Fungi (1940) and Virgin Islands cuisine (1961)

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   More recording of Virgin Islands cuisine.


   September 1940, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, "The American Virgins" by DuBose Heyward and Daisy Reck, pg. 273+.
(Heyward was the South Carolina author responsible for the masterpiece PORGY AND BESS.  This was one of his last writings--ed.)
Opposite Page 280, Color Plate V caption:  A few of the islanders raise goats for their milk.  On St. Croix graze herds of long-horned cattle.  Chief native dish is _okra-fungi_, made of okra and corn meal.
Pg. 306, col. 2:  At night, passing an estate village, the visitor will hear the raucous rhythms of a native "scratchy band" and the shuffle of dancing feet.


   February 1956, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE:
Pg. 230, col. 1:  With Ridge Folk I watched an island fisherman lift his pots in choppy Europa Bay.  A flopping, shimmering rainbow spilled into his skiff--vivid parrotfish, which the islanders call "goot-too," and scarlet squirrelfish; boxfish and lancet-armed "blue doctors," or surgeon-fish; harlequin Nassau groupers and an old-wife, the brilliant queen triggerfish, which the natives believe is occasionally poisonous.


THE VIRGIN ISLANDS AND THEIR PEOPLE
by J. Antonio Jarvis
Philadelphia: Dorrance & Company
1944

Pg. 29:  For the most part, marlin and swordfish give more pleasure than sharks, but some people like to catch "nurses" (baby sharks) and tell about the larger ones that got away.
Pg. 41:  Hermit crabs, commonly called "soldier crabs," are often found at night crawling through the city streets on their way to the hills where they seek fresh water.


THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
by Stuart Murray
New York:  Duell, SLoan and Pearce
1951

Pp. 118-122 (Plants and fish of the islands--ed.)
Pg. 169:  VIRGIN ISLANDS RUM RECIPES
Virgin Pineapple Dream Fizz...
Virgin Miss Clara...
Virgin Zombie...
Virgin Planter's Punch No. 1...
Pg. 170:
Sly Virgin...
Bluebeard Red Sheet...
Virgin No. 2...
Virgin Daiquiri...
Virgin Old Maid...
Virgin Glow...
Virgin Passion...
Virgin Sherry...
Virgin Hold Fast, Martha!...
Virgin Me Eye!...
Pg. 171:
Virgin No. 1...
Virgin Black Beauty...
Virgin Dry Martini...
   (Oh, those tame old drink-naming days.  There's probably a "Virgin Screaming Orgasm" served there now--ed.)


VIRGIN ISLANDS
by George T. Eggleston
Toronto: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.
1959

Pg. 171:  St. Croix has been called the "Connecticut of the Caribbean."  This is partly because so many people from Connecticut have come to St. Croix to spend their winter holidays--and so many who have come to play, have bought and decided to stay.  But also parts of the island look very much like Connecticut.
   (There's white clam pizza?  Yalies?--ed.)



THE VIRGINS:  MAGIC ISLANDS
by Jeanne Perkins Harman
New York:  Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc.
1961
Second Printing February 1962

   A whole chapter on food, with complete recipes!

Pg. 4:  St. Thomians, who like bustling shops, a harbor welcoming ships of all nations, and a strong international flavor, dismiss St. John as "the place old people go (Pg. 5--ed.) to visit their parents."  St. Johnians counter by calling St. Thomas "a sunny place for shady people."  Spacious, proper-Bostonian St. Croix takes no particular exception to being called "the Connecticut of the Caribbean," but prefers its own self-analysis: "Were the Virgin Islands Florida, St. Croix would be Palm Beach."
Pg. 125:  Chapter 9.  FOOD
Pg. 129:  _Gundi_, a delicious concoction of smoked herring, diced beets, boiled potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, is an essential to a gala Holy Week celebration as turkey is on Thanksgiving.  In St. Croix, _maufe_ is the festival dish.  Many combinations of "ingreasements" (ingredients) are attributed magical properties as part of the obdeiah cult as it was practiced.
Pg. 129:  _Kallaloo_, which gets its name from the spinach-like native vegetable which it contains, is a sort of West Indian bouillabaise (Pg. 130--ed.) which is to St. Thomas what beans are to Boston.  Instead of John Doe, for instance, the nameless Mr. Everyman is John Kallaloo in the Virgin Islands.
Pg. 130:  Highly recommended as a cure for husbands who won't stay home nights is "stay home sauce."  The use of stay home sauce, which is made from "bush," (Virgin Islandese for spinach, turnip tops, and other greens), is not punishable by law, despite the stringent regulations on the books regarding wifely conduct, which provide, among other things, that she must "obey her husband in all ways."
Pg. 131:  To make a welcome visitor return to the Islands, just feed him pigeon pea soup.  Turtle steak supposedly promotes virility, as does the juice of the soursop, and there are other carefully guarded secret foods believed to be equally effective.
Pg. 133:  For the experimentally minded reader, here are instructions for creating some typical Virgin Islands dishes, many of which have been tested in the kitchens of famed _Gourmet_ magazine in conjunction with an article on island cuisine by this author:
KALLALOO...
GOLDEN GROVE RAGOUT...
Pg. 134:
FUNGI...
MAUFE...
Pg. 135:
BAKED FISH EDDIE...
POOFTIES...
Pg. 136:
GUNDI...
COCONUT APPETIZERS...
Pg. 137:
SAFARI SALAD...
BOLONGO PIE...
Pg. 138:
BANANA DAIQUIRI...
Pg. 139:
RUM HIGHBALLS...
GOVERNOR'S CUP...
ST. THOMAS SEVENTY-FIVE...
Pg. 140:
COCONUT COOLER...