Raise a Toast to the True History of Thanksgiving

Holidays are interesting events. Often their original meaning and even purpose is lost over time. This is especially true of Thanksgiving, an American holiday celebrated on the next to last Thursday in November.

It’s true that since colonial times various states and cities had held harvest celebrations but there was no national holiday called Thanksgiving on the calendar.

Sarah Josepha Hale was the first figure to seriously urge that a national day of giving thanks be established. Beginning in 1827 and continuing for the next 36 years (!) she used her position as editor of the influential Godey’s Lady’s Book magazine to press governors, senators, and presidents alike to create such a day of gratitude and reflection.

As a member of Boston literary elite (and a working mother) she also spoke against racial inequality – an issue it seems America is still struggling with as evidenced in our last national elections.

At the same time there was another younger person working in a distance frontier tavern, serving shots of applejack brandy to all who’d listen to his folky but pointed stories.

And he too was questioning the injustice of inequality.

In 1863 that same man would make Hale’s dream of a national Thanksgiving holiday a reality.  

He did so to remind the nation during the darkest days of the Civil War that there are some truths and values so universal that they are worth fighting for no matter the cost or the time it takes… thoughts captured so well by the Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain as he spoke to his men on the eve of the critical battle of Gettysburg.

Yes, the person who created Thanksgiving as a national holiday in the U.S. was Lincoln. His courage and strength saved a nation. His fight to do so was not easy as shown in Steven Spielberg’s new movie, Lincoln.  He never gave up. There is a lesson there.

Perhaps when we celebrate Thanksgiving this year we should do more than remember Pilgrims in funny hats. In addition to giving thanks for the turkey and dressing, perhaps we should also give thanks for the many brave men AND women who have throughout history fought so bravely with words and deeds for the human rights that should belong to all people.  

That feast should belong to us all everywhere.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

Anti Vampire Garlic Wreaths Make the Perfect Culinary Halloween Gift

Soon it will be Halloween and, excluding candy corn and pumpkin flan, that means it’s time for the ingredient that all vampires dread – garlic!

But did you ever wonder how garlic (that fantastic and noble vegetable) ever came to be associated with this fearful demon of the dark?

It all has to do with the lowly mosquito. Garlic, you see, is a natural mosquito repellent. Eat it, wear it and/or handle it and one doesn’t get bit by the pest (at least most of the time).

One or two hundred years ago when the legend of the vampires was first circulating, conservative Christianity was also flourishing in Europe. The social mores of the time required individuals to cover almost every part of the body except their necks.

Without garlic as a repellent, people could easily be bite by mosquitoes in the only available area, i.e. the neck, leaving small ‘bite-like ‘  red marks.

If the mosquitoes carried malaria, the person bit soon became exhausted, feverish, anemic, pale, with swollen red marks – resulting in what appeared to others to be a lingering near-death condition.

Since scientific knowledge was often in short supply in remote rural areas and the symptoms matched so closely with rural legends, well, let’s just say the vampire got the blame, sine garlic. And that is how garlic became the preferred anti-vampire protection system.

So what’s the absolutely perfect Halloween gift for a chef or gourmet enthusiast? Why, a garlic wreath, of course.

It will keep the unwanted away and can later enhance a nearly endless array of winter dishes. And be assured, not a single vampire will bother you during this hauntingly delightful season!  

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012 

French Dinner Rhapsody Is All About Food and Family

French Dinner Rhapsody or, more correctly, Rhapsodie pour un Pot-au-feu, is a charming short animated film about an average French family getting ready for their nightly meal together - no snacking allowed, please!

Created by Charlotte Cambon, Soizic Mouton, Stéphanie Mercier and Marion Roussel, we meet the whole family, starting with mother who shops daily for the freshest ingredients.

Then there is dear grandmama, who can't help tasting and adding her touch to every cooking pot. After all, she's been cooking (and tasting) longer than any one else there. Respect, respect.

Dishes and linen are, but of course, required but not the son's cell phone - not at the table, thank you. One must have standards!

Our only regret on viewing is that we can't enter the film and join in this very French feast of food and family, for la 'Joie de Vivre' often seems forgotten by so many these days. In short, we often miss the magical music of a life joyfully lived amidst the wonder of the common everyday.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012 

Learn How to Create Success By Studying Chanel No 5 Marketing

How to achieve fame and fortune are often wrapped in mystery as if they just magically happen because of talent alone. Actually, they often occur because a product has been successful marketed. 

And no one markets better than the House of Chanel. Now, for the first time, they have released a video that explains how (and why) Chanel become a legend. 

Top Chefs, like leading fashion designs, also understand that it is NOT ingredients that sell, but the experience they generate with them. No one praises the salad greens, they praise, intead, the evening, the memory of dining at ..... (?)

POST NOTE, October 8: For further evidence that major marketing rebranding is afoot, check out the following:

Disney's "I Am a Princess" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUGnu0gXtn4

Louis Vuitton's shift to a no-logo logo at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qhl0_HUMYc

 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