In Chapter 19 of Monique Truong’s The Book of Salt, the narrator Binh describes the early days of his time at rue de Fleures with Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and the different standards the two partners have for the cooks working for them. As Binh states, Toklas is an exacting employer in many ways, and she is intimately involved in developing many of the recipes and methods that Binh uses in their kitchen. However, her interest in cooking is simply that: an interest, as opposed to it being a trade and a way of life for Binh. Where Binh has had to rely on his skills and adaptability as a chef since he was young in order to support himself, Toklas is able to flit in and out of that space of labor, only entering it when she chooses to as opposed to being compelled to do so.
During his interview with her, Binh states that the “first thing Miss Toklas asked me was whether I had a recipe for gazpacho” (Truong 193). Upon learning that he does but did not learn it in Spain, Toklas immediately dismisses its quality and lays out guidelines for the kinds of gazpacho that Binh will have to prepare and perfect at rue de Fleures, of which there are apparently four. Binh only mentions two: the gazpacho of Malaga and the gazpacho of Segovia. Both of these are named for cities in different regions of Spain, and thus Toklas appears to place great emphasis on authenticity in the food that is served within her home, as an American expat living in Paris. She imparts to Binh very specific instructions regarding the ingredients and measurements that he must use as he practices making each of the four kinds of gazpacho until they are up to par, in her eyes.
While gazpacho is, in fact, best known for being a Spanish dish and the history it has there is long and rich, its origins are rooted in the multiculturalism of Spain, and it may in fact have developed out of an old Roman dish. This was a mixture of olive oil, stale bread, and possibly garlic and liquid such as vinegar or water, likely popular due to its use of staple ingredients of these regions. In the Andalusian region of Spain, workers in the fields would have made these mixtures and added whatever fresh vegetables they possessed on hand to pound together with a mortar and pestle to drink room temperature or cold, a refreshing meal on hotter days. Although we associate tomatoes with gazpacho today, the fruit was not in fact known in Europe until after European colonists brought it back from the Americas. Gazpacho can thus be made with a variety of fruits and vegetables, and different cities and regions such as those Toklas names, often boast differing recipes with ingredients such as almonds.
This passage about the very beginnings of their acquaintance provides some level of insight into the employer-employee dynamic between Toklas and Binh, which is layered and fraught with complexity. It is evident that Binh learns a great deal from her, since the lesson about the use of salt in gazpacho and in food in general that Toklas gives him is obviously influential in his cooking process and it seems, in his greater life–the book is, after all, named for the ingredient. And there is a somewhat possessive admiration Binh feels for her and Stein, evident in the way he repeatedly refers to him as his mesdames, as well as a desire for that tenuous circle of family that he is alternately given access to and ordered to draw back from. However, there is also an element of sardonic distance often present in Binh’s discussion of his employers, an awareness that he has lived through and understood both life and food and travel in ways they could not possibly know, as well as the fact that their personhood is, to them, realer and more assured than his is both in their eyes and those of the Western world.
Works Cited
“Gazpacho.” Andalucia.com, 17 June 2020, www.andalucia.com/gastronomy/gazpacho.htm.
Kern, Peg. “Spain Food Tours: History of Gazpacho: The Intl Kitchen Culinary Tours.” The International Kitchen, 9 June 2020, www.theinternationalkitchen.com/blog/history-of-gazpacho-spain-food-tours/.
Toklas, Alice B. “Gazpacho of Segovia from The Alice B Toklas Cookbook by Alice B. Toklas.” Ckbk, app.ckbk.com/recipe/alic95361c05s001r004/gazpacho-of-segovia.
Truong, Monique. The Book of Salt. 2013.