The History of Halloween Jack o' Lanterns

Many Americans are surprised when they learn the jack-o'-lanterns are actually a British tradition. And this fact is borne out by the fact that each year London's legendary store, Fortnum & Mason, holds a pumpkin carving contest.

But the story doesn't start there. Back in the mists of pre-Christian days, the Celts of Scotland and Ireland repeatedly told each other the story of Stingy Jack.

Now Stingy Jack was always playing tricks on everyone, including the Devil himself. Once he tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree on the pretense that the Devil should prove he did not fear this controversial fruit of self knowledge from the Garden of Eden.

Jack then hurriedly placed crosses all around the tree and made the Devil promise not to take his soul when he died as the term of releasing him from the hostage tree.

When Jack finally did die, he was, of course, denied entrance into Heaven because of his many mean deeds. He also found, because of his bargain with the Devil, he was not welcome in Hell either.

The Devil, still resenting the trick Jack had played on him, condemned Jack to roam the earth at night without friends or comfort.  But the Devil, who was once an angel, was not without sympathy for the errors of humanity, so he tossed Jack a hot coal from the eternal fires of Hell to light his path on the darkened earth.

Jack’s soul fell back to earth, without form. At first Jack tried to enter homes but he only scared people. Then one lonely night, he remembered that he had once carved turnips and gourds into scary faces and hung them from trees to frighten people in the night.

Jack found an old one he had once made still hanging from a tree and there he put his coal and soul, far from the freighted villagers.

Knowing a good thing when they saw it, for no village wants lost souls wandering about at night, the local folk carved and hung more turnips and gourds 'lanterns' in the other trees - just in case there were any other additional spirits needing a welcoming home.

And these lanterns, came in time to be called “Jack o’ Lanterns” after, you guessed it, Stingy Jack himself.

Scottish and Irish immigrants brought this custom of carving a turnips and gourds to the United States along with many other lovely customs (such as whisky/whiskey). 

But when they saw the gigantic pumpkins offered for sale in America’s rural farmers’ market – well, who wants to carve a little turnip when a huge pumpkin would be so much easier. 

The early American writer Washington Irving combined all the bi-continental story elements, added a touch of Dutch New Amsterdam, and created the unforgettable tale of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – complete with flaming pumpkin heads and lost souls in the night.

Today, Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween in either the U.S. or Britain without pumpkins. So, whether you carve or bake, be kind, be generous or Stingy Jack just might visit you!

Post Note: Oct 20, 2012: It seems a love for pumpkins is now going international because Burger King outlets in Japan are offering the BK Pumpkin Burger and the Pumpkin Bomb Burger from October 26 through November 11 this year.

Both burgers come with beef patties, fried kabocha pumpkin slices, bacon (is the combination of 'bacon and pumpkin' to be our newest food fab?), and, of course, lettuce. They're topped with a nut sauce made from sesame seeds, peanuts, almonds, cashews, and hazelnuts. Oh, yes, they do come with pumpkin fries for those in the true 'spirit' of the season. 

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012 

A New Wine Movie to Premiere at 2012 Napa Valley Film Festival

On November 7, 2012 the Napa Valley Film Festival will launch its second year as a must-attend event. That gotta-be-there feeling is especially true this year as the Festival will be screening a new wine film, SOMM. 

SOMM (slang for “sommelier”) follows four very talented young sommeliers as they get ready for the grueling, notoriously difficult Master Sommelier exam. 

The exam, which only 200 people in the world have ever passed, requires a stunning knowledge of everything to do with the pairing of wine and food on a global level.

The film is well worth seeing for it serve as a reminder that the life we desire always takes dedication and courage to achieve. In short, never drink alone or in ignorance!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012  

France Premieres New Culinary Film LES SAVEURS DU PALASIS

Opening in European film festivals (and soon we hope in the U.S.) is a stunning new food film, Les Saveurs du Palasis, based on Daniele Delpeuch’s experiences as Francois Mitterrand’s personal palace chef. 

We should say loosely based, for as always, there are additions and subtracts from the actual story. But be that as it may, you will surely be intrigued by the female lead.  

We first meet Hortense Laborie, (the character based on Ms. Depeche’s amazing life) in Antarctica. Yes, Antarctica, not Paris, where she is cooking for a group of appreciative but very isolated scientists. At first glance it does not seem she could possibly have walked the glided corridors of French presidential power.

But she did and often (at least initially) without support. She was a woman unwelcomed in a professional world of men. She did not wear a towering toque nor a chef's white jacket. Yet she worked, created and finally won the respect of her many male colleagues.

It is a marvelous film - a visual feast for the eyes and with good reason. The film’s culinary presentations were created by top professionals - Chef Gérard Besson (formerly at Le Coq Héron), Chef Guy Leguay (previously at The Ritz) and Culinary Stylist/Chef Elisabeth Scotto (of Elle Magazine).

From the beginning the film’s director Christian Vincent wanted the French actress Catherine Frot to play the role of Hortense, knowing she was perfect for the role.

She was exactly the same age as the character, with a genuine, practical side that suited the role perfectly. Her persona is natural, believable in either a country market or a palace kitchen. 

Today Daniele Delpeuch lives and teaches in her beloved Périgord region, where she promotes traditional cuisine and indigenous ingredients including truffles, truffles, truffles – oh, how we love them.

If you are in France, consider studying with her – you will marvel at the dishes you create and the conversations you will have.

But whether or not, your feet land on French soil, be sure to see this film when it comes to your neighborhood. It truly captures the spirit, the flame and flavor that is the craft and magic of French cuisine.  

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012  

Aussies Enjoys Beer Can Regatta Before Swim at 2012 London Olympic Aquatic Center

Very soon the world's focus will be shifted to all things brightly British as the 2012 Olympics start in London. And one jewel that is sure to sparkle within the Olympic Complex will be the elegant new London Aquatic Centre in Stratford.

Designed by Dame Zahan Mohammad Hadid, the famed British architect and winner of the Pritzker Architecture Price, this stunning sports facility is a truly unique building whose time has come. This great and very talented architect, along with the hard-working Welsh construction team on site, has literally raised the roof on stadium design.

But far from London, there is another (and much more lighthearted) ‘construction’ event occurring. Each year the hardy beer drinkers of Australia converge in Darwin for the annual Beer Can Regatta. Each contestant there must race (well, sort of race) in a self-made boat made of beer cans!

No, it's not the Olympics but with so much fun one can only wonder if Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn't like to heave anchor from the Caribbean and set sail (in style, of course) for the South Pacific. Once there he might even considering, for a very brief moment at least, the replacement his beloved rum with a can of Aussie beer.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

Move over Ralph Lauren and Coke, Bouillon Cubes Were First Olympic Sponsor

As the Running of the Bulls comes to a close in Pamplona, Spain, all eyes will soon be turning to the London's Summer Olympics.

And you are correct, if it seems that there are almost as many sponsors for the Olympics this year as there are athletes. After all, the Games, which began in 1896, are expensive and the seemingly endless bills for lodging and arena construction have to be paid.

Indeed, heavy governmental funding for the Utah 2002 Winter Olympics, not to mention that the Olympic torches used were made in Burma, have been very stressful topics for the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, in the current US presidential election.

So as you might have expected, commercial sponsorship has been a controversial element of the Olympics since its beginning. But did you know that its first official sponsor was the company that first offered soup made from bouillon cubes to tired athletes?

That's right – bouillon cubes, those invigorating little compact squares of concentrated soup.

Even less known is the fact that Nicolas Apperts, who first marketed bouillon cubes, also invented the process of canning as we know it today. A failed champagne producer and an unsuccessful innkeeper and chef, Nicolas Apperts was a man who collected talents to seemingly no benefit.

But when Napoleon announced he would award a huge cash prize to anyone who could develop a method to preserve food for his far-flung army, Nicolas Apperts knew his day had come

As an unsuccessful chef, he well understood spoilage. As a failed winemaker he knew bottling – especially champagne.

As a result, he developed a method so simple, so obvious it had been overlooked by everyone else. Just put the desired food in a bottle, top it off with a liquid sauce, seal the bottle like a champagne bottle and then heat the bottle until the internal liquid boils.

It worked! Nicolas Apperts received the award, got the huge government contracting and built the very first commercial bottling plant.

It was in the research lab of his newly flounded company, that he reduced soup to its most compact form to the delight of weary athletes and hurried chefs everywhere.

And what better place to first demonstrate the "Cube's" restorative powers to the public than at the 1908 Summer Olympics, where Dorando Pietri, the couragous Italian Marathon Runner AND pastry chef, enjoyed its nurturing and resorative powers. (And what chef would not identify with his final push in their own effort to make it through a long and seemingly endless day of effort).  

Video Text by Sir Arthur Conan Doyale, Famed Author of Sherlock Holmes Novels

So let us never underestimate the power of the small, the few, be it a single world-class athlete or a tiny little bouillon cube in the hands of a creative chef who can inspire us all!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012