3-Week SASA Reading Group: Caro Tresque: Roman and Southern Cuisine

Previous participation and previous knowledge not required.

 There are remarkable similarities between the cuisine of the Ancient Romans and the Modern American south. I hope to encourage my reading groupmates to reflect on the origins of what is in their meat and three tray, and to try some roman cooking techniques. Texts for the course will include selections from Cato, Apicius, Ovid, Edna Lewis, and Michael W. Twitty. Along with helping direct discussions about the text, I hope to discuss the particulars of recipes, as well as demonstrate a couple.

Week one will cover almost exclusively one vegetable, Collards. This humble staple is both an obsession of Cato the Elder and the state vegetable of South Carolina. We will discuss the history of collards, the cultural importance they hold for southerners and African American Communities moved by the Great Migration, and I will demo a Roman trick for keeping greens from going grey.  Week two will cover the favorite meats of Romans and Southerners, namely pork and shellfish. We will discuss pork rinds, ham, oysters, and I will demo a recipe for Roman Crabcakes. Week three will discuss the dynamics of who cooked, served, and developed Roman and Southern Cuisine. Both Roman and southern American food cultures were shaped both by large plantations with enslaved staff, as well as small scale sustenance farming. Migration and cultural exchange, both voluntary and forced, are a critical influence and deserve a place in any discussion on food.

3-Week Text-In-Translation Reading Group

Sundays at 11 am Eastern Time

Start date: January 8th

End date: January 22nd

MUST RSVP TO GET THE ZOOM LINK. The same link will be used for all 3 sessions.