patron-saint-of-smart-asses:

One time, I was watching this documentary series on Netflix (the name escapes me atm) where each episode documents the journey and such of different high ranking chefs. The first episode was super interesting, because the chef in question was a genuinely sweet Italian guy with a loving and supportive wife and they raised a small family while struggling in the tough culinary world of Milan, right?

But then the second episode was a huge slap in the face. This freaking…liberal-ass upper class New Yorker was going on about how “America has no food culture because we never struggled with food, and that is how real food culture is made” like BINCH

Native Americans? African Americans? Jewish Diaspora? Irish Catholic immigrants? Cajun and Creoles? Pioneers of all backgrounds who settled into literal wilderness? The Great Depression? Southerners? Latinos? Chinese Americans??? I could go on???

And so out of spite, I decided to collect recipes that were historically American. I enjoyed “antique” ways of cooking anyway but this spurred me to collect more. Along with my little cook book of recipes from 1900-1950, I also have a little booklet on Civil War era recipes and have collected some interesting Native American recipes from the Otoe-Missouria tribe (and other tribes I think? I have them on a google doc but haven’t looked at it in a while).

Anyway I need people to stop pretending that America has no history or culture to account for thanks.