Making Food History

To my mind, the historical origins, meanings, implications and evolution of food—indeed, its very semiotics—provides unyielding fascination. I’ve playfully dug into some subjects, such as pickling, ketchup and milkshakes—among other subjects (with similar explorations, published in CULINOLOGY® Magazine but not represented online, like foods on a stick, foods discovered by accident, airline food and hot sauces)—here and there, but really, this quest to divine a greater context to what, how and why we eat affects a good portion of my life, both professional and personal. Food is more than mere sustenance. It’s a guiding metaphor for our very existence.

Another (partially farcical) scribbled foray of mine some years ago was a look at presidential palates over the years—you know, food-related oddities related to our venerable Oval Office. Like Ulysses S. Grant’s typical breakfast was a cucumber soaked in vinegar. Or how Calvin Coolidge liked having his head rubbed with petroleum jelly while he ate breakfast in bed (...). Or Nixon’s affinity for cottage cheese topped with ketchup. Fancy.

Someone who shares my fascination with food history (albeit on a slightly more scholarly front...) is Andrew F. Smith. I keep a copy of “The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink,” an indispensable tome he edited, close at hand whenever historical culinary curiosity strikes, which it does with regularity.

In preparation for next week’s gala inauguration evens in D.C., Smith penned an interesting history of inaugural dinners over the years that’s worth a gander. It’s surprising that Abraham Lincoln’s post-inaugural midnight buffet quickly turned into a melee (less so that Andrew Jackson’s did likewise, and White House staff had to lure the party-goers out onto the lawn with whiskey-spiked punch...).

Inaugural events have escalated in sophistication over the years (with hiccups during the Depression and wartime), and I’ll be interested to see what edibles our President-elect Obama will offer to his crowds next week. Chef Rick Bayless (someone with firm roots in the historical preservation of traditional foods while helping them evolve) has dubbed the Obamas “adventurous eaters.”

Let the adventure begin.