Cheb (Senegal fish & rice dish); Pizza; Fuzhou Sauce;Gastropub;Convenience Food

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Another days goes by, and the likelihood that, for example, Kathleen
Miller and William Safire will correct "cakewalk" (a simple thing, really),
or that the Associated Press will correct its story that "parking fines
haven't increased since 1975," appears to be nil.
   These are incorrect facts.  I don't have to EARN respect here.  I don't
have to suffer.  I don't have to sue.  These are errors that must be
automatically corrected.
   But it's not automatic.  It's all a game of "we're the Associated Press
and the New York Times, and you're nobody."
   I canot tolerate when both my employer and my ADS colleagues lie and treat
me with no respect.  It's not even fun when the "Yankees" lost yesterday.
   This must lead me, if not now then soon, to another profession.  This will
not correct the situation for someone else, or add checks and balances where
none now exist.  But I can't, for example,  beg the New York Times for
another ten years to print a simple story about "the Big Apple."  It's
already been a disgrace to my departed family.
   David Shulman approached me yesterday.  Someone is selling a very valuable
collection of cryptography, and Shulman wants me to buy it to add to the
collection he's already donated to the NYPL.
   Maybe I should tell him again that I've earned all of $1,000 in 25 years,
and that I'll need what money I have to seek a new life, and perhaps in a new
home.

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---------------------------------------------CHEB

   From the VILLAGE VOICE, October 2-8, 2002, pg. 81, col. 2:

_best choice cheb_
Cheb, the national dish of Senegal, is now available in four boroughs in a
range of renditions.  Current best is that found at _DABAKHMALIK_,
picturesquely located right across the street from the Slave #1 Theatre on
Bed-Stuy's main drag--a mountain of red rice incorporating hunks of stuffed
bluefish, cabbage, cassava, and carrot, the flavor darkened with wisps of
stockfish.  1194 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, 718-789-2888.

   This looks like a no-brainer.  It's the national dish of Senegal.  It's in
at least four boroughs of New York City.  Enter it right away!
   If only it were that easy.
   There are five Senegalese restaurant's in TIME OUT NEW YORK'S EATING &
DRINKING 2003.  "Maffe" is here.(the Senegal peanut butter sauce/stew, not in
the revised OED?).
   From pg. 21, col. 3:

..._Thiebou diene_, which the menu trumpets as Senegal's national dish, is a
mix of tomatoey bluefish, tender vegetables and rice.
(...)
The draw here isn't atrmosphere--it's the _thiebou diene_, or _ceebu jen_.
Rstaurants may spell the name differently, but they all refer to this rice,
fish and vegetable dish with pride, branding it the "Senegalese daily meal."

   It's never "cheb"!  The spellings are wildly different!
   OED should pick the most frequent as it's main entry, but enter 'em all.
I'm working on it.  I was copying my "pupusa" stuff yesterday and my Senegal
books were all taken away when I returned to my library table.  I'll never
find them again!

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PIZZA

   From the VILLAGE VOICE, October 2-8, 2002, pg. 81:

   New York's first pizza parlor (founded 1905)--where American pizza was
invented--remains the best in town.  Especially when it comes to the sainted
clam pie.  At _LOMBARDI'S_, freshly shucked littlenecks are deposited on the
crust at the last minute and barely cooked, leaving them supremely juicy and
briny.  Type A.  32 Spring Street, 941-7994.

(I have cited "pizza" in the NEW YORK TIMES ffrom 1903, but since it says
here that American pizza was invented in 1905, I'll just ignore my
findings--ed.)

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FUZHOU

   From the same VILLAGE VOICE, pp. 80-81:

_best fabulous fuzhou_
The wave of Fujianese immigrants has crested in the last couple of years,
creating new parts of Chinatown on the Lower East Side, now teeming with
bargain cafes that charge $3 for a selection of three dishes served over a
mountain of rice.  In addition to a diverting steam table, _118 LUCKY_ offers
a menu of standards like sweet dumpling soup and duck in Fuzhou sauce, in
addition to nearly any type of fresh seafood perfectly steamed with shards of
ginger.  118 Eldridge Street, 965-1560.

(The only new "Fuzhou" word here appears to be "Fuzhou sauce," but it didn't
come up on Google--ed.)

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GASTROPUB

   The October 2002 issue of the American Express magazine DEPARTURES (named
because that's what happens to your money with your American Express card) is
a BRITAIN SPECIAL ISSUE.  I read it because there's food in each issue; the
NY TIMES writer R. W. Apple does a food essay here.  Mimi Sheraton was in a
month or so ago.  (Also, I read SEPARTURES because they send it to me.)
   From pg. 114:

Five or so years ago young chefs eager to go it alone invented the
gastropub--London's version of the Paris bistro--as an inepensive venue where
they could serve a clientele happier without a restaurant's formality.

   Perhaps not for the OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN FOOD, but perhaps
worth a mention.  "London Pubs Sip the Tonic of Youth" was in the NEW YORK
TIMES, 24 December 1997, pg. F1:
   "Thie weekend is the best time to catch the crowd at London's new
gastro-pubs."

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CONVENIENCE FOOD

   John Mariani's ENYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN FOOD & DRINK has "convenience
store," but not "convenience food."  OED has December 1961.

   10 November 1954, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 50:
   Among these he mentioned the sale of non-food items in grocery stores and
the introduction of frozen foods and other so-called convenience food
products and beer.

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GENERATION GAP

   Not a food term, but an antedate.  OED has May 1967.

   2 March 1964, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 24:
   She has done what no other entertainer has managed since the Beatles and
the rock 'n' roll groups came on the scene.  She has bridged the generation
gap.

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KA-TA

   For those who like this spelling.
   From THE PEOPLE OF TIBET (1928, 1968, at Oxford of course), by Sir Charles
Bell, pg. 220:

   Firstly, the silk scarf of ceremony (_ka-ta)_

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-------------------------------------------SAMBO.

   What will the next DARE have for "Sambo"?
   I was looking for "okra."  Another early hit for this is on EARLY ENGLISH
BOOKS ONLINE.  THe book is A TRUE & EXACT HISTORY OF THE ISLAND OF BARBADOES
(1657) by Richard Ligon, pg. 54:

   The substance of this, in such language as they had, they delivered, and
poor _Sambo_ was the Orator...

(OED cites from this book 283 times, yet misses "Sambo" and the numerous
mentions of "brandy"--ed.)