What? How? Who?

[mme_hardy]

Deep-frying foods in vegetable oil seems like a modern American craze, but it was an ancient cooking tradition in West Africa, and one that we have inherited from enslaved people.

Akara sounds pretty tasty, but that's a bizarre sentence up there.

Comments

[sovay]

Akara sounds pretty tasty, but that's a bizarre sentence up there.

As someone who is about to embark on a latke-frying holiday that predates America, yes.

[edenfalling]

Wait, what?! I am pretty sure that every culture on earth that has access to some form of cooking oil/fat and enough fuel to heat a large quantity of that substance has invented SOME kind of deep-fried food.

[mildred_of_midgard]

I had to think about this one, but possible translation of the apparent non sequitur: "Deep-frying foods in vegetable oil seems like something that belongs in affluent cultures full of unhealthy, processed foods, but actually, we got it from some very poor people."

Agree that the actual historical misconception is staggering.

(Also, pretty sure it's bigger in Great Britain than America right now, but possibly this person has never set foot outside...the American South?)

[conuly]

...is it maybe the vegetable oil that's the crux and not the frying part?

[legionseagle]

This one's a doozy, too:

When Shakespeare was writing and performing in Britain, black-eyed peas were a staple crop for West African people.

"My Mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun/Nor her pea fritters kin to Mama's make..."

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, that would be my reading. As opposed to lard or schmalz.

[sabotabby]

That looks incredible. Unlike that sentence.

[malkingrey]

Presumably this person doesn't think olive oil counts either?

[malkingrey]

Lord knows, cooks in medieval times were deep-frying fritters made of all sorts of stuff.

[malkingrey]

Tracking down the author by name, she's actually a fairly high-powered scholar -- doctorate in history from Johns Hopkins, affiliated with Amherst College, an associate director of the Folger Shakespeare library . . . so she really ought to have known how to better phrase things.

[tree_and_leaf]

To be fair, olive oil comes from fruit. But it's still a bit of a stupid thing to say.

[mme_hardy]

But most Africans in their native countries weren't poor. That's a post-colonialism thing. And deep-frying is pretty much anti-fashionable in the US right now.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Oh, I wasn't saying they were poor when they were originating this practice in their native countries, and it didn't sound like she was either. But they were definitely poor when they were slaves here in America and preserving this practice so they could (supposedly) passing it onto modern Americans, according to this (weird) thesis.

And deep-frying is pretty much anti-fashionable in the US right now.

I think that depends on your social circle. Health conscious people won't touch them, of course, and alternatives are starting to catch on, but deep fried french fries and potato chips are still very much a modern American thing.

I mostly liked the food in Britain when I was there, but wow I just wanted my vegetables to be vegetables and not deep fried.

[mme_hardy]

But there's a difference between what we all eat and what's a "craze". She's describing deep-frying as a "modern craze", which is like saying hamburgers are a modern craze.

[mme_hardy]

Good point. What were they using as fat? Clarified butter? Suet?

[malkingrey]

Lard, probably. Or olive oil, if they were in the Mediterranean. Or goose, duck, or chicken fat.

As far as I could ever tell, most pre-modern recipes for fried things tend to more or less assume the locally-used cooking fat. It's only these days, really, that we've got access to the whole global array.

[conuly]

Do we use olive oil for deep frying? I thought the smoke point was too low for that.

[malkingrey]

I actually don't know. My own relationship with deep frying is that, as a known and gazetted klutz, it's something I'm better off letting experts do for me.

[mme_hardy]

When Adam delved and Eve span, who then put oils in a pan?

[legionseagle]

Where in Britain were people deep frying vegetables other than spuds?

[legionseagle]

You can. I was entranced to discover on my first visit to Greece that the chips were done in olive oil.

[legionseagle]

"Veggie? Or not veggie? Fat is the question."

[mme_hardy]

Mmmmmmmmmm and a couple more mmms beside.

[legionseagle]

I'm sorry to say that when we took big style in the UK to fish and chips (which was an idea we nicked from the Jewish community of the East End) what they were using oop North was often neats-foot oil, which you got as a side-product of tripe dressing.

[legionseagle]

They may not be the crispest, but the flavour....

[mildred_of_midgard]

Scottish Lowlands and northern England. I wasn't there long enough to experience it myself, but I've also heard stories of deep-fried Mars Bars and deep-fried pizza.

[legionseagle]

Which vegetables, as a matter of interest?

[mildred_of_midgard]

Unfortunately, it was ten years ago, and I no longer remember. I just remember complaining when I got back, and my friend who had done a study abroad stint at the U of Edinburgh (where I spent most of my time) was like, "Yeah, they do that there," and then told me stories of all the other things she'd seen and/or consumed in her time.

[executrix]

If the Levellers had been in a position to have a television station, I'm sure they would have called it EveSPAN.

[legionseagle]

Oh, sorry, I forgot to wish you an - um - intense Gauda Prime Day. Your icon reminded me.

[executrix]

Why, thank you! B7--the show that reminds us that it doesn't matter if the days are lengthening if you're all dead.

[legionseagle]

It's not so much the death, it's the way one goes.

Oh.

[edenfalling]

That strikes me as a generous interpretation, given that the recipe specifically mentions "1-2 cups lard or vegetable oil" in the ingredient list, and the instructions again say "Add lard or oil to a cast-iron skillet."

And Heaven and Nature Sing

[executrix]

Seasonally appropriate: Joy to the World! The Lard is come!

[conuly]

Well, I may've only glanced at the headline here. I didn't want my faith in humanity to suffer too too much.

[mme_hardy]

I deeply envy your retaining some.

Re: And Heaven and Nature Sing

[legionseagle]

That'll do nicely for basting the tender lamb, now it's appeared at last.

[mildred_of_midgard]

In the same place that the artist of today's SMBC comic must have visited: Edinburgh. I thought I'd heard it was a more general British thing, but maybe it's just a Scottish thing.

P.S. I did like the haggis.

[legionseagle]

Um. That cartoon is -- not a good look. Certainly, chip shops deep fry stuff and Scottish chip shops deep fry a wider range of stuff, but careless deployment of 'deep fried Mars bar' stereotypes can give rise to some pretty awkward situations.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Wow.

I did not mean to stereotype the entire urban population! I just remember being frustrated that so many of my vegetables were no longer identifiable as vegetables, when this was in no way indicated on the menu when I ordered them, and this was coming from someone who's an unhealthy eater in general. I quite liked Scotland otherwise! Including the food.