The history of humanity can be found in a bakery. The dawn of agriculture is reflected in the milled flours of domesticated grasses like wheat and rye. Not to mention the tremendous technological advance that was the oven, which liberated us from a lifetime of gruel with its baguettes, pita and naan.
You can also find the story of our industrial revolution in the perfectly sliced loafs of sandwich bread. Their flour bleached, then enriched with niacin and calcium before being baked by the thousands and wrapped in their plastic coats. All without feeling the warm kneading of a single pair of human hands.
But, there is still more to be found a little farther over- in the pastry case. Here every tart and doughnut tells the story of revolutions, invasions and migrations, the products of millions of folks moving and fighting and intermarrying. Because, wherever they go, people like to take their great-grandmother's dessert recipes with them...
Take, for instance, the danish. According to newspaper references collected by food historian and etymologist, Barry Popik, the introduction of this cheese-filled confection to American breakfast tables and break rooms was almost entirely due to the efforts of one baker, L.C. Klitteng. And yes, he was from Denmark.
A globe trotting baker from the Isle of Læsø in Denmark, L.C. Klitteng was apparently quite the self-publicist, traveling the United States during the first part of the twentieth century to promote his Danish pastries and teach other bakers how to make them. Through his friendship with a New York restauranteur, Herman Gertner, the danish became a popular pastry item first in the Big Apple, then throughout the country and the world.
It is also oddly appropriate that the danish should have come to us through New York, because that is where the term “doughnut” first entered the English language. Washington Irving, writing as Diedrich Knickerbocker, was the first person to commit the word to paper in 1809, describing the lard-fried bits of dough eaten by Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam.
As it turns out, however, the Danes were probably not the original creators of the “Danish pastry.” Scandinavians still call this flaky, layered doughnut “Vienna bread,” suggesting that the danish was introduced to Central Europe by baklava-loving refugees from the Balkans (Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, etc) fleeing the armies of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
In any case, back in New York City, the "Danish pastry" underwent a what is called a shift in markedness, like what happened when "lawn tennis," became "tennis" or "ice hockey" became just "hockey." Freed from its semantic shackles, the "danish" was free to link up with other nouns like "cherry" and "cheese."
The danish recently became embroiled in a scandal of international proportion. When a Danish (the country) newspaper published editorial cartoons that depicted the Prophet of Islam in a way that some people (to put it mildly) were upset about, conservatives in Iran took some real action and renamed the danish (the pastry), a "Rose of the Prophet." Which, to be fair, doesn't exactly roll off the tongue in English, but I imagine the Farsi must sound better.
Now, before those of us in the States start snickering, I have two words for you: “Freedom Fries.”
Putting those unfortunate incidents aside, a quick tour of the rest of the doughnut case reveals a whole world of geopolitical movements. There are iced Persians (actually from Canada), éclairs and (if you're lucky) Polish Pączki. And while General “Blackjack” Pershing may have led his doughboys into Germany during WWI, the cinnamon twist that may or may not be named after him sits peacefully next to the jelly-filled Berliners.
It seems we have once again come to the end of another edition of the Word of the Moment, our occasionally exploration of the world... one word at a time. I hope you've found this interlude entertaining. Don't forget to subscribe to future updates via RSS, twitter or Facebook. Now, as for me, I have a sudden craving for a cup of coffee and fried breakfast foods.
The information in this article was taken from the congealed fat and powdered sugar at the bottom of my Dunkin' Donuts box, with additional help from the Oxford English dictionary, Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia and the website of Barry Popik. Nutritional data is not available, but it may be part of a balanced breakfast.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment