So you’ve just canceled that upcoming trip, but you’re still feeling the wanderlust? Don’t be consumed by disappointment—there’s a travel adventure in the food you consume.

Lunch time scenario 1: Lee and his friend Ana meet for lunch. Lee orders a French dip, French fries and a salad with French dressing.

“Wow,” says Ana with crystal-clear cultural awareness. “You sure love American food!”

Lunch time scenario 2: On a culinary travel adventure one summer, I realize it’s been years since I’ve had a Reuben sandwich. Although it’s non-kosher (mixing meat and cheese), it’s a staple of many Jewish delicatessens.

“I devour the sandwich, a mountain of corned beef between two greasy slabs of marble rye, leaking cheese and Russian dressing all down the front of my sweater. It’s delicious, and I don’t stop eating until I’ve finished the last thick fry, which I use to mop up the remains of the sandwich.”

Ah yes, the front of every sweater, blouse, and pajama top I own might just as well be emblazoned with an image of an airport runway. I order a Reuben anyway, because here I am in the city that invented it. You know, Omaha.

A Slice of History

Reportedly, the Reuben sandwich was invented during a poker game at Omaha’s Blackstone Hotel circa the 1930s. Hotel proprietor Charles Schimmel then added it to Blackstone’s menu.

Fern Snider, a former employee of the Blackstone, used the recipe to win a national competition in 1956. That’s when the Oxford English Dictionary cites the first published use of the term “Reuben sandwich.”

Several New York-based origin stories also exist, including one from cookbook author and New York Times food journalist Craig Claiborne.

But I’d keep that to yourself if you’re in Nebraska on March 14. That’s when people in Omaha celebrate National Reuben Sandwich Day. The food fest became official there in 2013.

Oh, I see: Food histories are like mystery novels, except that you can eat the clues, red herrings and all.

In a Pickle

Granted, it doesn’t take gourmet detective Poirot to reveal that a Reuben’s Swiss cheese and Russian dressing are neither Swiss nor Russian—just a case of “Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with Kraft Foods.”

But even the Reuben’s sauerkraut, well-documented in German culture, has ties to another culture: Mongolia. One reason Genghis Khan galloped from Asia to Meissen, Germany is that his nomadic horsemen packed the perfect lunch for those 4,000-mile commutes. Fermented food: Don’t leave the yurt without it.

A Mystery that Takes the Cake

In 1963, when President Lyndon Johnson hosted a luncheon for German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, the dessert chef served German chocolate cake. One wonders what Erhard thought of this three-layer confection of buttermilk, pecans, and not-exactly Teutonic coconut. No German bakery had ever produced one.

In 1852, an English American chocolate mill worker named Samuel German developed a baking chocolate sweet enough to eat as a bar. Mr. German sold his recipe to Mr. Walter Baker of Baker’s Chocolate Company in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The resulting product, still on grocery shelves today, was Baker’s German’s Chocolate.

A mere 105 years later, a recipe for German’s Chocolate Cake appeared in The Dallas Morning News. According to National Public Radio, sales of Baker’s German’s chocolate “shot up 73 percent that year, 1957.” Somewhere along the way, folks forgot the apostrophe in German’s. Yes, they fudged the spelling and “German Chocolate” took the cake.

You Say Croissant, I Say Kipferl

So many foods associated with one place began in another that tracking them down becomes a culinary adventure.

The croissant, that iconic French bread, might never have happened without an Austrian entrepreneur. According to food historian Jim Chevallier, author of August Zang and the French Croissant, the word for croissant did not even exist in 1838. That’s when Zang launched the first Viennese bread bakery in Paris, at 92 Rue Richelieu.

Zang, whose breads included the crescent-shaped kipferl, filled his patented steam oven with moist hay to add “a lustrous sheen.” Customers took notice. So did French bakers. A trend was born.

As for the pommes frites that preceded fries, they really are French, right? Belgian food historians say, “Au contraire!” Others credit Pedro Cieza, “teenage conquistador turned historian” of Spain. “Hold on!” say others, “It all began with the ancient Incas.”

Yes, the food on your plate is a gastronomical map of the world. Once you bring cultural awareness to the table, it’s all a culinary travel adventure.

• Team Omaha or Team New York? To read more about origins of the Reuben, see the Blackstone story here and food critic Craig Claiborne’s nod to its New York origin story here.

• Get the skinny on a puffy bread. Order August Zang and the French Croissant here.

$\"A$

You can order French bread in Denmark (but not a “Danish”).
In France, just order bread\u2014in French.
\u00a9 Joyce McGreevy<\/p><\/div>\n

Food Origin Fun with a Dash of Cultural Awareness<\/h2>\n
So you’ve just canceled that upcoming trip, but you’re still feeling the wanderlust? Don’t be consumed by disappointment\u2014there’s a travel adventure in the food you consume.<\/p>\n
Lunch time scenario 1<\/strong>: Lee and his friend Ana meet for lunch.\u00a0 Lee orders a French dip, French fries and a salad with French dressing.<\/p>\n
Intrigued, Ana asks Lee, \u201cWhat did you have for breakfast?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrench toast,\u201d says Lee. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWow,\u201d says Ana with crystal-clear cultural awareness. \u201cYou sure love American food!\u201d<\/p>\n
$\"Brussels$
In Brussels, nobody eats Brussels sprouts, but many people enjoy spruitjes<\/em>.
Photo by Pxhere<\/p><\/div>\n
Lunch time scenario 2:<\/strong> On a culinary travel adventure one summer, I realize it\u2019s been years since I\u2019ve had a Reuben sandwich. Although it\u2019s non-kosher (mixing meat and cheese), it\u2019s a staple of many Jewish delicatessens.<\/p>\n
As Meredith Mileti writes in Aftertaste<\/a>: A Novel in Five Courses:<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cI devour the\u00a0sandwich, a mountain of corned beef between two greasy slabs of marble rye, leaking cheese and Russian dressing all down the front of my sweater. It’s delicious, and I don’t stop eating until I’ve finished the last thick fry, which I use to mop up the remains of the\u00a0sandwich.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Ah yes, the front of every sweater, blouse, and pajama top I own might just as well be emblazoned with an image of an airport runway. I order a Reuben anyway, because here I am in the city that invented it. You know, Omaha.<\/p>\n
Wait, what?<\/em><\/p>\n
$\"\"$
It’s not “rye” humor\u2014the Reuben sandwich may hail from the Cornhusker State.
\u00a9 Kimberly Vardman (CC By 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n
A Slice of History<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Reportedly, the Reuben sandwich was invented during a poker game at Omaha\u2019s Blackstone Hotel circa the 1930s. Hotel proprietor Charles Schimmel then added it to Blackstone\u2019s menu.<\/p>\n
Fern Snider, a former employee of the Blackstone, used the recipe to win a national competition in 1956. That\u2019s when the Oxford English Dictionary cites the first published use of the term \u201cReuben sandwich.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several New York-based origin stories also exist, including one from cookbook author and New York Times food journalist Craig Claiborne.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019d keep that to yourself if you\u2019re in Nebraska on March 14. That’s when people in Omaha celebrate National Reuben Sandwich Day.\u00a0 The food fest became official there in 2013.<\/p>\n
Oh, I see:<\/strong> Food histories are like mystery novels, except that you can eat the clues, red herrings and all.<\/p>\n
In a Pickle<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Granted, it doesn\u2019t take gourmet detective Poirot to reveal that a Reuben\u2019s Swiss cheese and Russian dressing are neither Swiss nor Russian\u2014just a case of \u201cColonel Mustard in the Kitchen with Kraft Foods.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even the Reuben\u2019s sauerkraut, well-documented in German culture, has ties to another culture: Mongolia.\u00a0 One reason Genghis Khan galloped from Asia to Meissen, Germany is that his nomadic horsemen packed the perfect lunch for those 4,000-mile commutes. Fermented food: Don\u2019t leave the yurt without it.<\/p>\n
$\"Mongolian$
From Mongolia to Germany to a Chicago hot dog, pickled cabbage has come a long way.
Photo by Erdenebayar<\/a>\/Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n
A Mystery that Takes the Cake <\/strong><\/h4>\n
In 1963, when President Lyndon Johnson hosted a luncheon for German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, the dessert chef served German chocolate cake. One wonders what Erhard thought of this three-layer confection of buttermilk, pecans, and not-exactly Teutonic coconut. No German bakery had ever produced one.<\/p>\n
So why \u201cGerman\u201d?<\/p>\n
In 1852, an English American chocolate mill worker named Samuel German developed a baking chocolate sweet enough to eat as a bar. Mr. German sold his recipe to Mr. Walter Baker of Baker\u2019s Chocolate Company in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The resulting product, still on grocery shelves today, was Baker\u2019s German\u2019s Chocolate<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
A mere 105 years later, a recipe for German\u2019s<\/em> Chocolate Cake appeared in The Dallas Morning News.\u00a0 According to National Public Radio, sales of Baker\u2019s German\u2019s chocolate \u201cshot up 73 percent that year, 1957.\u201d Somewhere along the way, folks forgot\u00a0 the apostrophe in German’s. <\/em>Yes, they fudged<\/em> the spelling and\u00a0 “German Chocolate” took the cake.<\/p>\n
$\"A$
I like ads that emphasize the nutritional importance of eating chocolate.
Public domain photo<\/p><\/div>\n
You Say Croissant, I Say Kipferl<\/strong><\/h4>\n
So many foods associated with one place began in another that tracking them down becomes a culinary adventure.<\/p>\n
The croissant<\/em>, that iconic French bread, might never have happened without an Austrian entrepreneur.<\/em> According to food historian Jim Chevallier, author of August Zang and the French Croissant,<\/em> the word for croissant<\/em> did not even exist in 1838. That\u2019s when Zang launched the first Viennese bread bakery in Paris, at 92 Rue Richelieu.<\/p>\n
Zang, whose breads included the crescent-shaped kipferl, <\/em>filled his patented steam oven with moist hay to add \u201ca lustrous sheen.\u201d Customers took notice. So did French bakers. A trend was born.<\/p>\n
$\"A$
Surely the Danish came from Denmark. No, Austrian bakers invented that, too.
Photo by Pxhere<\/p><\/div>\n
A Moveable Feast of Food Origins<\/strong><\/p>\n
In the annals of food history, one culture whets the appetite of others:<\/p>\n
\n
San Francisco launched \u201c Italian soda<\/a>.\u201d<\/li>\n
New York, not Nome, popularized Baked Alaska<\/a>.<\/li>\n
Dutch Baby<\/a> has nothing to do with the Netherlands\u2014ask Seattleites<\/a>.<\/li>\n
Indian-style vindaloo<\/a> has ties to Portugal<\/li>\n
Tijuana, Mexico is the birthplace of Caesar Salad<\/a>.<\/li>\n
And a Greek Canadian<\/a> invented Hawaiian Pizza.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
As for the pommes frites<\/a><\/em> that preceded fries, they really are<\/em> French, right? Belgian food historians say, \u201cAu contraire!\u201d<\/em> Others credit Pedro Cieza, \u201cteenage conquistador turned historian\u201d of Spain. \u201cHold on!\u201d say others, \u201cIt all began with the ancient Incas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, the food on your plate is a gastronomical map of the world. Once you bring cultural awareness to the table, it\u2019s all a culinary travel adventure.<\/p>\n
$\"A$
An Asian restaurant in Athens evokes the global migrations of culinary cultures.
\u00a9 Joyce McGreevy<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2022 Team Omaha or Team New York? To read more about origins of the Reuben, see the Blackstone story here<\/a> and food critic Craig Claiborne’s nod to its New Yor k<\/a> origin story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u2022 Get the skinny on a puffy bread. Order August Zang and the French Croissant<\/em> here.<\/a><\/p>\n
Comment<\/a> on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":36364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162,250,227],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encounters-culture","category-chefs-creative","category-worldwide-mappoints"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36360"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36487,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36360\/revisions\/36487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}