Author Archives: Renee Duncan-Mestel

Jewish Recipes

The informant is a caucasian female in her 50s. She was born and raised in England. She, and her three siblings, were raised as orthodox jews. After university, the informant moved to Northern California for graduate school. She later moved to Los Angeles, where she now resides. The informant trained in school as a biologist, but switched to journalism and now works for a large newspaper. She is divorced with one child.

Following are two recipes for traditional jewish dishes.

Potato Latkes:

The informant learned this recipe for latkes from a Jewish women’s group at a synagogue in Los Angeles. She learned it soon after she was married when in her late 20s. She makes them only during Hanukkah. As a child, her mother would make latkes, but of a different sort. Her mother made matzoh meal latkes and served them with fried fish. These latkes were served at both Hanukkah and Passover. The informant was taught to make matzoh meal latkes by her mother, but when she tried to on her own she accidentally compressed air inside the meal and they exploded upon cooing. The informant decided to learn how to make potato latkes after having them at various friends houses during Hanukkah. She found the potato latkes to be delicious and purposefully asked the women’s group at the synagogue for the recipe.

Recipe:  Peel regular potatoes. Grate. Put in colander and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for ½ hour. Squeeze out excess moisture. Put in a bowl. Add 1-2 eggs. Add a finely chopped onion. Add a little flour. Mix together. Heat oil in frying pan, ½ inch deep. When oil is hot, add spoonfuls of latke mix. Pres flat into patties. Fry until crispy on one side, flip, and fry until crispy on other side. Remove from pan. Drain on towel to remove excess oil. Keep warm in oven until ready to eat, but not heaped on top of each other so they don’t get soft. Serve with sour cream and apple sauce.

Charoset:

Charoset is a traditional part of the passover meal, representing the mortar the enslaved Israelites used to build the pyramids in Egypt. The informant learned the recipe from her mother. Her three siblings and she would all participate in the preparation of the charoset, which would usually take place on the first day of passover. They would make enough for both nights of passover. Leftovers would be eaten on matzoh in the days after passover. The informant learned to make charoset at a very young age, in grade school. During preparation, her siblings would have competitions to see who could peel the whole apple in one string. The apple peels would sometimes be consumed as a snack during the making of the charoset. Whenever the informant makes charoset she remembers passover as a child and her mother cleaning the whole house and preparing all of the food for the meal. It brings back fond and fun memories of the communal and family aspect of the passover service.

Recipe:  Take tart green apples and peel. Course grate. Put in bowl. Take walnuts and grind them using a metal table top wheel grinder, or another appropriate method. Mix walnuts with apples. Add red wine to get a reddish color and mushy consistency. Add some sugar to taste, or honey. Adjust proportions of ingredients until it tastes right. Put it in fridge until ready.

Analysis:  In both of these recipes it is not so much the ingredients that matter, but the connotations of the dishes themselves and the memories they invoke. In many examples of foodways there is not only no specific memory, but it is the tradition behind the food, the passing of recipe down through the years, that has the most significance. As to ingredients, the informant did not have exact recipes for either dish, making both to taste and from memory. Every time she makes each dish it changes. What remains are the memories associated with the dishes. Both are associated with family and tradition, as each dish was only made at a time of gathering, initiated by Jewish custom. To her, the two dishes represent a special time of year when her family gathered together to celebrate. Part of what makes these associations so strong is the fact that both dishes are only served at specific times of year. The feelings that the making and eating of charoset and latkes invoke are stronger because the activities are done only on the two high holidays, and so the specialness is not diluted through continuous repetition throughout the year.

Putah Creek Folk Etymology

The informant is a caucasian male. His father was born in Denmark, but was raised in America. He was raised in Virginia, but attended high school in Pasadena, CA. The informant later lived in Hawaii for 8 years, Northern California for 7 years, and now resides in Southern California again. He is a professor, teaching molecular biology to pharmacy students. He was brought up episcopalian but is no agnostic. The informant is divorced with one child.

The informant heard this story when he was working at the University of Davis in the 80s. He was told it on multiple occasions by his colleagues who had lived in the city for a longer time. He himself would retell the story whenever it came up in conversation. The story deals with a small creek that runs on the edge of the campus, through the arboretum, and out eventually to Napa Valley. This creek is called Putah Creek. The story goes that way back in the 1800s, when Davis was first being developed it was a mining town with many day laborers. These men would work hard all day, and then at night they would come down to Putah Creek for entertainment. The women of the night would come out strolling along the creek and the men would employ them. Eventually the creek became known as Putah Creek, after the Spanish word for prostitute. And the name has stuck to this day.

Analysis: This is an example of folk etymology, telling the story of how a place came to get its name. What makes this interesting is that in the interview with the informant, he admitted that he had also heard that the name is probably of Native American origin, indicated by the spelling. And yet he also said that the more racy story was the one that he would tell people. It is interesting that even while the informant was completely aware that there was at least some doubt about the origins of the name, as he himself admits, he will still tell the first story as if it were fact. This indicates a preference for an interesting story rather than the truth. So while the analysis of folk etymologies may not actually help to determine the true origins of anything, they do reveal what interests people enough to actively pass along.

Nightwalkers Legend

The informant is a caucasian male. His father was born in Denmark, but was raised in America. He was raised in Virginia, but attended high school in Pasadena, CA. The informant later lived in Hawaii for 8 years, Northern California for 7 years, and now resides in Southern California again. He is a professor, teaching molecular biology to pharmacy students. He was brought up episcopalian but is no agnostic. The informant is divorced with one child.

The informant learned about this during the time he spent living in the Hawaiian islands. He heard stories about the Nightwalkers from colleagues and friends at the University of Hawaii. Back before the haole, the caucasians, invaded the islands, pre-18th century, the natives used to walk everywhere, creating paths and trails as they travelled. They mainly lived in the valleys of the islands, so these trails were usually on the valley floors and leading from one valley to another. When the haole came and invaded the islands, they made war with the native Polynesians, many of whom were killed in battle or murdered in attempts at suppression. There is a belief in the culture of Hawaii that when people are murdered, or die under unnatural circumstances, their spirits do not disappear, but rather remains in this world. The spirits are the Nightwalkers and they walk the ancient paths and trails of Hawaii. Some of the old trails are aligned with new modern roads, so the Nightwalkers will walk down modern roads. Others are still more natural paths on valley floors. The Nightwalkers will harm people if they encounter them. When the informant was in the Sierra Club, he took a trip to the Halawa valley, on the island of Molokai. While camping there, he would stand outside of his tent at night, trying to see the Nightwalkers go past him.

Analysis: The informant’s attitude towards this legend is an interesting duality. Just like how a legend is defined by its unverifiable truth value, some believe and some do not, the informant both believes in the Nigthwalkers and does not almost simultaneously. He tells the legend as a make believe story and characterizes it as a native Hawaiian belief, a group of which he is not part of. He does not actively share in the belief of the Nightwalkers, relegating their story to fantasy. And yet on his trip he actively tries to participate in the legend, he tries to see the Nightwalkers in action. Even while he separates himself from the belief system that incorporates the Nightwalkers as real, he attempts to have an experience that would change his mind. While he does not believe, he wants to be proved wrong. And so it is with many legends. Most people do not believe, but they want them to be true. This is an interesting and complex outlook: knowing you are right, but wanting to be wrong, that probably characterizes many peoples’ relationships with legends.

Annotation: Grant, Glen, ed. Obake: Ghost Stories in Hawaii. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing, LLC, 1994.

Stanford Tradition

The informant is a caucasian female in her 50s. She was born in Southern California to an upper middle class family. The informant was raised presbyterian, but now professes to follow no religion. She attended Stanford University and then settled back in Los Angeles. She works part-time as a high school drama teacher. The informant is married with one child.

The informant learned about this tradition from her mother, who also attended Stanford University. As a freshman, the informant decided to act out the tradition. She asked a senior, whom she had never met before, if he would participate in the ritual with her. She dressed up in romantically ripped clothes, wore ribbons in her hair, and gathered a group of her friends to join her, witness the ritual, and take pictures. She planned to send a picture to her mother as a joke. While she did get the picture taken, she never actually kissed the senior while under the arch, because she was too nervous to do so in public. This, however, resulted in her meeting her future husband. The two married within a year of this event and have been together for over 30 years.

Text:

There is a Stanford tradition that a woman going to the school can become an official “Stanford” woman by being kissed by a Stanford boy in his senior year under the Memorial Arch, in front of the Memorial Church, under the fool moon, at midnight. The woman can participate in the ritual at any point in her academic career but the man must be a senior.

Analysis: This story has become a legend in the informant’s family. The tradition itself is interesting, as it was passed down through a generation, but the informant’s individual experience has become the most important as it is the story of how she met her husband. Her performance of this story is interesting as it changes every time she tells it, depending on the audience and situation. When she started telling this story to her young daughter, she downplayed the sexual aspect and focused on the tradition and chance meeting of her husband. To friends the informant focuses on the ridiculousness of her ripped and beribboned garb and her audacity at asking an an older, complete stranger to kiss her in front of an audience. The informant is an active bearer, constantly telling stories. She is generally called upon to entertain at gatherings with her stories. Probably a contributory factor of her success as a bearer of lore is her ability to adapt stories to audiences and situations. Her variations on stories also mean that her audience can hear the same story more than once without becoming bored and that she can retell the same story with animation, as it is actually a slightly different story with each telling.

Jokes/Riddles

The informant is a caucasian female in her 50s. She was born in Southern California to an upper middle class family. The informant was raised presbyterian, but now professes to follow no religion. She attended Stanford University and then settled back in Los Angeles. She works part-time as a high school drama teacher. The informant is married with one child.

The informant learned these joke riddles as a child in the 1960s. In her youth she would retell them to her friends and family frequently. She considers them to be riddles and will supply them if anyone asks for a riddle, even to this day. She remembered these examples specifically because they have interesting and unexpected answers and made her laugh as a child. She says that she was not able to guess the answers to any of these three and that prompted her to remember and retell them.

Text:

What do you loose every time you stand up?    Your lap.

Why do birds fly south?    Because its too far to walk.

When you throw a white hat into the red sea, what does it become?    Wet.

Analysis: It is interesting that the informant still tells these childhood jokes/riddles when well in adulthood. Her fascination with the unexpected answers has transferred these examples into long term memory. It is the subversion of the expected answer type, replacing it with the unusual and ridiculous, that intrigued the informant as a child. This aspect of subverting the norm is common in children’s folklore, representing the exploration of boundaries through the safe means on jokes, songs, stories, etc. While these jokes represent a very mild version of such a rebellion, there is still present a slight twist that pushes against how the mind is taught to think when posed such questions. That the informant remembered these jokes to this day indicates that the resonance she had with the unexpected and surprising nature of these examples. That she still retells them today perhaps indicates that, even as an adult, she is still drawn to the slightly subversive nature of these jokes.