Month: November 2020

“He turned to observe the rubbish heap of destruction that was his shop… aerated water, white rum, boxes of clothes peg, hairpin, button, phensic…” pg. 18

Lowe is staring at the burned heat that is still somewhat discernable but definitely gone. The shop which was owned by Cecil but run by Lowe is completely gone and with it so is Lowe’s capturer. This moment has so much significance because the white protagonist in this novel is dead and the inclusion of white rum incorporates a history of Caribbean slavery. Rum’s first origins are in the West Indies, with names such as “rumbullion” or “kill-devil.” Its history is centralized in the Caribbean because it is made from molasses which comes from sugarcane. The slave trade prompted the distribution of rum African slaves would be traded to the island for molasses, which would then be used to make rum in New England, and then traded back to Africa for more slaves.

This makes me think of Lowe and how he was essentially taken into slavery when he boarded that slave ship from China to Jamaica. The entire course of his life was primarily dictated by Cecil who perished in the fire alongside the white rum. There is a parallel to be made between Cecil and the rum because both are defined by their whiteness and their involvement in slavery in the Caribbean.

“Rum.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/rum-liquor.

Powell, Patricia. The Pagoda: a Novel. Harcourt, Inc., 1999.

Although I know there’s been a bit of a controversy over how Queer Eye’s Fab Five has approached certain topics in their show (*cough* the episodes in Japan *cough*), they’re still pretty big names in the LGBTQ+ community. Jonathan Van Ness spoke at our school a few years ago, but I was wondering if y’all knew that the Cornell University Program Board is doing another event this Thursday featuring Antoni Porowski. I got recently an email about this, and since it looks like it has a cooking demo similar to the ones we’ve had in our class from guest lectures, I thought I’d share in case any of you were interested 🙂

Here are the details:

Cornell University Program Board (CUPB) is excited to present “Cooking and Conversation with Antoni Porowski”, star of Netflix’s hit series Queer Eye for a conversation about his life, comedy, and food all while doing a cooking demonstration!  Antoni will be coming virtually to Cornell on Thursday, December 3rd at 7 PM EST.

Antoni Porowski is a New York Times Bestselling Author and star of Netflix’s hit series Queer Eye. As the show’s food and wine expert, the self-taught cook brings with him a lifelong passion for food first cultivated through television, where he was captivated by culinary giants like Julia Child, Jacques Pépin, and Anthony Bourdain, and later honed in restaurants from Montreal to New York and under mentor Ted Allen, original Fab Five food and wine expert. Antoni’s first cookbook, Antoni in the Kitchen, was released in Fall 2019, debuting at #2 on the New York Times’ Best Seller List. Born in Canada to Polish emigrants, Antoni is an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights everywhere, especially his family’s native Poland.

You can go here to register: https://cornell.campusgroups.com/CUPB/rsvp_boot?id=894698

At the end of chapter one, Lowe described the shrill sounding of the conch as the morning sun rises after the fire and death of Cecil. I found this symbol quite striking with its emotional stakes in the chapter, “how years ago it used to ignite the Negro people to rise up and fight…” (19). It creates this literary double-standard where Lowe recognizes its symbolic strength in the Black struggle yet realizes how this unity doesn’t exist for him as he runs through the anti-Chinese sentiment of his community: a possible cause for the fire.

I couldn’t help but think of conch, specifically conch meat as a common dish eaten where this book takes place. Conch is indigenous to the Bahamas and in the West Indies, it is served commonly served in curries and stews. All parts of the meat are edible and in the Turks and Caicos Islands, there’s even a Conch Festival where local chefs compete for the most unique conch dishes like conch wontons and conch empanadas. Yet, the conch is also popular in East Asian cuisine like in Chinese stir-fry and in Italian cuisine as it is often included in the Italian-American Christmas celebration of the “Feast of the Seven Fishes.”

Conchs also bear many spiritual and cultural meanings. Like in the novel, it is often involved in funeral ceremonies in many Afro-Carribean traditions. In Hindu mythology, warriors blew conchs to announce battle and the sound is believed to drive evil spirits away. Its sound is believed to correspond to “higher frequency universal sounds associated with music of the spheres,” which is “an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies…not thought to be audible, but rather a harmonic, mathematical or religious concept.”

3:00-3:05 [ welcome / updates]

3:05- 3:13 [ debrief chat ]

3:15- 3:30 [ Oral History ]

3:30 -3:55  Lecture – Contours of Afro-Asia ]

3:55-4:10 [ self evaluation ] self grading, performance in the class till now, goals for rest of term, send as an email to me

4:10- 4:15 [group work (plan for wednesday – lab period) ]

“You know how much weevil me find in the cornmeal. And that bad rum him sell. Mix with water,” (15).

Rum is first mentioned in 1650 in records from Barbados. The drink was originally called called “kill-devil” or “rumbullion”, and by 1670s the name had been shortened to rum. The first “distillation of rum in the Caribbean took place on the sugarcane plantations there in the 17th century” (Wikipedia). Enslaved people at the plantation realized that molasses could be fermented into alcohol, and with distillation and purification, the first modern rums were created. Rum’s history is rooted in the American colonies’ slave trade. Enslaved people were taken “from Africa and traded to the West Indies for molasses; the molasses was made into rum in New England; and the rum was then traded to Africa” for more enslaved people (Britannica). The heavy, oldest type of rum is produced in Jamaica, Barbados, and Guyana, and produced from molasses.

Watering down alcohol is a common practice to increase the volume of drinks, but watered down rum actually has a name: grog. Merriam-Webster describes grog as a “liquor (such as rum) cut with water and now often served hot with lemon juice and sugar sometimes added.” It actually originated in the 18th century when an English admiral, who wore a cloak made of grogran fabric, ordered that the sailors in the Royal Navy be served diluted rum instead for their daily ration of rum (“Grog”).

“Grog.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grog.

“Rum.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/rum-liquor.

In Chapter 1 of the Pagoda, we find that Lowe’s shop has been set on fire. The local community comes to help douse out the flames. The community discusses whether the shop was important to them or not. One person mentions that the products at the shop were of poor quality, specifically the rum and the cornmeal (15).

Cornmeal is an ingredient with strong origins to Mesoamerican, African, and Native American cultures. The “meal” indicates that is it a ground, dried form of the corn. Records estimate that maize was domesticated by Indigenous tribes in the current continental US during 5000 BC. Originally, the Indigenous people would ground the corn and mix it with water and salt. Over time, colonists and future American families would modify this technique to create different dishes. Cornmeal is most recognizably used in baking cornbread, johnnycakes, and puddings, which are American classics. It is a staple in Southern cooking, and it is predictable that cornmeal reached the Caribbean through globalization. In the novel, the local mentions finding weevils in his cornmeal. These are insect pests that live & reproduce inside the seeds or kernels of grain products. Weevils are often found in packaged foods that are not preserved in dry areas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2019/03/07/cornmeal-is-baked-into-the-history-of-the-americas-and-its-time-to-dust-off-those-roots/

https://www.world-foodhistory.com/2011/02/cornmeal.html#:~:text=Cornmeal%20began%20as%20a%20Native%20American%20staple.%20It,central%20role%20in%20their%20nutrition%2C%20religion%20and%20ritual.

https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-a-weevil-2656439

In Chapter 2 of The Pagoda, Lowe, who is devastated by the burning down of his shop and the death of his associate (and perhaps past lover) Cecil, avoids walking outside due to his hallucinations of grotesque, deathly scenes. Among these ominous images are “the heads of black cats teeming with maggots dangling from guava trees” (21). Lowe is already struggling with a secret history that he yearns to convey to his estranged daughter; the sudden loss of his shop and Cecil places an additional burden on his already distressed mind.

Guava trees, in the above quote, serve as a vivid indicator of setting. The appearance of these trees in Lowe’s hallucinations grounds the novel’s current setting in Jamaica. These trees, more shrub-like than tree-like, have seemingly forever been associated with the tropical regions of Central and South America as well as the Caribbean Islands. In fact, guavas have been distributed so widely for so long that the place of origin is uncertain. Some archeological sources trace the guava fruit to Peru as far back as 800 B.C.E. From there, the guava spread rapidly through Central and South America, and it is thought to have reached Mexico by 200 B.C.E., then shortly afterwards to the Caribbean Islands. Propagated around the world by Europeans around the 16th century (as with most other crops from the Americas), guava trees are now grown in many tropical areas globally, such as South and Southeast Asia.

Guava fruits, which have been consumed extensively as food and medicine, bear a thin skin that surrounds soft, sweet outer flesh with an inner core of yellow seeds. I imagine that these seeds may under certain circumstances look like the maggots that have infested the black cats of Lowe’s hallucination. Putting aside the clear symbolism of the ominous black cat, perhaps this hallucination has its basis in rotten guava fruits that have blackened, either infested by bugs or with the seeds falling out. Regardless, the guava trees in this section of The Pagoda help establish an eeriness that is ingrained in its tropical setting by its very nature.

Works Cited

“Guava.” American Indian Health and Diet Project, https://aihd.ku.edu/foods/guava.html

Powell, Patricia. The Pagoda. Harcourt, 1998.

Morton, Julia F. “Guava.” NewCrop, Purdue University, 2020, https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/guava.html

“Wooden shelves leaning against the wall, holding cakes of soap and boxes of detergent and oats and bottles of beer and stout… the closet filled with spiced buns and bread and water crackers, two unopened tins of New Zealand cheddar…”  (Powell, 18)

When I searched up “spiced buns,” one of the first results that came up was of Jamaican spice buns, which I thought might be what the author was referring to given the setting of The Pagoda. Now eaten throughout the Caribbean and typically associated with Easter, Jamaican spice buns are a derivative of hot cross buns, which in turn originated in Europe; their creation demonstrates the unceasing spread of religion and tradition through colonization and imperialism. Common ingredients for the Jamaican variation include beer, molasses, and dried fruits and surprisingly, it is also usually eaten with slices of cheese. The alcohol and cheddar are also two foods that are including in the inventory described in this excerpt of the book, showing their commonality and use in some parts of Jamaican cuisine. Spice buns are an extremely important part of Jamaican culture and their use as goods in Mr. Lowe’s shop shows his assimilation. Despite this, the destruction of his shop and death of Cecil show that he is still viewed as an other, an outsider, and though he may have lived in Jamaica for decades now, he is still not seen as “one of [the people’s] own” (19).

Citations

Blackwood, Michelle. “Jamaican Spice Bun,” healthier steps. 20 Nov 2020, https://healthiersteps.com/recipe/jamaican-spice-bun/

Imma. “Jamaican Easter Spice Bun,” Immaculate Bites. 02 May 2020, https://www.africanbites.com/jamaican-easter-spice-bun/

Pierola, Taylor. “Jamaican Traditional Easter Bun and Cheese,” culture cheese mag. 12 Aug 2013, https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/jamaican-traditional-easter-bun-cheese/

When describing the contents of his shop after it’s destroyed, Mr. Lowe states: “Wooden shelves leaning against the wall, holding cakes of soap and boxes of detergent and oats and bottles of beer and stout, aerated water, white rum, boxes of clothes peg, hairpin, button, phensic, tins of condensed milk and mackerel in tomato sauce, corned beef, sardines in vegetable oil…” (Powell 18).

Condensed milk is a type of concentrated milk containing added sugar in which “60% of the water content has been removed” via evaporation (Foster). When condensed milk is processed, the sugar concentrates and gains a caramel-like flavor. Although condensed milk has a high sugar content, it has important nutrients and minerals such as protein, carbohydrates, calcium, and potassium, which are vital for people of all ages and children especially (“What is Condensed Milk?”). Moreover, the sugar extends the shelf life by preventing the growth of bacteria. Across the world, this rich, sweet product is used in recipes for baked goods and desserts.

Before the 1850s, milk frequently caused diseases due to the lack of refrigeration. In 1856, Gail Borden developed condensed milk to combat food poisoning and diseases associated with the improper preservation of fresh milk. Moreover, Borden’s brand—Eagle Brand—decreased the “infant mortality rate” and eventually became a “household name” as a result of The Civil War (“Our History”). In order to ensure that soldiers were adequately nourished, the U.S. government ordered Borden’s product in large quantities.

Inspired by Borden’s success, George and Charles Page created their version of condensed milk in Cham, Switzerland, under their Milkmaid Brand. By 1868, the Page brothers had sold “over 364,000 cartons of condensed milk,” with the majority of their demand coming from Great Britain and its colonies (“A condensed history: the Page brothers and Anglo-Swiss”). Their success eventually led to the beginnings of the company, Nestlé.

Sources:

“A Condensed History: the Page Brothers and Anglo-Swiss.” Nestlé, 31 Mar. 2016, www.nestle.co.nz/media/pressreleases/allpressreleases/condensed-history-page-brothers-anglo-swiss.

Eagle Family Foods Group LLC. “Our History.” Eagle Brand, https://www.eaglebrand.com/history

“What Is Condensed Milk? Glossary, Uses, Benefits, Recipes with Condensed Milk.” Tarladalal, 23 Nov. 2020, www.tarladalal.com/glossary-condensed-milk-672i.