To avoid any confusion as to what this entry may be about, please see the following definition:
Definitions of Bromatology on the Web:
- Bromatology (from Greek βρῶμα, brōma, “food”; and -λογία, -logia) is the study of food (or aliments)
Thank you.
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Up until now, any food-based family memories I’ve talked about have been memories from one side of the family. This hadn’t occurred to me until I got a package in the mail yesterday, from my grandparents’ synagogue in Brooklyn. At some point before every Jewish holiday in the year, a women’s organization in the synagogue sends out a care package to all the grandchildren and children of those who belong to this temple, and it usually includes a little something about the holiday and its history, a relevant toy (this time, I got a noisemaker and a mask), and, my favorite part about the packages: food that has something to do with the holiday. This almost always includes an Israeli candy, or some other sweet somehow related to the day.
This month’s holiday is Purim. For a brief history and discussion on Purim, click here. For a very brief description, keep reading. Though I’m not certain on the exact details, and if I remember correctly, the story of Purim goes something like this: Someone in the royal court of a city decided that all the Jews should be eliminated/removed from the city, or some variation of that. I’m pretty sure he meant for them to be killed, but I’m not certain. His name was Haman. Though I don’t know the details in between, somehow he betrayed the Queen’s trust and was therefore punished, and the Jews were saved from elimination.
To commemorate this, there is a tri-cornered cookie with some sort of fruit jam (my favorite is apricot) called a hamantaschen, made in the shape of the hat that Haman supposedly wore. Forgetting the dressing up in costumes that takes place, forgetting the ever-so-fun noisemakers that children love and parents tolerate, forgetting everything else, the hamantaschen are my favorite part of the holiday. They are incredibly delicious and I love them. They bring back a lot of childhood memories, all of which are kinda hard to describe, as they’re from around that same point in time that I went to McDonald’s with my aunt and her boyfriend (now my uncle) – see the entry on blackboard about my first conscious meal. I remember running around in the upstairs section of the synagogue my grandparents used to belong to, and my mother coming to get me from that upstairs section. I remember Purim celebrations with my grandparents, and I remember so many meals that I’ve had with them.
The two hamantaschen (I have no idea how to pluralize that word) that my grandparents' synagogue sent me.
Next on the train of memory-triggers: the bagged lunch I made for myself last night (for lunch today). There wasn’t much on there, just turkey breast, cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard. For the record, that’s Kraft American Singles, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise (in a squeeze jar with a tip that let’s it out in a way that’s perfect for sandwiches), and French’s Yellow Mustard. To top it off, it was on Wonder classic white sandwich bread. To me, that shouts “typical American school child’s bagged lunch.” Each of those things are essential ingredients to the generic little lunch you ate to prevent yourself from being different in elementary school (unless you didn’t mind kids asking questions and being generally weird about foods you ate that were different – i.e., a Nutella sandwich on sliced home-made Italian bread [the big, round loaf] – but I’ll talk about that later, if I remember to.).
The packed lunch. I don't know why I didn't photograph the actual sandwich.
Aside from making the perfect American child’s sandwich, each one of those ingredients are themselves typically American. After all, having lived in this country for a significant period of time, when you think Mayonnaise, what else do you picture except the big jar of Hellmann’s mayonnaise, with the blue label with white letters? Then again, maybe I’ve misspoken. Maybe it’s just if you’re born here, that’s what you think of when you think of mayonnaise. I haven’t spent enough time overseas to know. Though I do remember having mayonnaise on my fries (gross-sounding until you try it), and taking that mayonnaise out of a little tiny packet with “Hellmann’s” printed on it. Yes, we’ve even exported our mayonnaise to Europe.
Then there’s Kraft American Singles. Is there any other type of cheese? Yes, obviously there is. But what else is acceptable on a kid’s sandwich, if the kid goes to the store with you to buy the cheese? I was always fine with America’s Choice brand cheese, since it was basically the same thing, for much cheaper. But gosh, I loved those commercials. The hand-drawn cow jumping over the hand-drawn moon and whatnot… all that was very effective on the impressionable young child that I was. Am. Whatever. So we see the effectiveness of the commercials, or what it’s supposed to be. But the effect on me was different from what must have been the company’s intent. I remember the commercials fondly, but they don’t make me crave cheese. I guess it’s just nostalgia – in the same way that I want Disney to open a fifth park in their Floridian complex where they have all the rides that they’ve taken out over the years to make room for other, newer rides (i.e., getting rid of Alien Encounter for a Lilo & Stitch ride).
Then, of course, there’s Wonder Bread. It’s been around since the 50’s, so it’s the typical American bread, and is supposed to make me nostalgic for childhood, right? It’s supposed to make me happy just to SEE this bread in my kitchen. And it does do that; it makes me happy to see Wonder Bread in my kitchen. But once again, it’s not for the reason the company intended. It does not make me nostalgic for childhood, and it doesn’t really scream “Americana” to me, either. Actually, that’s not entirely true. It says Americana to me, but it doesn’t scream it. Anyway, it makes me happy because I like it. Plain and simple. They need no advertising tricks to get me to buy it. And that’s how most food should be – I (and everyone else, too) should buy food because we like it, or need it, and not because of some advertising trick.
But I’m ranting. The point I’m trying to make is that when it comes to lunch, as a kid I never really had the “typical American sandwich.” At least, not until I moved to Staten Island. But the timing of that’s irrelevant. The point I’m trying to get to is that as a kid, I would have Nutella more than most other kids. I remember loving Nutella on my grandmother’s homemade bread so much! There’s one day, one memory, in particular that sticks out with Nutella on home-made bread. I must have been in the 4th grade, and there was a kid named (for the purposes of this post) Tony who everyone always teased. I always held back from this for some reason. For some reason, I felt guilty teasing this kid. Some sort of camaraderie developed between us, I think, though, when I heard/saw other kids teasing him for eating a “shit sandwich on weird-looking bread.” I got so angry – what he was eating was something that I had eaten the previous weekend! How dare they tease him for doing something that I did too?!?! That day, I told those other kids off, and I sat with him to eat lunch, and talked about Nutella. I don’t know how, but somehow we talked the rest of the lunch period about Nutella and our grandmothers. Of course, when the recess portion of lunch came, I went outside and played with my usual friends. But for the rest of that school year, Tony and I remained friends. He was a good kid, and I hope he’s doing well.
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Finally, I’ll leave you with a quote I found this week. But first (as if you thought I’d just give you the quote without preconditions!) a story. I ordered a bracelet for my sister from some lady named Jac Vanek. I don’t know much about her (my sister knows more), but I do know about the bracelet. It’s a one-inch thick black rubber bracelet with the words “Stay Gold” printed in white font. It’s a quote from “The Outsiders.” I don’t know the context, but what I get from it is something along the lines of “be true to yourself, always.” And that’s that.
But that’s not the quote I meant to give you. This is:
The quote, on the card it came printed on. If you can't read it, it says "You are what you create."
In case you can’t read the card in the picture, or the caption underneath it, the quote is “you are what you create.” I think it’s a wonderful idea – you are whatever representative of yourself you have left behind, and after everything else, the things that you create are what people will have to form their image of you. Sure, you can be remembered as a good person, as a legend with no flaws… but ultimately, it’s what you say, what you do, what you make that determines who and what you are. That being the case, I hope that all those reading this would create good things and, ultimately, pass that goodness on to others.
And with that, I bid you adieu.
