*The title and the featured image of this post don’t match. But isn’t that what life is about? Contradictions.
Several Fridays ago, being the good big sister that I am, I accompanied my sister on a tour for her extra credit assignment:
The Big Onion Multi-Ethnic EATing Tour!
This is Big Onion’s most popular tour. I assume that food is a very big factor as to why it’s so popular. But the tour was interesting and insightful! We went on a walking tour through the Lower East Side. Unfortunately, I cannot remember all the names and all the facts. So I shall transcribe the random things I remember.
The tour focused on immigration to the Lower East Side. Our first stop was a deteriorated synagogue. The roof caved in, but interestingly enough, a group of 7-8 Jewish men still use the lower parts of the synagogue to pray. In front of the synagogue, we ate fried plantains in honor of some of the major immigrant groups of New York City.
Next, we stopped at an old school, which was a prison before. The usual.
We discussed the corrupted ways of William Tweed and Tammany Hall.
Then, we stopped at an small, a bit bigger than a hole-in-the-wall store, known as The Pickle Guys.
Credit: thingstoseenyc.com
The store is filled with huge red jars of pickles! And this is where I got the title of my post from. According to the tour guide, after school, the tenement children of this area would run to the pickle carts and eat them nonstop. They were addicted to pickles like others are addicted to drugs. It was a serious problem for the parents. So, to relive the experience, we had samples of huge green pickles and pickled pineapples. I am not a fan of pickles, so I didn’t eat the green ones. But I did try the pickled pineapples because they looked interesting, and because I’ve never heard of them before. Besides, they looked like small pineapple slices. When I put one in my mouth, it tasted sour, like a normal pineapple. But then, all of the sudden, it began to sting my water and throat. It was burning! Very, very cinnamony.
After this point, the tour stops all morph together and I can’t remember exactly what stop we stopped at in order. Not because it was boring, but because I procrastinated and put off writing this post until now, three weeks after the tour. Things are no longer fresh in my mind. So from here on, I’ll just list the stops and foods I remember.
We walked around and looked at another synagogue. This synagogue is still active and it’s also a museum. The outside was gorgeous and I can only imagine how beautiful it is inside. I’ll have to visit one day! But, I’ll save that for another time, another post. We also learned of other nearby buildings that were once inhabited by Russian and Jewish immigrants (but are now used by Chinese immigrants). If you look carefully, some of the buildings still have bits of Russian signs and whatnot. One interesting building was the one that housed the Jewish newspaper The Forward. While talking about this area, we ate a Jewish treat – some sort of confection that tasted peanut buttery and sweet. It clumped to the roof of my mouth and to my tongue. At first it tasted good. But a few seconds later, the taste turned bitter? Is that the word I’m looking for? Hm, I’m not satisfied, but it’ll have to do since I can’t find a Vietnamese equivalent for the word đắng (the word that accurately describes what I the food turned into).
Then, we walked nearby Pace University High School and talked about tenements and their horrible sewage system. I also learned that Robert Moses, NYC urban planner, advocated the controversial Brooklyn Battery Bridge. President Roosevelt, among several others, disagreed though. A tunnel was built instead. And apparently, Moses and Eleanor Roosevelt were on bad terms over this incident. So, as one of his retaliation points, he named the Sara Delano Roosevelt Park after Eleanor’s mother-in-law, with whom Eleanor was on bad terms. Oh the drama! Afterwards, we went to a small shop in Chinatown and ate these small “spicy” tofu. My family actually eats this!
Then we headed to Little Italy. We stopped in a cheese and meat shop and had samples of parmesan, mozzarella, and dried pork salami. The mozzarella balls were divine, the parmesan chunks bland, and the salami slices salty! I can’t remember if we discussed anything here. My brain must have zoned out once I heard mozzarella and salami. A couple blocks later, we ate yummy cannoli! The cream was soft and sweet and oh-so-good! I’m salivating just thinking of it now. We learned about old Chinese and Italian funeral practices of the Lower East Side.
But my favorite part of the tour was the end, when we stopped at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Black Sesame on one side, lychee on the other. So-yum-a-yum-yum. (That’s to the tune of Little Drummer Boy).
Overall, I had a wonderful experience. I learned fascinating facts about the Lower East Side and sampled interesting, if not tasty, food. Oddly enough, this ties in with the Peopling of New York City Seminar…
