietnam) 45; uchu (chili salsa  –  Ecuador) 114 sausage: caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40; caldo verde (green soup  –  Portugal) 144 – 5 sautéed vegetables (Thracian Roma) 70 – 1 seafood, importance of (Spain) 141 – 2 seafood coconut stew (Brazil) 123 Seeman, Sonia Tamar (Thracian Roma) 70 – 5, 185 semolina, muş içli köftesi (stuffed meatballs  –  Turkey) 66 Senegal 8 – 11 Seychelles 17 – 21 shark (bake and shark  –  Trinidad and Tobago) 90 – 1 “Shashmaqom and the Morning Osh” (Uzbekistan essay) 83 – 4 shepherds’ salad (Thracian Roma) 72 Shona people, Zimbabwe 12 – 16 sih jap choi sik jiu gai (chicken and peppers in black bean sauce  –  Hong Kong) Simonett, Helena (Mexico) 107 – 11, 185 Sinaloa, Mexico 107 – 11 skopelitikes tiropites (cheese pies  –  Greece) 159 – 60 Skopelos Island, Greece 159 – 63 skordaliá (garlic and potato dip  –  Greece) 165 slavery, in Mauritius and Réunion 24 – 5 smashed plantains (Colombia) 119 Solis, Gabriel (Papua New Guinea) 60 – 4, 185 Sonevytsky, Maria (Ukraine) 174 – 8, 185 sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup  –  Mexico) 108 sorrel soup 128 – 9 soup: caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40; caldo verde (green soup  –  Portugal) 144 – 5; chuchuka api (mature corn soup  –  Ecuador) 114 – 16; lobio (beans, onions, and tomato soup  –  Georgia) 150 – 1; sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup  –  Mexico) 108; soupe à l’oseille (sorrel soup  –  France) 128 – 9 soupe à l’oseille (sorrel soup  –  France) 128 – 9 “Sounds from Home” (Northeast Thailand essay) 41 – 3 sour cream: banosh z hrybamy i brynzoju (polenta with mushrooms and feta  –  Ukraine) 175;   borshch (beet soup  –  Ukraine) 174 – 5 South America see Americas

Spain 138 – 43 spicy coconut condiment (Bali) 55 spicy dry beef curry (West Sumatra) 47 – 8, 50 spicy ground meat salad (Northeast Thailand) 40 sponge cake (Portugal) 145 – 6 sponge diving (Greece) 166 squash: arroz con habichuela (rice and beans  –  Dominican Republic) 102 – 3; ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; grilled vegetable salad (Armenia) 77; şaraşura (roasted/sautéed vegetables  –  Thracian Roma) 70 – 1 Stamatis, Yona (Greece) 159 – 63, 185 steamed eggs with ground pork (Hong Kong) 31 steamed fish packets (Bali) 54 – 5 steamed glutinous sticky rice (Northeast Thailand) 39 steamed rice (Hong Kong) 32 stew: ajiaco (potato stew with chicken  –  Colombia) 119 – 20; caldo Galega (Galician stew  –  Galicia) 139 – 40; guacabaqui (beef stew  –  Mexico) 107 – 8; huku (chicken stew  –  Zimbabwe) 12; kharcho (beef walnut stew  –  Georgia) 154 – 5; moqueca de peixe (seafood coconut stew  –  Brazil) 123; sadza nehuku (stewed chicken with maize porridge  –  Zimbabwe) 12 – 13 street food: in Colombia 121 – 2; in Trinidad and Tobago 91, 101 “Street Food, Sound, and Space in Vietnam” (Vietnam essay) 45 – 6 stuffed meatballs (Eastern Turkey) 66 sugarcane drink with lemon (Colombia) 120 Sumatra, West 47 – 52 sweet cornmeal porridge with plantain (Colombia) 120 sweet potato: kaukau and karapua (sweet potatoes and green plantains  –  Papua New Guinea) 62; tohng seui (sweet soup  –  Hong Kong) 32 sweet potatoes and green plantains (Papua New Guinea) 62

T tabaka (roasted chicken  –  Georgia) 151 table manners: in Armenia 79; in Bali 58; in Hong Kong 33 – 4; in Portugal 147; in Trinidad and Tobago 100; in Western Turkey 73 – 4; in West Sumatra 51; in Zimbabwe 15 tahini, hummus (chickpea mix with vegetables  –  Armenia) 77 tamarind paste, ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11 Tang, Patricia (Senegal) 8 – 11, 185 – 6 tapioca: sabudana kheer (tapioca pudding  –  Gujarat) 37; sabudana khichadi (tapioca, potato, and peanut dish  –  Gujarat) 35 – 7

202 • Index “Tastiest Dish and the Tastiest Rhythm, The” (Senegal essay) 10 – 11 tea: in Hong Kong 33; in Zimbabwe 14; çay (Turkish tea  –  Thracian Roma) 73;   muskeg tea (Western Prairies) 87 tempeh with a sweet chili sauce (West Sumatra) 48 tempeh sambalado manih (tempeh with a sweet chili sauce  – West Sumatra) 48 teta gallega (mild cow’s milk cheese  –  Spain) 140 Thailand, Northeast 39 – 43 thieboudienne (Senegal) 8 – 11 Thracian Roma 70 – 5 Tobago 90 – 3, 94 – 101 tofu, ga seuhng dauh fuh (homestyle tofu  –  Hong Kong) 30 tohng seui (sweet soup  –  Hong Kong) 32 tomato, fresh: bake and shark (Trinidad & Tobago) 90 – 1; bezelye (peas, ground beef/lamb, and potatoes  –  Thracian Roma) 72;   ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11; çoban salatası (shepherds’ salad  –  Thracian Roma) 72; cucumber and tomato salad (Uzbekistan) 82–3; curry de chou avec mangues (cabbage curry with mangoes  –  Mauritius) 22; empanada gallega de atun (tunafish pie  –  Galicia) 140; grilled vegetable salad (Armenia) 77; huku (chicken stew  –  Zimbabwe) 12; kari poul (chicken curry  –  Seychelles) 18; keftédes (Kálymnian meatballs  –  Greece) 165; kharcho (beef walnut stew  –  Georgia) 154 – 5; lobio (beans, onions, and tomato soup  –  Georgia) 150 – 1; mermizéli (Kálymnian salad) 165 – 6; moqueca de peixe (seafood coconut stew  –  Brazil) 123; muriwo unedovi (peanut butter greens  –  Zimbabwe) 13; paesan bé pasih (steamed fish packets  –  Bali) 54 – 5; pescado en escabeche (marinated fried fish  –  Dominican Republic) 103 – 4; salat (cucumber and tomato salad  –  Uzbekistan) 82–3; şaraşura (roasted/ sautéed vegetables  –  Thracian Roma) 70 – 1; sopa de albóndigas (meatball soup  –  Mexico) 108; yahni (meat with eggplant  –  Turkey) 67 tomato, paste, ceebu jën (whitefish and rice  –  Senegal) 8 – 11 torta de Santiago (almond tart  –  Galicia) 140 – 1 tortilla, importance of 111 tortillas de maiz (corn flatbread  –  Mexico) 109 tostones (fried green plantains  –  Dominican Republic) 104 tourism: in Bali 57; in Seychelles 19 – 20 Trinidad 90 – 3, 94 – 101 “Trinidadian Bake and Shark” (Trinidad and Tobago essay by A. Martin) 91 – 2

truite en Galetou (pan-grilled trout wrapped in buckwheat pancakes  –  France) 131 – 2 Turkey 66 – 9, 70 – 5 “Turkish Roman Hospitality: Welcome to Nuran and Selim’s House!” (Thracian Roma essay) 73 – 5 Turkish tea (Thracian Roma) 73   tzatziki (cucumber yogurt dip  –  Greece) 160–1

U uchu (chili salsa  –  Ecuador) 114 Ukraine 174 – 8 un helvası (flour halva  –  Turkey) 67 – 8 Uzbekistan 81 – 4

V Vallejo, Jessie M. (Ecuador) 112 – 17, 186 vegan recipes 187 – 90 vegetables: anyang (vegetables with coconut chili sauce  – West Sumatra) 48 – 9; in oyster sauce  – Hong Kong 29; jukut sambal goreng (spicy vegetables  –  Bali) 55; grilled vegetable salad (Armenia) 77 ; hummus (chickpea mix with vegetables  –  Armenia) 77; jukut sambal goreng (spicy vegetables  –  Bali) 55; şaraşura (roasted/sautéed vegetables  –  Thracian Roma) 70 – 1 vegetables with coconut chili sauce (West Sumatra) 48 – 9 vegetables with oyster sauce (Hong Kong) 29 vegetarian recipes 187 – 90 Vietnam 44 – 6 vodka, horilka z medom i Pertsem (vodka infused with honey and pepper  –  Ukraine) 176

W walnut and cilantro sauce (Georgia) 149 – 50 walnuts: charkhlis mkhali (beet purée  –  Georgia) 155; kindzis satsebela (walnut and cilantro sauce  –  Georgia) 149 – 50; kharcho (beef walnut stew  –  Georgia) 154 – 5; kutia (wheat berry, poppyseed, raisin, honey, and walnut pudding  –  Ukraine) 176; nusstorte (nut cake) weddings: in Cyprus 170 – 3; in Thracian Roma 74 ; in West Sumatra 49 – 51; in Uzbekistan 83–4 Western Prairies in North America 86 – 9 “What We East During the Winter Months If We Prepare These in the Summer Months” (Eastern Turkey essay) 68 – 9

Index • 203 wheat: kutia (wheat berry, poppyseed, raisin, honey, and walnut pudding  –  Ukraine) 176; resi (wheat and lamb pilaf  –  Cyprus) 169 – 70 wheat berry, poppyseed, raisin, honey, and walnut pudding  –  Ukraine) 176 white rice (West Sumatra) 49 Williams, Sean 2 – 4, 5 – 6, 186, 187 – 90 Willner, Sarah Newlin (Bali) 53 – 9, 186

yauh choi (vegetable with oyster sauce  –  Hong Kong) 29 yeast bread (Georgia) 150 yogurt: cacık (cucumber and yogurt  –  Eastern Turkey) 67; şaraşura (roasted/sautéed vegetables  –  Thracian Roma) 70 – 1; tzatziki (cucumber yogurt dip  –  Greece) 160–1 Yoreme culture 109 – 11 yucca see cassava

Y

Z

yahni (meat with eggplant  –  Turkey) 67 yams, nasi sela (rice with yam or cassava  –  Bali) 56

Zimbabwe 12 – 16 Zimbabwean chicken stew 12 – 13

203