Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. (CHoW/DC)founded in 1996, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to the study of the history of foodstuffs, cuisines, and culi-nary customs, both historical and contemporary, from all parts of the world. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

www.chowdc.org

May CHoW Meeting

Note Change of Date:

May 6, 2018

(Our usual 2nd Sunday is Mothers Day)

_______________

Cooperative SupperTheme: Sephardic Foods

Sunday, April 8 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. (note time change)

Alexandria House, 400 Madison StreetAlexandria, VA 22314

(See page 9 for map and directions)

Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. April 2018 Volume XXI, Number 7

Cooperative Supper

April 8(Note time change 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.)

Reservations are not needed.

Plates, cups, bowls, eating utensils, and napkins

will be provided.

CHECKLIST

Please bring anything needed for serving your

contribution.

Please bring a 3x5” card or note containing:

• Contributor’s name• Name of dish• A copy of your recipe• Source (e.g. book, Web)• A short paragraph about how this food relates to the theme.

The card or note will be kept by CHoW Line editor Dianne Hennessy King to report in the May issue.

By Felice Caspar

Sephardic Jews trace their roots back to the Iberian Peninsula at the beginning of the Common Era, flourishing in the seventh century, but fortunes changed in 1492, when Jews were expelled from Spain; soon after they were exiled from Portugal. Sephardic Jews fled to North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Europe. Others established new homes in the Americas. Some, referred to as conversos, converted publicly to Christianity, sometimes practic-ing Judaism in secret.

In the 21st century, descendants of these Sephardic Jews tell their stories and share recipes, often recalling holiday traditions, unique to their heritage. Local Jewish Food Experience newsletter editor, Su-san Barocas posted this story and recipe for quajado, a mainstay of her family’s Passover Seder table: https://jewishfood-experience.com/serving-dish-sephardic-history/

Sephardic Cuisine: a Resource for the CHoW Supper

Leek and Potato Quajado. Photo by Susan Barocas

Adafina: Sabbath Stew. Photo from The Converso Cookbook

To learn more about the history and cul-ture of Sephardic Jewry, visit:The American Sephardi Federation: http://americansephardi.org/andThe University of Washington Stroum Cen-ter for Judaic Studies: https://jewishstud-ies.washington.edu/sephardic-studies/

UW Spanish and Jewish Studies Professor Ana Gómez-Bravo shares favorite recipes for dishes eaten by the Sephardic com-munity of 15th-century Spain here: https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/converso-cookbook-home/

(continued on page 7)

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CHoW Programs 2017-2018September 10 John Kelly, “Small Plates: Historic Restaurant Tidbits from the Pages of The Washington Post”

October 8 Andrew Coe, A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression

November 12 Susan Benjamin, “Survey of the History and Changes in Food as it Relates to Candy…with Tasting” December 10 John McQuaid, “The Evolution of Taste”

January 14, 2018 Tom Croghan, “Why the Mid-Atlantic will Rival Bordeaux and Burgundy as a Great Wine Growing Region” February 11, 2018 Paul Anthony Brazinski, “Food Practices in Early Christianity” March 11, 2018 Cecilia Glembocki, “The White House Egg Roll History”

April 8, 2018 Cooperative Supper, Alexandria House May 6, 2018 Sandra Gutierrez, “The New Southern Latino Table”

What Happened at the March 11 CHoW Meeting?

How to Post to the CHoW Google Group

The CHoW-DC Google Group is for communicating culinary history matters ONLY. It is not intended to be an open forum.

You must be a member of CHoW, and your email ad-dress must be in the CHoW database.

It’s important to remember that if you change your email address, you need to inform the CHoW Membership Director so that it can be updated and you will continue to receive messages and newsletters.

The easiest way to post a message to the Group is simply through an email. Here’s how.• Open a new email• In the address line or “To” box, enter chow-dc@googlegroups.com• Enter a subject in the subject box• Enter the text of your messageo NOTE: If you are announcing an event, please make sure you include all relevant information, plus a website or phone number for additional information. • Please sign your message as a courtesy to everyone.• Add your email address for replies.• Send the message! DONE!

President Barbara Karth called the meeting to order at 2:07 p.m. Present were 27 CHoW members and three visitors.

COOPERATIVE SUPPER THEME SELECTION:

Following two rounds of voting, a majority of voters se-lected “Sephardic Foods” as the theme for April’s coopera-tive supper.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Judy Newton announced that two open spots still remain for the Benjamin Banneker Museum open-hearth cooking workshop on May 20. Please let her know if you are interested. jnewton@ashcomp.com2. Barbara Karth appointed a new director, Pam Simon, to the CHoW board. Barbara has asked Pam to take home the name tags following the meeting to clip them to the cloth backing. 3. Claudia Kousoulas announced that she has new CHoW business cards available for members to hand out.4. Michelle Kretsch announced that the Riversdale House Museum will be holding its first Foodways Symposium on Thursday, April 19: “Interpreting the Tidewater Dairy.” Michelle sent an email to CHoW members with additional information and has flyers for anyone interested.5. Barbara Karth announced that we will be raising dues for the upcoming year to $35/year. Dues will increase to $50/year for those members who receive CHoW mailings through the postal service (additional $15/year). Barbara also confirmed that our regular meeting room will con-tinue to be available.

PROGRAM:

Judy Mazza introduced this month’s speaker, Cecilia Glembocki, who presented “The White House Egg Roll History.” See page 8 for a summary of the talk.

WHATZITS:

Judy Newton brought an avocado knife/scoop utensil which stumped the group.

REFRESHMENTS:

Francine Berkowitz – Post-egg roll egg salad and crackersCecilia Glembocki – Melania Trump’s sugar cookie recipe and malted milk eggsClaudia Kousoulas – Wade’s Mill buckwheat pound cake Clara Raju – Orange barsAmy Snyder – Marshmallow chick and bunny Peeps Roberta Yared – Girl Scout Thin Mints cookies

The meeting was adjourned at 3:32 p.m. Respectfully submitted,Sharon Shepard, Recording Secretary

CHoW Line 3

By Shirley Cherkasky

A few months ago, when Dara Wingreen-Mason became in-volved with the CHoW Culi-nary History Collection at the Smith-sonian, she asked me for a history of how the CHoW Collection came into being. She wanted the history to be filed with the Collection. I went back through about ten years of CHoW Lines and put together some informa-tion for her. At the February 11 CHoW meeting, someone asked me when we had started the Collection.It occurred to me that the brief history might be of interest to CHoW members,and it should be in ourCHoW records for the future.

The Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. (CHoW) was founded in October 1996, by Shirley Cher-kasky, a retired Smithsonian Institution staffer

and food historian. CHoW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to the study of the history of foodstuffs, cuisines, and culinary customs—both historical and contem-porary—from all parts of the world. The organization was based on similar groups in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Boston, Massachusetts.

CHoW began meeting monthly, September through May, in the Eckles Library of Mount Vernon College, a women’s college in Northwest Wash-ington, D.C. At that time, the College was indicating interest in establishing a course in food studies. Immediately after CHoW’s organization, a monthly publication called CHoW Line began to be mailed to members as a combi-nation meeting notice and newslet-ter. In March 1998, it carried a long article by Andy Smith, a New York culinary historian, titled “Everything You Wanted to Know about Culinary History Books but Didn’t Have Time to Find Out.” CHoW began to collect books that might be of interest to its members.

With Mount Vernon’s potential inter-est in food studies, the Washington

Culinary History Collection at the Smithsonian Institutionchapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier saw an opportunity to find a place to house the very large collection of cookbooks (approximately 8,000) it had acquired through book donations from Goody Solomon and other members. Since CHoW and Les Dames shared several members, talks began about combining the two organizations’ accumulated books to establish a culinary collec-tion at Eckles Library. The Library was amenable, and by November 1998, the combined books were shelved there, with Sue McWilliams of CHoW and Anna St. John of Les Dames heading up the project. Also by then, a regu-lar column in CHoW Line, “The Book Forager,” was encouraging members to seek and contribute appropriate cu-linary history books. It also listed local used book sales and shops and other pertinent information.

However, by January 1999, the Mount Vernon College campus had been purchased by the George Washington University. CHoW continued to meet at Eckles Library and to contribute books. In early 2000, GWU was con-templating offering courses in food studies, and in mid-February, the cu-linary collection was formally opened in a ceremony with remarks by Grae Baxter of GWU, Anne Emery of the Eckles Library, and CiCi William-son, then the president of Les Dames Washington, D.C., Chapter. A catalog-ing system was established. Collecting continued by both organizations. CHoW purchased a large set of Mexican regional cookbooks brought to the collection by a member, and CHoW Line reported that CHoW charter member Rodris Roth, a Na-tional Museum of American History (NMAH) Domestic Life curator, who died in September 2000, left a number of her culinary history books to the collection. From 2000 through 2003, the Book Forager column continued to carry information on additions to the collection and lists of suggested books to seek for it. But by April 2004, GWU had changed its mind on the Mount Vernon campus future, and asked Les Dames and CHoW to release the shelf space at Eckles. Both groups were taken by surprise and CHoW members hastily worked to separate its books from the much larger Les

Dames accumulation, since the latter did not have plans about a new loca-tion. CHoW books were temporarily stored in members’ homes. Les Dames contacted Mary Augusta Thomas of the Smithsonian Libraries but, so far as I know, she felt that the 8,000 or more books could not be accommodated. Eventually the entire number were sold to a large used book seller and disposed of by that means. In Octo-ber 2004, Francine Berkowitz, Laura Gilliam, and Shirley Cherkasky of CHoW met with Mary Augusta to discuss the possibility of transferring the 300-plus CHoW books to the SI Libraries. Eventually, an agreement was reached that the books would be fully catalogued and acknowledged as the CHoW Collection, and the trans-fer was made to the NMAH Library in November. The deed of gift was signed by Francine Berkowitz, CHoW secretary, and completed in February 2005.

CHoW ceased meeting at GWU’s Eckles Library and by March 2005, was holding its meetings at Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center. Its interest in and support of the Culinary History Collection has continued un-abated. Books are contributed almost every month from members who re-view new food books or who purchase primarily used books from various sources. CHoW Line continues to carry information about the collection. The Summer/Fall 2005 issue of SI Libraries “Information” on page 9 car-ried an article about the receipt of 333 volumes on culinary arts.

The Libraries also have a complete set of CHoW Lines from October 1996 to date. The current total of about 750 titles and all related materials are now housed at the Smithsonian Libraries Research Annex. The SIL-CHoW col-lection also is expanding with addi-tions at the discretion of the librarians there.

4 CHoW Line

Culinary Byways

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

By Tina Lima

On Friday, February 23, some CHoW members at-tended Les Dames d’Escoffier’s fun and educational visit to the home of Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895), the African-American civil rights leader, abolitionist, women’s suffrage supporter, and advisor to President Lin-coln. It was the 200th anniversary of his birth in Tuckahoe, Talbot County, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. After arriving at the visitor center, we watched a 19-min-ute movie about Douglass’ life before and after he escaped slavery. It covered his family affairs and political activities. Then we were escorted to the main house that sat high on a hilltop with a breathtaking view of the U.S. Capitol and the Washington, D.C., skyline across the Anacostia River. Here he lived from 1877 until his death in 1895. We lingered outdoors for a short while and took in the sweeping views. I imagined what life was like for the Douglass family living in such an opulent home and how Mr. Douglass would have been treated by the all-white community as the first black person to receive a federal appointment requiring Senate approval. (Douglass was half black and half white.) Still, one didn’t have to look beyond his backyard to be reminded of just how far he had come. There on one side of the hill sat a “Growlery,” a small stone building in which Mr. Douglass secluded himself

while writing and studying. This Growlery was no larger than the kitchen closet that Mr. Douglass lived in when he first arrived on a plantation at the age of six. Our tour guide said it was believed that Mr. Douglass enjoyed being in his Growlery as it was a reminder of his past.

Once we entered the main house, which Douglass named Cedar Hill, it felt like we had stepped back to the 1800s. From the ornate wallpaper to the high ceilings, to the numerous portraits of influential figures, it was clear someone of high society had resided in Cedar Hill. As we made our way down the hall, we entered the west parlor which served as music room. The parlor was decorated in striking palm-patterned, yellow-and-lime-green wallpaper as a tribute to Douglass’ service as Ambassador to Haiti. Our tour guide explained that Douglass—who was a violinist—and his 21 grandchildren often played their mu-sical instruments in this parlor, but mostly Mr. Douglass could be seen playing with his grandchildren and giving them piggy back rides. If he heard someone knocking at the front door, he would immediately retreat from play and convert to his “proper” self. How different the life of his grandchildren had been from his own life of slavery! Unlike many dining rooms that were only used for spe-cial occasions, the Douglass family ate all meals here. There was a chair at the head of the table where Mr. Douglass sat. After his passing, the second Mrs. Douglass—a white

woman – never allowed anyone to sit in that chair. One could only imagine how she adored him and how many obstacles they must have overcome as a bi-racial couple. Everything in the dining room was so authentic and vivid that if you closed your eyes you could almost hear the lively conversations and smell the delicious meals enjoyed.

The final room we explored before heading to the second floor was the kitchen. When Douglass renovated Cedar Hill he moved the kitchen inside the house, which was unusual for the 1870s, when most kitchens were built separately to keep kitchen fires from spreading to the main structure. The coal stove, although not the original, was the center of the kitchen. It was here that Mrs. Douglass would have baked her famous biscuits.

Tina Lima, a new CHoW member, is head of business development for USBank and has developed an interest in culinary history from her sister, Clara Raju. Tina and her two daughters resided in Arizona for more than 20 years but recently moved to Maryland to be closer to family.

The cookware in the kitchen gave us a glimpse of the type of meals cooked here. Some of the family’s favorite meals included oysters, turkey, fish, cheese, chipped beef, steak, mutton and pork—but no wine or beer, as Douglass drank no alcohol. It was exciting to walk through the kitchen and see the utensils used in the 1800s. Some like the muffin pans, cooking pans, and graters weren’t much different than the utensils we use today. While others, like the food chopper (pictured above), have really evolved. My favorite utensil however was the butter press. It would have been used to indent an impression on the butter served at the table. After the tour, we enjoyed a box lunch to end a perfect afternoon. (photos from National Park Service www.nps.gov/frdo and CiCi Williamson)

Upcoming Events

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Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery: “Seeds”July 6-8First held at St Antony’s College Oxford in 1981 and now housed at St Catherine’s College Oxford, the Sym-posium is chaired by food writer and historian Bee Wilson and the president is Claudia Roden, whose books on the Middle East, Italy, and Jewish cooking are modern classics.

www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk/this-year/speakers-media-and-events/For more information on the Seeds topicwww.oxfordsymposium.org.uk/this-year/topic/

Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW) www.chewwisconsin.com/

From CHEW, comes news that www.eatsmartguides.com/ is representing the U.S. in the Best Series category for the Gourmand World Cookbook Award. CHEW members Joan Peder-son and her daughter Susan Chwae recently added Jordan to their many culinary tours. The November 2018 tour is already filled. Gingko Press, The EAT SMART GUIDES’ publishing company, is celebrating its 25th year. The winner of the award will be an-nounced May 26 in Yantai, China.

Culinary Historians of Bostonwww.culinaryhistoriansboston.com/

The nation’s oldest culinary history organization is meeting on Tuesday, April 10 at 6:00 p.m. Radcliffe Room, Schlesinger Library to hearKen Albala, who will speak about his book Noodle Soup: Recipes, Techniques, Obsession. He sprinkles in charming historical details that cover everything from ancient Chinese millet noodles to that off-brand Malaysian ramen at the back of the ethnic grocery store.

News from Other Culinary Groups

Urban Farms: Feeding the FutureApril 8, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.U.S. National Arboretum 3501 New York Avenue, N.E.Washington, DC 20002 Administration Building AuditoriumFee: $10 (FONA $8). Registration Re-quired. programs.usna@ars.usda.gov

Imagine a future where urban farms provide fresh food, help reduce hun-ger and protect the planet. What if these farms were in the District now? Mchezaji “Che” Axum, from the University of the District of Colum-bia, will showcase his research and talk about how agricultural traditions may inform the future of urban farming. Chelsea Barker of Little Wild Things City Farm will talk about what life is like as an urban farmer produc-ing microgreens and edible flowers in Washington, D.C. We will also hear from Niraj Ray of Cultivate the City, who operates H St. Farms, a demonstration vertical farm and garden center located on the roof of W.S. Jenks & Son, a hardware store a few traffic lights away from the Arboretum.

La Dolce Vita: Italy’s DessertsApril 16, 6:45 p.m.Ripley Center 1100 Jefferson Dr. S.W.Washington, DC 20560Resident Associates Members $45, Nonmembers $55

Francine Segan, author of Dolci: Italy’s Sweets, talks about what makes up the dessert course and how it is enjoyed in Italy. Enjoy a reception with award-winning Italian sweets.

Loudon County’s LOCO Ale TrailDistilleries, Cideries, and Wineries

No specific dates, but spring is a great time to visit any of the 23 breweries, or one of the distilleries or cideries, sev-eral of which are relatively new. Don’t forget the more than 40 wineries.• www.visitloudoun.org/things-to-do/loco-ale-trail/breweries/• www.visitloudoun.org/eat-drink/distilleries-cideries/• www.visitloudoun.org/eat-drink/wineries-tasting-rooms/

Spain and the Food of the Nuevo South

Saturday, May 5, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.Jaleo Crystal City2250-A Crystal Drive at 23rd Street Arlington, VA 22202www.jaleo.com$35 for Members of Les Dames$45 for non-members (non-members’ price includes a $10.00 tax-exempt donation for LDEI-DC scholarships)Luncheon and talk by Sandra Gutierrez (see menu at www.lesdamesdc.org).

Spanish colonizers brought forth ingredients, techniques, and culinary language that helped shape what we now recognize as both Southern and Latin American foodways. Sandra Gutierrez will share how Spanish culinary influences made it possible for Latin and Southern foodways to meld. All the while, you will enjoy a traditional Spanish meal made with the most prized ingredients at the base of the new Southern-Latino table. Sandra Gutierrez is the author of four books including The New Southern-Latino Table.

Southern Maryland Celtic FestivalApril 28, 10 a.m.― 6 p.m.Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum10515 Mackall RoadSt. Leonard, Maryland 20685410-586-8501 Fee: $25, Free for age 12 and underwww.cssm.org/events/festival/

April 28, 2018 will mark the 40th year for the oldest Celtic celebration in Maryland. Southern Maryland Celtic Festival and Highland Gathering high-lights the heritage of the Breton, Cor-nish, Irish, Manx, Scots, and Welsh. More than 50 clans and societies have information to share. Three perform-ing stages offer continuous music and dance featuring internationally known recording artists and groups. Watch craft and country-dance demonstra-tions and listen to harp, and Scottish fiddling while storytellers weave tales alongside historical displays, crafts and food. There is a Celtic market place for foods and gifts.

BOOK REVIEWEdna Lewis, At the Table with an American Original

Edited by Sara B. FranklinUNC Press, 2018, cloth, 272 pages, $28.00

Claudia Kousoulas is an editor, writer, and educator whose topics include

architecture, urbanism, and culinary history. Her blog is

appetiteforbooks.wordpress.com

6 CHoW Line

Edna Lewis never had a television show or put her name on a set of mixing bowls, but she influenced chefs like Alice Waters and Scott Peacock, and writers like Toni Tipton-Martin and Deborah Madison. As an African-American woman her work was overlooked, and as an individual who carved her own path, she did not fit the media mold.

This book of essays isn’t a scholarly analysis of her work, but a readable collection of recollections, thoughts, and observations organized in three sections. The first, called Encountering Miss Lewis, tends to be more about the writers and what they took from her. Joe Yonan of The Washington Post recalls his regret at not being atten-tive to his own culinary roots. Alice Waters recalls the inspiration she took to cook from the “abundance of our own time and place,” while not forget-ting the land and labor that created the food. Toni-Tipton Martin, author of The Jemima Code, finds Lewis’s work transcends stereotypes to create a less fractured canon of Southern food—not divided between black and white, but a more complete picture of black cook-ing and thus of American cooking.

The essays are sometimes repeti-tive, as authors recount the details of Lewis’s life that resonate for them. But then again, one can view the repeti-tions like peeling an onion—each story reveals a new and telling detail.

Lewis had a unique life and tran-scended cliché in her life and in her cooking. She grew up in a self-suffi-cient community established by freed slaves where she absorbed the value of locally grown and foraged food. As part of the Great Migration, she came to New York, where she made dresses for Marilyn Monroe and set type for the Daily Worker. Lewis initially cooked professionally at the French-inspired Café Nicholson, and later brought Southern flavors to Gage and Tollner in Brooklyn.

Lewis didn’t affect a down-home at-titude but pursued her elegant self in her style and work. Part of her accom-plishment was defining black woman-hood, as Caroline Randall Williams writes, “She is not exotic. She is el-emental. She is elegant.”There’s no red drink or chitlins here, foods that Lewis called “hard time food in Harlem, not true southern food.” As Tipton-Martin asks, “What shall we call the food black women cooked when resources were plentiful?” Lewis expanded the notion of authenticity, particularly for black communities.

Randall Williams writes that she is “drawn to and repelled by Edna Lewis’ work at Café Nicholson,” a bohemian café with a honed menu frequented by artists of the day. It was where William Faulkner asked if she had learned to make soufflés in Paris—notrecognizingthat such refined cooking could be learned from a black cook, Lewis’ mother, in Free-town, Virginia. It is thiscondescension that Randall Williams takes on in her essay—wondering about the trope of

a black woman serving white artists like Faulkner, Truman Capote, and Gore Vidal, all used to being served, particularly by black women.

Part Two, Miss Lewis Standing in Culinary History, provides context for Lewis’ cookbooks and career. Scott Alves Barton traces the French and West African influences in her recipes. Megan Elias views her as a culinary historian who reclaimed her commu-nity’s foodways and recognized the importance of context when writing about food, particularly her family’s history of slavery.

Part Three, At Table with Miss Lewis Today, is a looser section, including a long interview with Nathalie Dupree, Annemarie Ahearn’s own seasonal observations on her farm life in reflec-tion with Lewis’s, and recollections of Lewis’s sister and niece, Ruth Lewis Smith and Nina Williams-Mbengue.

Amid the dominance of noisy televi-sion food adventurers, the power of quiet pursuit, anchored in his-tory, is striking. Lewis presented an understanding and appreciation of what is basic, and her work persists because of it. Francis Lam sees her as a “brilliant, subversive, and politi-cal writer,” telling a story of “dignity and resistance.”As Tipton-Martin notes, Edna Lewis was more than just another cook in an apron, but a grande dame of southern food.

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CHoW’s annual Cooperative Supper is a great time to relax, visit, meet new friends, enjoy wonderful food, and learn something about the history of the dishes that CHoW members have contributed.

• The New Jewish Holiday Cookbook – September 7, 1999, by Gloria Kaufer Greene• Sephardic Israeli Cuisine: A Mediterranean Mosaic – May 1, 2002, by Sheilah Kaufman • King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jew-ish Cooking from Around the World – April 4, 2017, by Joan Nathan • Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cook-ing in France – October 26, 2010, by Joan Nathan • Jerusalem: A Cookbook – October 16, 2012, by Yotam Ot-tolenghi and Sami Tamimi • Sephardic Flavors: Jewish Cooking of the Mediterranean – September 1, 2000, by Claudia Roden• The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York – November 26, 1996, by Claudia Roden • Sephardic Heritage Cookbook: Ottoman, Persian, Moroccan, Egyptian Recipes and More – March 1, 2017, by Sephardic Temple Or Chadash Sisterhood • The Sephardic Kitchen: The Healthy Food and Rich Culture of the Mediterranean Jews – September 19, 1996, by Robert Sternberg • The Ottoman Turk and the Pretty Jewish Girl – 2012, by Beyhan Cagri Trock

For your Interest and Inspiration In an article, “From Spain to Salonika, a disappearing Shavuot tradition revisited,” published in the Times of Israel, June 12, 2016, Ronit Treatman reported on a Sha-vuot tradition almost eight centuries old. “El pan de siete cielos” (the bread of the seven heavens) had its origins on the Iberian Peninsula of the early eighth century, and may have been inspired by a bread made by Christians for Eas-ter. Jews adapted the ornate design to incorporate symbols related to the holiday of Shavuot, and continued to make this bread long after their expulsion in 1492. The tradition lived on in the city of Salonika (or Thessaloniki) which had the largest population of Jews in Greece until World War II. In the 1970s Nicholas Stavroulakis interviewed Holo-caust survivors from Salonika in order to include their stories, a recipe and illustrations in his “Cookbook of the Jews of Greece.” A mound of dough forms Mount Sinai. This is encircled by seven ropes of dough which represent the clouds (or heavens) surrounding the mountain. In “The Sephardic Kitchen,” Rabbi Robert Sternberg offers one spir-itual explanation: “the seven heavens are the seven holy living spaces through which the soul ascends to heaven,” after a Jew’s body dies. Other symbolic elements vary from one family recipe to another but include a Torah scroll and pointer, the well in the desert from the story of Miriam, Jacob’s ladder, and a serpent. To read the full story, and see photos of the bread, recipe and instructions for sculpting the bread, visit: https://www.timesofisrael.com/from-spain-to-salonika-a-disappearing-shavuot-tradition-revisited/

Sephardic Cuisine: a Resource for the CHoW Cooperative Supper

(Continued from page 1)

In the Diaspora, Sephardic Jews retained unique rituals, holiday traditions and customs, which differ from Ash-kenazi and other groups’ practices. My Jewish Learning provides a good explanation, found here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/sephardic-ashkenazic-mizrahi-jews-jewish-ethnic-diversity/The My Jewish Learning website also provides a good in-troduction to Sephardic cuisine, which begins: “Sephardic cuisine refers to the foods eaten by a large and diverse group of Jews that bear the unique stamp of their regions of origin, which include Spain, North Africa, the Middle East, Egypt, and Turkey. Italian, Indian, and other non-European Jewish foods are also sometimes included in this mix.

“There is logic to this broad grouping: Almost all of these lands were part of the Islamic world. The Arab conquest of the 7th and 8th centuries united land from the Iberian Peninsula and the Atlantic Ocean to China and India. Ac-tive trading went on between these lands, spreading new food all over the region. Eggplant from India, spinach from Nepal, and spices from the Near East are examples of foods that spread throughout the Islamic empire.”

To read more, and find recipes, visit: https://www.myjew-ishlearning.com/article/sephardic-cuisine/

For the CHoW Cooperative Supper, members may wish to consider researching Sephardic recipes for any Jewish holi-day, especially the spring holidays of Tu B’Shevat, Purim, Passover, and Shavuot. • At Purim, some favor a vegetarian menu, to emulate Queen Esther, unable to observe kashrut. • Tu B’Shevat has special significance for Jews in the Di-aspora. If, in their new home a tree could not be planted on the 15th of Shevat, they could celebrate by eating the “fruit of the trees” of Israel. Those who partake in a Sephardic Tu B’Shevat seder will eat at least 15 different types of fruits and vegetables. • Shavuot takes place exactly seven weeks after Pass-over. This marked the first day on which individuals could bring the Bikkurim to the Temple in Jerusalem. These “first fruits” are the Seven Species for which the Land of Israel is praised in the Torah: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegran-ates, olives and dates. Many Sephardic recipes feature these ingredients.

We have compiled a list of well-regarded cookbooks as resources and recommend other books by these authors. It’s not possible to list every cookbook on this subject, but many general Jewish cookbooks and recipe collections—as well as cookbooks focused on specific countries and geographic regions noted above—will contain Sephardic recipes. • The New Mediterranean Jewish Table: Old World Recipes for the Modern Home – April 12, 2016, by Joyce Goldstein• Saffron Shores: Jewish Cooking of the Southern Mediter-ranean – August 1, 2002, by Joyce Esersky Goldstein and Leigh Beisch

“The White House Egg Roll History”

Cecilia Glembocki, who has been in charge of the White House Egg Roll for 37 years, spoke to CHoW on March 11. She brought a myriad of sou-venirs and photos from many years of the event and showed a PowerPoint presentation.

“In 2017,” Cecilia said, “21,000 guests enjoyed the Egg Roll where they rolled 14,000 hard boiled eggs, dyed 4,500 hard boiled eggs, and decorated 4,000 egg shaped cookies with frosting tubes in pastel colors

selected by the First Lady Me-lania Trump.” 15,000 Egg Pops were served on the South Lawn by the American Egg Board. The first colored Easter eggs, called Pysanka, originated in the Ukraine.

Executive Direc-tor of the Virginia Egg Board, Ceci-lia coordinates 84 catering volunteers, donated breakfasts and lunches for 1,600 volunteers, arranges for floral displays, and manages the costumed “egg” mascots.

Ever since 1878 when children were banned from the U.S. Capitol, the White House was the place to roll real eggs on a knoll on the grounds of the White House. President Hayes and his wife, Lucy, officially opened the White House grounds to the children of the area for egg rolling that Easter Monday. Successive Presidents continued the tradition, and the event has been held on the South Lawn yearly except for 1942 to 1952 due to World War II, the Korean War, and the renovation of the White House.

In 1981, wooden eggs with VIP signatures appeared, and since 1983, the 40,000 wooden eggs have been inscribed with a sketch of the White House and presiden-tial signatures.

She concluded, “It’s been a mem-orable experience for the past 37 years. Being able to participate as an egg representative to the most famous White House tradition for over 140 years is always awe-some.”

The 2018 Easter Egg Roll com-mences on Monday, April 2, but the lottery for tickets from the National Park Service has already closed.

Randy Clarke helps carry displays to Cecilia’s car.

Ray and Cecilia Glembocki

OfficialWhiteHousephotobyJoyceN.Boghosian

8 CHoW Line

News of CHoW MembersMany CHoW members attended Les Dames d’Escoffier’s 11th biennial “Celebrating Food!” day-long sympo-sium on March 10 at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville.

CHoW members were also speakers at the symposium. Sheilah Kaufman and Sheila Crye demonstrated “Trucs (French for “tricks”) of the Trade” in a lively, fast-moving session on the stage in the auditorium classroom.

At the same time, Dianne Hennessy King spoke on the “Writing Family Food Memoirs” panel, where she told how to create a cherished family cookbook that preserves family memories for the next generation.

From left: Dianne Hen-nessy King, Author, Memoir Your Way; Con-stance Carter, Former Head, Library of Con-gress Science Reference Section; Susan Barocas, Chef, Food Writer, Filmmaker; and Chair, Bonnie Benwick, Deputy Food Editor, The Washington Post.

CiCi Williamson chaired “Food Heritage of theChesapeake.” She showed a PowerPoint and spoke about 400 years of Chesapeake-region food history from the first settlers, Indians, lavish plantation tables, and immigrant groups to present-day Mid-Atlantic dishes. Other panelists spoke about the history of area spirits and farmers markets.

During the lunchtime EXPO, Dianne signed copies of her book, Memoir Your Way, and fielded questions about CHoW. (Dianne & Bob King>)

During the last grouping of the 16 breakout sessions, Amy Riolo chaired and spoke on “Dumplings alongthe Silk Road,” a virtual journey to learn the roles and recipes of dumplings in various times and cultures. Beginning in Chang’an (now Xian), China, and ending in Venice, Italy, the ses-sion included Chinese, Central Asian, Turkish, Middle Eastern, and Italian dumplings while attendees enjoyed sam-ples prepared by Keshav Poudel and Timothy Yu.

Riolo, Poudel, Yu, and Janet CamPhotos by CiCi Williamson

Driving from NORTH of Alexandria, VA: Alexandria House (tallest building - 23 stories - in Old Town), is at the intersection of North Pitt and Madison Streets, just five minutes south of Washington National Airport. N. Pitt Street is parallel to and two blocks east of Washington Street (George Washington Parkway), toward the Potomac River. Entrance to the building is on the 700 block of North Pitt Street.

Driving from SOUTH of Alexandria: Madison Street is 7 blocks north of King Street. From the north, enter Alexandria on the Parkway, turn left at Madison St. and go 2 blocks. The entrance to Alexandria House is on the 700 block of North Pitt Street.

Parking: Park on the street where there should be ample free spaces.

Room at the Top:You will be met in the lobby, possibly by Shirley Cherkasky, who lives there and arranged for the room. Take the elevator to the top floor of the building, turn right, and go up the short flight of stairs to the party room..

DIRECTIONS TO ALEXANDRIA HOUSE

CHoW Line 9