Well, here we are again, my writing friends and I are down in Cornwall at the St Endellion North Cornwall Book Festival, This time we are staying in a lovely lodge on a holiday park, and having dined in the on-site restaurant, we are sitting in companionable silence, writing.
We had dinner in the on-site restaurant which was nearly empty because of course the proper holiday season is over. I had my favourite chicken Caesar salad and although simplified, without the anchovies and eggs, it was really fresh and delicious which as ever I thoroughly enjoyed. It seems that no-one really knows the origins of the dish – plenty of contenders, but most probably chef Caesar Cardini at Caesar’s inTijuana in Mexico in the 1920’s. However there are no really unusual or extraordinary ingredients or procedures to prepare it, and I’m guessing that combo was popular in many places – cheap and above all easy to make,
A modern example of dishes given a name which may not be literal, is an English dish – the Balti! A popular favourite with contested origins, it is a curry prepared in many restaurant kitchens, and with many claiming to be the original creators. A balti is a metal bowl and the name came to be given to the contents – meat, vegetables, spices cooked to make a splendid spicy stew. A balti pan may in turn have originated in Baltistan in north Kashmir. Thinking of curries and their accompaniments with misleading names, there is the Bombay duck which is not a duck but a fish, a Jerusalem artichoke which is the root of a sunflower not an artichoke which came from America not Jerusalem! Gunpowder tea? Nothing explosive about that! Spotted Dick? Don’t ask!
Lois Elsden 