TPPM Barthelme: "Southwestern Food Consciousness"

[Dave Monroe]

   "Whatever psychological traces of Houston he may
have retained, Barthelme fortunately also brought
along his Southwestern food consciousness to New York,
though the theory of Tex-Mex eats he found there must
have alarmed him, based as it was on tomato sauce, and
tasting like Italian food made with Tabasco. The
recipes reprinted in this volume may thus have
developed out of some nostalgic necessity.
   "Those recipes. That oxtail soup mix. That
'burgoo,' with the frozen ducks in it? A notable
moment in chef psychopathology, to be sure, yet such
is Barthelme's genius that even the most porkophobic
or duck-intolerant among us is drooling, unashamed, by
recipe's end. His ingredients tend to come from
outside New York, back in the U.S., brand names always
good for some evocation of his native region, mostly
canned or otherwise preserved, food meant to sit on
shelves or in freezers for months before being used,
each meal, each can opened or dinner defrosted, being
an occasion for sadness, because, like using a dream
or a memory in a piece of writing, it's taking
something back inside the passage of time that
otherwise might have continued on, suspended, exempt.
This is a cuisine of solitude, suggesting too many
nights of unfamilied boredom and eating over the sink,
a life-style that was certainly not for Don B. He
disliked being alone, preferring company, however
problematical, to no company. In cities such a
willingness to socialize can lead a man up peculiar
streets indeed, anything from all-out Uzi-toting
misanthropy to a full Dickensian embrace of human
diversity, foolishness and all. But to move in that
direction, to open up instead of shut down, meant
risking the possibility of finding spiritual
dimensions sooner or later hiding inside a space he
thought he owned and knew, and what would the next
step have to be after that? Herbs, crystals,
astrology? California?"

http://www.vheissu.org/bio/eng_barthelme.htm

http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/uncollected/barthelme.html

http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_barthelme.htm


Tabasco

http://www.tabasco.com/


Tex-Mex

Main Entry: Tex-Mex 
Pronunciation: 'teks-'meks
Function: adjective
Etymology: Texas + Mexicanico
: of, relating to, or being the Mexican-American
culture or cuisine existing or originating in
especially southern Texas <Tex-Mex cooking> <Tex-Mex
music>

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=tex-mex

The Food Timeline: Mexican & Tex Mex foods

http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/foodmexican.html


"burgoo"

Main Entry: bur·goo 
Pronunciation: 'b&r-"gü, (")b&r-'
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural burgoos
Etymology: origin unknown
1 : oatmeal gruel
2 : hardtack and molasses cooked together
3 a : a stew or thick soup of meat and vegetables
orig. served at outdoor gatherings b : a picnic at
which burgoo is served

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=burgoo

burgoo
[ber-GOO]
Also called Kentucky burgoo , this thick stew is full
of meats (usually pork, veal, beef, lamb and poultry)
and vegetables (including potatoes, onions, cabbage,
carrots, sweet green peppers, corn, okra, lima beans
and celery). Early renditions were more often made
with small game such as rabbit and squirrel. Burgoo is
popular for large gatherings in America's southern
states. Originally, the word "burgoo" was used to
describe an oatmeal porridge served to English sailors
as early as 1750.

http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/how_to/food_dictionary/entry?id=1596

The Burgoo Page

http://www.angelfire.com/ky/burgoo/

Burgoo: The Fellowship of Meat

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4144645


"cuisine of solitude"

Cf., e.g., ...

http://www.x-entertainment.com/messages/317.html

http://theages.superman.ws/Encyclopaedia/Fortress/

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/who-classic/who-classic-intro.php?topic=fortress


"to open up instead of shut down"

Comments?  Let me know.  Thanks.  Okay, then ...


		
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