I was born and raised just
outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
When I was 15 I got a job at the snackbar in a college down the street
from where I lived with my mom, sister, and two little doggies. For three years I spent my nights and
weekends working on the grill, pumping out food for countless hungry college
students. This provided me with
much of my basic knowledge of cooking.
It may not have been fine dining but by the time I left I could cook a
mean omelet. Hell I could cook ten
mean omelets all at the same time without mixing up the orders. I could make the best hoagie you’ve had
(with all the proper hoagie meats), a club worthy of a picture frame, and a
cheesesteak that I would put up against ANYBODY’S.
Ever since those days I’ve had a
soft spot for cheesesteaks. I love
eating them, and I love making them.
Everybody knows that cheesesteaks are a Philadelphia specialty, but it
wasn’t until I moved away to college in Boston that I began to realize the
extent of this iconic food’s reach.
Every sandwich shop has their version of the “Philly Cheesesteak”. Even here in Bermuda at the Pickled
Onion, a restaurant we frequent for lunch, they offer a “Philly Cheesesteak
Pizza”. I’ve always prided myself
as a bit of a cheesesteak connoisseur (if such a thing actually exists); as if
being from Philly somehow qualifies me to make a better cheesesteak, or even
just to better judge someone else’s cheesesteak. I mean really, meat, cheese, bread…
although there are indeed a few factors that make a cheesesteak truly great, and
a couple variations of preference, couldn’t anyone, anywhere theoretically
produce the same end result? But
since it can apparently be so difficult to meet my criteria, I tend to have my
friends over and make them myself!
Sometimes I think it might also be that I miss the metallic whack of the
spatulas against the grill… Regardless, it has always amazed me how the
cheesesteak has become such a symbol to me and to so many others which says so
much about where we are from.
The cheesesteak isn’t the only
symbolic food, by any means. The
other day while making them for some friends I started thinking about all the
different foods that other people from other cities hold so close to their
hearts and identities. New England
Clam Chowder, New Orleans Jambalaya, Maryland Crab, New York Pizza, Texas Chili…
and these are just the first that pop into my head… the list goes on and
on! So how does this happen? How does a food become so imbedded in an
area’s cuisine that it becomes a defining piece of its culture?
There are two things that come to
my mind in regard to how culture is impacted by cuisine; the heritage of an
area’s people and the surrounding terrain.
The people of New Orleans are a result of an integration of French,
Spanish, Italian, African, Native American, and Cajun peoples. I am no food historian but from my
understanding Jambalaya was created from a merging of the French cuisine with
the Spanish peoples’ paella.
Because all these old world countries were starting fresh in a new land
there were different meats, vegetables, and spices available than what they were
accustom to in their traditional dishes.
This is before a time where we have readily available foods from all over
the world through modern transportation.
I think Jambalaya is a beautiful way to see a merging of cultures and a
hodge-podge of the fruits of the surrounding land and waters. Over time as New Orleans became a place
in-and-of itself, people began to identify themselves using these new dishes
(along with a newly emerging, exciting musical culture). The people that I have met from New
Orleans are proud of where they are from.
They are proud of the music and the food that they bring to their country
and to the world.
Food becomes a way to set an area
apart from the rest of the country.
It becomes a way to show the beauty of your land and the ethnicity of its
people. If you look deep into the
history of each iconic dish you can see the culture that brought it to us,
passed down lovingly through the generations. In a world where people are traveling
more and more and constantly moving around, it becomes a way to bring a piece of
our home to others. I share my
cheesesteaks with my friends with pride in my birthplace and they share
their foods with me. It’s a system that I think everyone can
learn from and lets face it… it sure is yummy!