Menudo (1904); OT: Food History News

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MENUDO

   From PaperofRecord.com.


   25 September 1904, THE MEXICAN HERALD, pg. 9, col. 2:
_Peon Restaurant of City of Mexico:_
_"Square Meals" For From Two Cents Up_
(...)
(Col. 3--ed.)
   A loaf of bread, called "pambaz" or rather "pan bozo" made of common
flour, and about three inches long, is cut half lengthwise.  This loaf is hollow.
In the cavity is place (sic) a tablespoonful of this stew: a spoonful of chile
sauce poured over it; the other half loaf placed on top, and there you are
for three centavos.  No Anglo-Saxon, with eyes and an imagination--unless he is
nearly starved--can bolt that combination.
   There are other stands where only tortillas con carne are sold.
(...)
   Some of the better calsses of stands keep "tortas compuestas" which are a
kind of sandwich made of hogshead cheese, sausage, boiled ham, fried pork,
canned corned beef, chicken, etc.  These sell for from six to ten centavos each
according to the quality of the meat used in them.
(...)
(Col. 4--ed.)
   In eating houses they sell "panzita" or "menudo" mixed with boiled corn;
an ordinary sized plateful costs three centavos.
(...)
   Beef or mutton soup, about an ordinary sized teacup ful three centavos;
boiled rice mixed with fine cut chile, two centavos; guisado, a stew made of
meat and three or four kinds of vegetables, three centavos; boiled beans, two
centavos; chicken stewed in a dark mahogany-colored gravy, three centavos; boiled
beef and potatoes, three centavos; three tortillas one centavo or a small
loaf of bread, three centavos; a big glass of pulgue, two centavos.
   One can order the same dish as often as desired at the same price.
   In all fondas and even in good restaurants the famous "mole de guajolote"
is in the bill of fare every Sunday, and the sign "Rico Mole de Guajolote los
Domingos" is always visible either on the facade of the restaurant or on the
menu cards, if there are any.
(...)

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OT:  FOOD HISTORY NEWS

   This--from the "Editor's Notebook" at FOOD HISTORY NEWS--got a knowing
grin from me:

http://foodhistorynews.com/notebook.html
October 1, 2003In this issue:Who is a food history professional?

Food history professionals? As some of us have mulled over the Food History
Symposium in Mississippi (see September 23 entry below...) the question has
come up about who is a food history professional. In fact, I have asked if there
are any. While a great many of the attendees and presenters are professionals,
and do food history, there is hardly anyone of the them who does food history
full-time for a living.

People ask me all the time how to become a food historian, and I always ask
them why would they want to be one? At the very best, I can think of only a
half dozen or so individuals who do food history for more than half of their
time. Almost all of us who work at this have some other means of support: a
profession like freelance writing, teaching, or museum work. We might have a
business like selling antiquarian cookbooks or culinary antiques. Some of us have
pensions or private wealth. Some have supportive and employed spouses. I can
think of only four or five of us who actually try to make our living at food
history, and I am here to say, as one who tries to do so, it can scarcely be done.
The only reason I can come close is because of where and how I live which
is--very simply in rural Maine.

So I don't think there really are any professional food historians as much as
there are professionals doing food history, and I think it will be that way
for at least another ten to twenty years. I do think that eventually food
history will take its place with economic, military, architectural, etc. history,
and perhaps there will be some teaching positions in food history. There may
even be sufficient interest to give someone a job doing food history research
and writing for hire--that is, of course, the job I want. Right now, many food
history questions float in the realm of idle curiosity or in sound-bite service
to commerce. I don't much care were it is as long as people are getting more
and more interested all the time. But it isn't a living. If you are
fantasizing about being a professional food historian, keep your day job.


   Which is, of course, parking tickets.
   My cousin's husband--he of the two wonderful daughters--is also a lawyer.
He makes $600 an hour.  My co-worker commented:  "So?  That's only about $570
an hour more than we make."
   To earn as much as I've made from the "hot dog," he'd have to work...one
second.
   The Big Apple?  Six years ago, when "Big Apple Corner" passed into law, I
gave information to the New York Public Library and to the New York Historical
Society, and told them that I'd like to donate my money and my time to get
this on a city web site.  There was no response.
   After those two amazing "Big Apple" newspaper articles appeared about 40
days ago, I confronted the NYPL and N-YHS again last month.   The NYPL
librarian (who knew me, but obviously not my work) told me that my work, which had
been placed in the NYPL file, was missing from the NYPL file.  When I told him
that I'd passed a law, he said, well, do you have knowledge of every law?  I
didn't even receive an "I'm sorry." And I've never received a kind word from any
NYC institution, ever, to this day.
   Anyway, the FHN article sums it up the problem nicely.