A Sweet History

Ice Cream Inspired by People and Places in the Past

[asweethistory]

Diana’s Deer Tracks

Raspberry Leaf and Mugwort Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Cups and Walnut Fudge

Diana sits upon a gold stag in several museums such as the Met, Walters, and MFA, so I have come across her metallic naked form and her animal companions housed in a gallery of every city I have lived in for the past decade. Diana and Stag in each location is displayed for its mobile abilities. As 17th century automatons, Diana would play the role of entertainment for a court’s feast. The head of her stag was removed and its body was filled with wine. Replace the head, wind the motor, and Diana whirled around the long table. If the drinking game stopped in front of you, you were tasked with lifting the heavy piece of gold and silver and taking a drink. While produced in Germany, the imagery speaks to Roman mythology: Diana, goddess of the hunt, wild animals, countryside, and moon.   

Carrying a bow and quiver of golden arrows, dressed in a tunic and gold, Diana came to represent both the wilderness and the hunt, a favorite sport in both Roma and Greek culture, but also the idealized contrast in the tame countryside. This dichotomy was first seen in the Greek Artemis, who passed on most of her attributes to the Roman Diana. Similarly, Diana protected both wild and domestic animals. Diana was also seen as a triple goddess, a third huntress, a third as the moon, and a third of the underworld. Swearing to never marry, Diana was also connected to childbirth and fertility due to her association with the moon and its cycles. 

Always paired with her, as seen in the automatons, is a deer or two. In myth of Actaeon, a young hunter spies on Diana bathing and therefore is cursed and transformed into a deer only to be eaten by his own hunting dogs. Another popular myth explains how Diana accidentally killed her crush Orion due to target practice organized spitefully by Diana’s brother Apollo. 

There was a resurgence of Roman mythology during the Renaissance and art of Diana was especially admired during this time from painting to mechanical and magical objects like automatons. In the modern era, Diana has been considered a feminist figure. Even the character of Wonder Woman named Diana, a descendant of the gods.

[asweethistory]

Mamma Mia

Ligonberry Ouzo Triple Citrus Sunrise Ice Cream topped with White Ischoklad and Blue Sugar Sprinkles 

In 1972, four performers, made up of two couples, formed the musical group, ABBA. The bands name was created by using the first letter of each members’ first names: Agnetha Fältskoa, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. 

Both Benny and Björn were in separate rock groups as teenagers. Called the Swedish Beetles, Benny’s band, the Hep Stars, recorded a song that was written by Benny and Björn, who had began to regularly collaborate. In 1969, Benny submitted a song to for the Swedish Eurovision entry. While he didn’t win, he met Anni, who also had participated in the festival. Anni, along with Björn’s partner, Agnetha, would join the men in the recording studio as they worked on their first album together. Anni and Agnetha had their own successful music careers when they began singing backing vocals for Benny and Björn.

In April 1970, the two couples vacationed in Cyprus and what begun as singing for fun on the beach turned into an impromptu live performance, leading to a stage act back home named Festfolket, meaning Party People. Surprisingly, the act garnered negative reviews, causing the foursome to put their ideas of working together on the back burner. 

It wasn’t until 1971 after “Hej, gamle man,” a song credited to Björn & Benny but one that all four created was released and found popularity, that they began working dedicating more time to collaboration. By 1973, the group started officially going by ABBA, even negotiating with a Swedish fish-canning company for the rights to the name. In 1974, ABBA was chosen to represent Sweden at Eurovision with the song “Waterloo,” and they won the international contest, which led to a European tour. ABBA’s next single “Honey, Honey,” reached number 27 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and even though in 2005, Eurovision declared “Waterloo” to be the best song in its history, overall there was worry in the 70s that ABBA would be a one-hit wonder. Slowly but surely, ABBA’s music gained popularity and “Mamma Mia” reached the number one spot in the UK. A couple years later, “Dancing Queen,” was number 1 in the US. As they became one of the most popular bands in the world, Björn and Agnetha went through a divorce. The media was convinced that the breakup would affect the band. However, their sixth studio album, topped charts in 1979. 

However on December 11, 1982, ABBA performed for the last time, and while they didn’t make an official announcement, this performance was viewed as the end. Benny and Björn continued to work together, specifically writing songs for musicals. In 1983, they met producer Judy Craymer who believed their songs had theatrical potential and 14 years later, Craymer commissioned Catherine Johnson to write a book for a musical inspired by ABBA’s discography. 

Mamma Mia! opened on April 6, 1999, and told the story of Sophie, who invites three men, who could all possibly be her father, to her Greek wedding behind her mother, Dona’s, back. The musical not only provided ABBA fans with nostalgia, but promoted the strength of single motherhood, female friendships, and female sexuality. Almost a decade later, the musical was adapted into a movie with a star studded cast, including Meryl Streep playing Dona, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan playing two of the fathers, Amanda Seyfried as Sophie, and Julie Walters as one of Donna’s friends. The cast filmed on the island of Skopelos while drinking large amounts of Ouzo. Despite the movie receiving mixed reviews for its campy feel and for the actor’s varying singing skills, it became a beloved classic. So much so that 10 years later, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, brought the cast, now including Cher, back together for a continuation of the story. The sequel, which also is a prequel, celebrates the reopening of the Hotel Bella Donna in honor of Donna’s recent passing, and explores Donna’s early experiences on the island including her meeting of the three fathers. The film was a box office hit, further popularizing ABBA’s music and planting the band and the film franchise in the hearts of many. 

Before the release of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, ABBA unexpectedly reunited and recorded two new songs. “I Still Have Faith in You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down” were released as singles in September 2021. Voyage, ABBA’s ninth studio album will be released in one month, on November 5th 2021 and will be followed by a concert residency complete with virtual avatars of the band. 

[asweethistory]

Esther x Vashti

Purple Carrot Cardamom Ice cream with Apricot Wine Swirl topped in Gold Leaf 

At sundown on February 25th this year, the Jewish holiday of Purim begins. The two day celebration, which has become known as the “Jewish Halloween,” originated during the 4th or 5th century BC when the Jewish community in the Persian Empire was heroically saved from Haman, an official who sought to eradicate the Jewish population. In annual readings and reenactments of the story (or the “megillah”), Haman is commonly recognized by his three pointed hat, which we also eat in the form of hamantaschen cookies. The hero of the Purim story is usually Esther, King Ahasuerus’s wife, whose secret Jewish identity she revealed at just the right moment to foil Haman’s plot. 

Esther, though, is the second queen. The story opens with Ahasuerus’s first wife, Vashti, refusing to dance (presumably naked) at a banquet for his drunken guests. Fearful that her disobedience will undermine his perception of power and inspire all the women of the kingdom to rise up against their husbands, the king banishes her. A year-long pageant is held to find a suitable replacement, in which all the contestants were likely raped before one was offered the honor of the royal crown. Esther, who had been offered to the king by her guardian and uncle Mordecai, accepts her new position as queen without protest. Instead of outright defiance, she cleverly works to earn the king’s sympathy and favor. Knowing Vashti’s fate, Esther gives herself to her husband in order to lift his mood and in turn is able to convince him that not only he should put an end to the pogrom, but that he should also hang Haman in the gallows that were built for Mordecai. 

Since Esther replaces Vashti (and goes on to save the Jewish people), the two women are often portrayed as opposites in the Purim story: Vashti, a villain, is cast out in disgrace, while Esther, through her patience and humility, is able to rise up as a hero. But while Esther hid her Jewish identity in order to purposefully persuade the King to not follow through on Haman’s order, Vashti boldly disobeyed her husband’s direct commands. Both figures have been praised throughout history by feminist writers and activists. As early as the 19th century, Vashti began to gain more favorable attention, receiving admiration in 1878 from Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her confrontational stance and refusal to bend to a man’s wishes have made her a feminist icon in recent years, and this has often gone hand-in-hand with undermining Esther’s own role as a heroine.

But pitting the two women against each other is fruitless, no matter which one we favor, since the wives of Ahasuerus never were in conflict with one another. Some historians even speculate that their stories could have stemmed from the same woman; Xerxes (often identified with Ahasuerus) only had one recorded wife, Amestris. Whether or not that’s true, both women deserve our respect. While they each stand up to their husband in different ways, they share the same strength of will and disdain for the patriarchal authority. 

[asweethistory]

Antonio Gramsci

Pecorino Ice Cream with Honey Lem Varenye and Lavender Semolina Cookies

Born 130 years ago, Antonio Francescio Gramsci became an esteemed Marxist philosopher and writer during his short life. He grew up on the island of Sardinia amongst 6 brothers and a father who was imprisoned for embezzlement, which left Gramsci’s family in poverty. It is believed that a form of Tuberculosis gave Gramsci a hunch back and kept him from growing taller than 5 feet. As a kid, Gramsci saw grave mistreatment of Sardinian peasants from Italian mainlanders, especially as Northern Italy rapidly became industrialized without the South or the islands. 

When he was 20, Gramsci was granted a scholarship to study in the North, at the University of Turin. He focused on literature, linguistics, and history in school and socialized with Sardinian emigrants. In 1913, Gramsci became a member of the Italian Socialist Party and began writing for socialist newspapers. He also gave speeches on subjects ranging from the French Revolution to the emancipation of women. By 1917, Gramsci was a leading socialist in Turin and in 1919 the Italian Socialist Party joined the Third International, the international communist organization founded by Vladimir Lenin. 

In 1922, Gramsci visited Russia as a representative of the Communist Party of Italy, where he met his future wife, Julia Schucht. While Gramsci was in Moscow, Benito Mussolini worked to repress the party and arrest its leaders back in Italy, leaving Gramsci as the head of the party. In November 1926, Gramsci was arrested in Rome by the fascist police. The prosecutor at his trial declared, “We must stop his brain from functioning.” Gramsci spent 11 years in prison, in which time his health waned, but his writing flourished. He died in prison at the age of 46. 

During his imprisonment, Gramsci penned 30 notebooks and 3,000 pages of history and analysis. This work was published posthumously. He continues to be studied and cited for his contributions to Marxist theory and connections between culture, the state, the economy, and power relations.  Gramsci argued that ruling classes maintain power not through force or violence, but through a hegemonic culture that turns ideology into “common sense,” so that even those most negatively impacted by capitalism are willing to fight to maintain the status quo. To this end, he argued powerfully for the widespread education of the working classes and the importance of consent in governance.

[asweethistory]

Four Thieves

Balsamic Vinegar, Lavender, Clove, Marjoram, and Rosemary Ice Cream 

Interest in the history of the Plague or the Black Death, the world’s deadliest pandemic in recorded human history, has skyrocketed in the past year. Imagery of plague doctors are everywhere, from jewelry to stuffed toys, and herbal medicine is gaining popularity. 

While we are much farther along in medical advancements, which allows us to avoid the massive death toll experience in the 14th century, the Plague produced several curious ways to help contain the spread or mitigate the odor of decay.

One such example was Four Thieves vinegar. The concoction was meant to prevent one from catching the Plague. Most recipes were made up of vinegar and at least four herbs, representing the four thieves. The herbs used varied, but bottles of the vinegar often included lavender, rosemary, cloves, marjoram, wormwood, sage, and meadowsweet. The idea was that many of the herbs were anti microbial and acted as natural flea repellents — fleas were a carrier of the plague — while other herbs helped cloak the stink of decomposing bodies. 

The name of the brew comes from the myth of the four thieves. In a French town riddled by the Plague, four thieves were caught stealing from the dead. To avoid punishment, the thieves offered to give up their secret solution to keeping themselves safe from the Plague even around the dead they were robbing. 

While elixirs like this were made from the 14th century on, the origin story might not have developed until the 17th or 18th century. Regardless of the origin story, recipes for the vinegar were used for centuries following the Black Death and you can still purchase bottles of it today. 

[asweethistory]

Ultimate Grey / Illuminating

Black Sesame Lovage Ice Cream swirled with Sunny Sunchoke Ice Cream

Over half a century ago, a printing company was created by two New Jersey brothers. They hired a recent graduate as a part-time employee, who used his chemistry background to systematize the company’s collection of pigments. Less than 10 years later, this employee bought out the original brothers who were in debt and turned the company into Pantone. Pantone became known for the Pantone Guides, a small fan deck of color swatches, which greatly helped designers to color match. 

2021 marks the 21st year, that Pantone has selected a “color of the year.” The color (or in certain cases like this year, two colors) is chosen after a two-day debate of color officials. The color is meant to represent the zeitgeist. 

This year’s spirit is expressed by Ultimate Gray—a solid and strong shade—and Illuminating—a sunny yellow. Pantone asserts that these two individual colors “highlight how different elements come together to support one another.” The color combonation epitomizes strength, positivity, happiness, hope and resilence. 

[asweethistory]

Speculaas

Pine Ice Cream with Cookie Butter and Speculaas Cookies

If you haven’t heard of speculaas or tasted speculoos, then maybe you actually have in the form of Trader Joe’s cookie butter or Delta’s Biscoff cookies. Speculoos cookies have gained international popularity within the last few years, making appearances in ice cream and waffles, but the spiced crunchy cookie’s story originates over 350 years ago. 

Speculaas is a spiced biscuit, historically made during the holiday season of December in Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. It’s brown and crunchy appearance is often  enhanced by an image stamped on top ranging from seasonal figures like St. Nicholas to countryside windmills. The cookie’s particular mix of spices includes cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and cardamom, all ingredients that were popularized during 17th century colonialism by the Dutch East Indian Company. 

The name “speculaas” comes from the Latin word for mirror, speculum (fun fact: my last name Spiegelman also derives from this Latin root and means mirror maker) since the images on the cookies are created by mirrored bas-relief wooden stamps.

More recently, cookie butter, specula, or Biscoff spread has blown up. The spreadable form of Speculaas is an alternative to peanut butter or Nutella on the breakfast table or dessert spread. Traditionally in the Netherlands workers would bring sandwiches made with speculaas and butter to work and by the time lunch rolled around, the sandwich developed a spread-like consistency. 

[asweethistory]

Agatha Christie

Black Coffee Custard with Ground Cherry Jam and Cumin Date Syrup 

Known as the queen of crime and mystery,  Agatha Christie is often remembered for her countless novels, short stories, and plays,  and her well-known fictional detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Christie was born in a seaside town in England to wealthy family in 1890. She was mostly homeschooled, although her mother believed Christie had no reason to learn reading until she was eight. Because of her curiosity, though, Christie started to read at age four. When Christie was 10, she wrote her first poem, “The Cowslip,” and when she was 15 she studied opera in Paris. After her education, Christie spent time in the warm Egyptian climate of Cairo with her ailing mother. Inspired by the trip, Christie, under the pseudonym of Monosyllaba, began writing her first novel. 

By the end of 1914, Christie was married to Archie Christie after a 3-month courtship, only to become separated from her new husband during WWI. For the next four years, Christie volunteered for the Red Cross and worked as an apothecary’s assistant, an experience that would prove useful when writing murders by poisoning. After a dare from her sister that she couldn’t write a good one, Christie’s first detective novel was published in 1920 and followed a mustached Belgian police office with a head “exactly the shape of an egg.” After multiple publishing successes, Christie and her husband left for a promotional around-the-world tour, during the course of which they became some of the first Britons to surf standing up. 

Christie’s momentum hit a bit of obstacle in 1926 when a depression fueled by the death of her mother led to Christie’s own mysterious disappearance. In December 1926, four months after Archie asked Christie for a divorce due to falling in love with another woman, Christie left the house and seemingly evaporated. This, of course, prompted the media to have a field day. There was a reward, search volunteers, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself employed the use of a medium to find her. Even the New York Times in America reported the news. It wasn’t, though, until 10 days later that Christie resurfaced at a nearby hospital, although she had been checked in with the same surname as her husband’s mistress. 

Even though Christie’s autobiography ignores this disappearance, plenty of theories have swirled around. Some doctors believe she lost memory, while others believe she was in a fugue state, and still others suspect that she planned it as a publicity stunt.

Christie and Archie divorced and Christie kept custody of their one daughter and kept his last name for her writing. Afterwards, Christie jumped back into an exciting life. After traveling in places such as Istanbul and Baghdad, she became interested in archeology. She met and married archeologist Max Mallowan, 13 years her junior, and his work inspired many of her stories. During WWII, Christie once again worked in a pharmacy, learning more about poisons. Throughout the next 30 years, Christie continued to write and received many accolades. In 1976, she died at the age of 85, leaving behind a legacy that included 66 detective novels. In addition to mystery, Christie wrote a few romance novels and plays including her first, Black Coffee, and the world’s longest running play, The Mousetrap. 

Christie reported disliking “crowds, loud noises, gramophones, and cinemas” and enjoying sun, sea, flowers, travelling, strange foods, sports, concerts, theatres, pianos, and doing embroidery. Christie kept journals, 73 of which have survived. Her personal prejudices creeped into her work often in the form of stereotypes and derogatory references towards POC and Jews. 

[asweethistory]

Pride & Prejudice

Nectarine Claret Custard with Jordan Almonds

When Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, it was an instant success. Centering around Elizabeth Bennet and her courtship by Lord Fitzwilliam Darcy, its drama unfolds as Darcy makes first one terrible impression and then another, leaving Lizzie with an unsurmountable prejudice. Darcy’s own pride doesn’t help the situation, as he looks down on Lizzie’s family for being poor and unrefined. By the time he realizes he loves her and proposes marriage, he still manages to do it in the most insulting way possible. It’s only when he leaves her with a letter explaining his behavior, then goes out of his way to secretly repair two of Lizzie’s sisters’ marriages, that Lizzie realizes she loves him, too. As one of the very first novels that could be considered a “romance” as we know it today, Pride and Prejudice has inspired countless generations of writers following in Austen’s footsteps.

Three other women find love (or something like it) throughout the novel, allowing it to explore the many different attitudes 19th century women may have had to the only real option available to them. Austen didn’t shy away from the reality that marriage was a proposal fraught with classism, elitism, and the unfair property laws that made it nearly impossible for women to be financially independent. Even though Lizzie agrees to marry Darcy in the end, she only does so once she realizes that she genuinely loves him as a companion, and not for any of the reasons she “ought to” marry him: his wealth, his title, or his social status. But of course, those things don’t hurt, since none of Mr. Bennet’s five daughters would legally be allowed to inherit his estate. 

The financial difficulty of being a 19th century woman was a reality that touched Austen personally. Though she had her own income as an author, she published her books anonymously (though her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, declares on its title sheet that it was written “by a Lady”). When she sold Pride and Prejudice to her publisher for only £110, she believed that she was making a fair deal; it’s estimated the publisher made £450 from the first two editions alone, and Austen never saw a cent.

Pride and Prejudice has never been out of print in its 207 years, and it has spawned countless spinoffs and adaptations including Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the YouTube series “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.” Though many lovers of literature turn up their noses at “romance novels,” Pride and Prejudice is both a popular romance and a literary classic. Austen is widely considered to be a “genius” for simultaneously producing a profound reflection of the realities of 19th century society and creating characters as perennially beloved as Elizabeth and Darcy.

Of course, the novel had its critics, too. Charlotte Brontë, author of the famous Gothic romance Jane Eyre, wrote that Pride and Prejudice was too prim and delicate, without any wildness or shade. Jane Eyre owed much in its form and style to Austen’s work four decades prior, despite being much darker. It seems that in this case, Austen might have agreed with her critic; she herself wrote that the novel was too “playful,” though it’s unclear whether she was leveling this criticism at herself or her critics, since in the same letter she referred to the imaginary serious chapter she needed as “solemn specious nonsense.”

The most famous adaptation might be the 2005 film with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet, which earned her her first Academy Awards nomination for Best Actress. The movie brings to life the sumptuous meals described throughout the novel, another one of the many features in Austen’s world that could both bring people together and set them apart.

Guest written by Rebecca Glazer

[asweethistory]

Betye Saar

Pancake Mix Almond Cinnamon Roll with Cornflower Ice Cream and Rhubarb Sauce

Betye Saar was born in Los Angeles on July 30, 1926. When she was 21, Betye received a BA in design from the University of California. While her first calling was as a social worker, Betty soon focused on her passion for art. In the 1960s, Betye started creating assemblages with found objects. Often she arranged her works inside of boxes or windows. Betye repurposed and transformed dried flowers, lockets, letters, illustrations, photographs, and found objects such as a washboard, old bottle, or tiny toy rifle, and ones that represented her mixed ancestry.

For most of her young life, Betye was raised by her Aunt who taught her to see herself as a strong black woman. Because of her rejection of white feminism, though, Betye’s early work highlights the black male, but by the 1970s, her work centered on the reclaiming of the black female body. 

A childhood interest in collecting ephemera, led Betye to begin collecting racist imagery when she began her career as an artist. This imagery included stereotyped African American figures of the Jim Crow era like Aunt Jemima. One of her most well known works is the “Liberation of Aunt Jemima.” In the assemblage piece, the mammy figure of Aunt Jemima is empowered with a rifle by her side and a first of black power in front of her. Betye’s collection of artifacts hints at the long history of racial stereotypes and demeaning depictions of blacks in American consumer culture. Aunt Jemima is just now considering rebranding in 2020. 

Betye also has a strong connection to her astrological sign leo and many of her pieces included images of lions, stars, moons, and suns. Her work also features themes of spiritualism, African-American folk traditions, mysticism, Voodoo, and family history. 

During the Civil Rights-era, Betye, along with other black female artists such as Faith Ringgold and Emma Amos, fought for representation in the art world, combating both racism and sexism. In 1970, Betye was part of a show titled Sapphie (You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby), the first contemporary black women’s exhibition in California. In 2017, Betye said “I keep thinking of giving up political subjects, but you can’t. Because racism is still here. Worse than ever.”

Now in 2020, at age 94, Betye, who is still making art, is getting widespread recognition in museums that 50 years ago kept her out. The Museum of Modern art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art put on solo shows for her for the first time last fall. Painter Kerry James Marshall, who took one of Betye’s classes in 1969, said, “Her art really embodied the longing for a connection to ancestral legacies and alternative belief systems — specifically African belief systems — fueling the Black Arts Movement.”

Photograph by Daniel McCarthy

[asweethistory]

Medusa

Olive Leaf Greek Yogurt Pops with a Charcoal Chocolate Shell and Sour & Sweet Snake Candy

Medusa’s story originates in Greek mythology, but it is still relevant today. Medusa was one of three Gorgon sisters, female creatures with wings and a stone-cold gaze. Originally, the three Gorgons were a terror to mankind, the name Gorgon coming from the ancient Greek word for grim or dreadful. Despite being terrifying, images of Gorgons were placed by the Greeks on buildings for protection. 

Medusa was the only mortal Gorgon, which was explained and elaborated  upon in Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” It is in this poem that Ovid tells us Medusa was originally a fair maiden who was raped by Poseidon, the god of the Sea. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, furious, “changed the Gorgon’s hair to foul snakes” and made her look turn enemies into stone. 

The next part of the story is consistent no matter Medusa’s origin myth. Perseus, a greek hero, is given the impossible task by malicious King Polydectes to bring back the head of Medusa. Lucky for him, Athena provided Perseus with a reflective bronze shield which he used when confronting Medusa. Even beheaded, Medusa’s stare could still turn people into stone, including King Polydectes.

Early depictions of Medusa, emphasize her monstrosity. But by the 4th Century BC, artists showed her as vicious yet beautiful. The trend of illustrating female monsters as femme fatels rather than gruesome creatures extended beyond Medusa. In fact, most Ancient Greek half-human monsters were women, hinting towards the fears and dangers of femininity.

In the modern era, women have been portrayed as Medusa. While these images are sometimes empowering (although still focused on dangerous sexiness) as in the case of Rhianna’s 2013 GQ cover, often they are negative. Women in power from Marie Antionette to Nancy Pelosi have been likened to the Gorgon. During the 2016 election, Hilary Clinton’s face was photoshopped onto Medusa’s decapitated head of Cellini’s sculpture of Perseus post Medusa’s beheading.

Most recently, Luciano Garbati’s sculpture of “Medusa With the Head of Perseus” was placed across from New York City’s courthouse where sexual offenders such as Harvey Weinstein were prosecuted. Although, Garbati created the sculpture in 2008, it became an icon of the #metoo movement within the last couple years. 

[asweethistory]

Garden of Earthly Delights

Apple and Pomegranate Molasses, Strawberry Rosé Cordial, and Parsley Blackberry Pop served with a Charcoal Dutch Pineappleade with Absinthe Spritz and a Ghost Pepper Salt Rim

Hieronymus Bosch’s early 16th century famed triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights, is hard to explain if you haven’t seen images of it. At 13 feet long and over 7 feet hight, its three interior panels illustrate the fate of humanity with a busy composition, bold colors of chartreuse, pale pink, and vermillion, and bizarre shapes and hybrid creatures.

When the large piece is closed, the viewer sees a grayscale depiction of the Third Day of the Creation of the World. In the upper left is God. The earth is suspended in a transparent sphere and lacks a human population. Once the wings of the triptych open, though, a very different scene appears. The three main panels stand in chronological order: paradise, garden of earthly delights, and hell. In paradise, God introduces Eve to Adam, who are surround by a unicorn, a giraffe, and other creatures. The middle panel, whose skyline continues from the  left panel, portrays a false sense of paradise, showcasing the sins of man. And the right panel depicts the tortuous fires and the demons of hell, which eat people and terrorize people. 

The central panel’s extensive and fantastical garden scene is why the triptych is called “The Garden of the Earthly Delights.” The delights range from a lake of nude figures engaged in sensual activities, a couple being carried in a large mussel shell, drinking, people riding animals and flying animals, strange architectural structures, a gathering around a large strawberry (due to the number of strawberries scattered throughout the work, the triptych was called “The Strawberry Painting” in the 17th century), people sampling a blue cluster of berries in the water, and a couple encased in translucent sphere steaming from a flower. And the list of bizarre depictions continues. 

Historians generally agree that Bosch’s masterpiece isn’t the work of a madman, but rather an admonishment of Europe’s bourgeoning capitalism and the forsaking of religion, highlighted by the dangers of lust. Not much is known about Bosch’s life, which makes understanding the meaning behind his art is tricky. But it is clear that The Garden of Earthly Delights is brimming with symbolism. It is no surprise, then, that Bosch’s artistic style influenced many contemporary artists and surrealists centuries later. 

[asweethistory]

Goonies Never Say Die!

Truffle Salt Pepsi Ice Cream with Baby Ruth, Graham Cracker Sand, and Freeze Dried Marshmallows

Thirty-five years ago, The Goonies was released and became on of the top 10 highest grossing movies in the United States that year, and since then it became a cult classic and one of my personal favorites that I watch often.

The movie is centered around a group of friends who, in attempts to save their parents from the housing foreclosures in the Goon Dock neighborhood of Astoria,  seek out lost pirate treasure after finding a 17th century map (which was speckled with real blood) in Mickey’s attic. Mickey’s motley crew, which includes his older brother Brand, Brand’s crush and her smart friend, a smooth talker Mouth, amateur inventor Data, and teller-of-tall-tales Chuck9, are led to a neglected restaurant where they encounter the criminal Fratelli family who also hope to find the loot. The cast of characters is rounded out with Sloth, the ignored Fratelli brother, who ends up being the hero the kids didn’t know they needed; the skeleton of famous pirate One-Eyed Willy; and the Spanish housekeeper Rosalita, who ultimately saves the families.  

Sloth was played by John Matuszak, a former football player who had to sit for five hours of prosthetics and makeup before becoming his character. The other two Fratelli brothers, Robert Davi and Joe Pantoliano, supposedly originally hated each other, but their rivalry turned into pranks and good-fun brotherly bickering on screen. And Anne Ramsey, who played Mama Fratelli, won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1985. Other notable actors in the film include Sean Astin as Mikey, who would go on to play Sam in Lord of the Rings, and Josh Brolin in his breakout role as Brand. 

To find their now famous filming location, the team which included director Richard Donner and producer Steven Spielberg, drove up the west coast from Los Angeles arriving in Astoria, Oregon, on a rainy morning. But as soon as the sun rose, they were sold and knew the Goonies had to be there. The rock in the film is called Haystack Rock and is found at Cannon Beach, about a 40-minute car ride from Astoria. The city of Astoria has hosted special events for the film’s fans since its release and has declared June 7th Goonies Day. 

[asweethistory]

Émilie du Châtelet

Thyme Ice Cream with Apple Apricot Confiture & Café Brûlée

Often talked about only in relation to the men in her life, Émilie du Châtelet, physicist, natural philosopher, mathematician, and author, is finally getting the respect she has been due. Born into a family of lesser nobility in 1706 Paris, Émilie received an impressively high quality education. Her father, the Chief of Manners, hired her multiple tutors in subjects ranging from math to languages to fencing. It was rare for women to be literate during the 18th century.  Émilie was unwilling presented to society as a teenager, meaning her family sought her a husband. However, Émilie was not ready to marry so she postponed a match by proposing and participating in a duel with the Chief of the Royal Guard. The duel was a draw and allowed Émilie to continue with her studies, but caused her mother to cut her off and threaten to send her to a convent. In response, Émilie simply taught herself how to count cards in order to make extra money secretly to pay for more books. Émilie’s father warned her that no man would want to be engaged to a woman who read all day, yet a marriage was arranged and Émilie’s military husband approved of her intelligence and independence. In 1734, her brassiness took her into a Parisian café dressed as a man to prove her point that the only reason she couldn’t discuss science with the café men was because of her sex.

As arranged marriages were commonplace during this time, so to were extramarital affairs. Émilie’s marriage fostered a supportive friendship that produced three children, but that lacked passion so each partner was free to find love in other relationships. When Émilie was in her 20s, she met and became infatuated with Voltaire, the well-known Enlightenment writer and philosopher. Unlike what was expected in high society though, Émilie and Voltaire did not keep their relationship secret. In fact they moved away from city life to Émilie’s country house where they were free to spend time on their writing and experiments. One of her non-scientific works was the Discourse on Happiness, a monograph that declared that study, dreams, self-esteem, passions, love, and the erasure of prejudice bring one happiness. As one of the first people to call herself an optimist, Émilie believed she lived in the optimal world and sought to prove her claim through math, science, and “living her best life.”

Émilie and Voltaire admired Isaac Newton, who’s radical theories hadn’t taken off yet in France, a country that still accepted Cartesian physics. Émilie began examining his works and writing about them. While working together, Voltaire wanted his own recognition in the scientific community so he set out to write about fire for an essay competition. Émilie disagreed with his theory but didn’t want to crush his dreams so she wrote an alternative essay in secret. Her essay made such an impression on the Academy that it became the first essay ever to be published by a woman by the Academy. Her essay also went on to inspire the discovery for infrared radiation. Voltaire’s fragile ego couldn’t handle her popularity and their affair ended.

Instead of bemoaning, Émilie began a new affair and what would become her most influential work, a complete translation of Newton’s ground breaking work on gravity, Principia. A book that had never been translated outside of its original language, Latin. As she tirelessly worked on it, she realized that much of his ideas could be expanded upon since it had originally been published six decades earlier. Émilie added a 110-page commentary that not only explained how Newton’s theories were recently applied, but also made Newton’s concepts accessible to the wider world. In the middle of this project, at the age of 42, Émilie became pregnant with her fourth child and knew immediately that she would not survive the pregnancy. So, she worked even harder, sleeping only four hours a night and only breaking from her process to eat meals and discuss the her ideas. Émilie finally finished the piece at the end of the summer 1749 and died from child birth shortly after. The return of Halley’s Comet ten years later, caused a resurgence of interest in Newton and Émilie’s translation and commentary was published posthumously.

[asweethistory]

Pumpkin Spice: the blend, the myth, the legend

Pumpkin Spice Honey Custard with Coffee Pie Crust 

As soon at the month becomes September, a breeze sweeps through, and the sweaters go on, many consider it pumpkin spice season. Everything from coffee to candles and from hummus to hand cream is pumpkin spice flavored. The apotheosized PSL (pumpkin spice latte) is what usually kicks off the season, but Starbuck’s famed beverage didn’t come out on the market until 2003, even though pumpkin spice products were promoted several decades before. American newspapers from the 1930s to the 1950s advertised “Pumpkin Spice Cream” and “Pumpkin Center Ice Cream.” But the combination of ingredients that make up the spice blend is not a 20th century phenomenon. 

Pumpkin spice is usually a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Those spices have been used throughout cultures for thousands of years. Nutmeg, alone, was found on 3,500 year old pottery shards. During the 14th century, these spices, from Asia, became extremely sought after and valued in Europe, sometimes costing more than gold, making spices a critical part of imperialism. As colonizers arrived in America, they brought with them their preferred spices. American colonists became part of the global spice trade with spooky-season Salem, Massachusetts as one of the main ports.

A mixture of such spices, known as “sweet spice,” was used in all forms of baking. And contrary to popular belief, pumpkin pie was not served at the first Thanksgiving. During these early years, if spices joined with pumpkin, it would have been a honey and milk custard served inside a hollowed-out squash. Pumpkin pies just became another common dish to to which to add spice, and pie making was beloved by the British. The late 18th century cookbook, American Cookery, provides two pumpkin pie recipes, one of which is very similar to what we are familiar with today. In the mid-19th century, New England pumpkin pie was tied with abolitionism.

100 years later, spice giant McCormick began packaging pumpkin pie spice so homemakers didn’t have to hand measure out each spice for their pie and cake recipes. By the 1960s, the blend’s name was shortened to pumpkin spice. Fast forward 40 years, and Starbucks played around with seasonal flavors and barely landed on the pumpkin spice latte. The latte, though, like the early recipes that used a like mixture of spices, didn’t have any pumpkin in it until 2015.

[asweethistory]

Detective Alice Clement

Red Hot Ice Cream with Dill Pickled Purple Berries topped with a Beet Ice Cream Cone Hat

At the turn of the 20th century, it was unusual to find a female detective or police officer, yet some forces postulated that women might lend an advantage. In 1912, Chicago passed an ordinance which allowed the hiring of policewomen, so in August 1913, 10 women joined the Chicago police force. Their role was to go about the city looking for any suspicious activity and girls in dangerous situations. Due to their gender it was believed that no one would be the wiser and suspect these women to be investigating. The media immediately sensationalized the women’s work with purple prose and stood by eagerly to report on their cases. One of their favorites was Alice Clement, a German-American originally from Milwaukee, who dressed up in a collection of hats and jewelry to “break legs.” During the same year that she joined the force, Alice took the oath as a detective, becoming the only female detective amongst 90 investigators. 

A Chicago paper commented on her duality. Alice, a mother of three, “divides her time between catching thieves and making dill pickles,” the paper stated. One case that made the headlines was the 1916 arrest of “Hot Tamale” Anna, who started a scene because she was upset her employees were selling sandwiches instead of her signature tamales. Alice continued to put away “Redhots” for another decade. Her most famous case was dubbed “The Dulcimer.” Rivaling the newly popular tales of Agatha Christie, Alice’s case garnered national popularity. A young girl had died from typhoid and Alice’s male police partner thought nothing of it. Alice, on the other hand, looked closer and demanded that the girl’s dulcimer be taken in for further investigation. It turned out that a jealous long-lost aunt had placed typhoid germs on the instrument’s strings in order to murder her niece and inherent a piece of property. Clement confronted the aunt, but before she could be taken in, the woman stabbed herself in the throat with a penknife and perished.

During her career, Alice treaded through muddy waters in a white dress and pearls to save victims from a capsized cruise ship, rescued runaway girls, exposed fake psychics, and sued a judge, who called her a “knee rubber,” for defamation of character. Alice’s celebrity led to a movie called “Dregs of the City,” in which Alice played herself. 

When she wasn’t catching criminals, Alice supported women’s suffrage and the repeal of Prohibition, which she believed was necessary to reduce violence and crime. Alice’s independence extended to her personal life. While divorce was rare in 1914, Alice sued her first husband for “desertion and intemperance,” and then by 1918 she was married to her second husband by a female pastor. 

Slowly, the men of the force became miffed by Alice’s success and standing. First, the new general superintendent of police banned Alice’s movie from being shown in Chicago. Then, the newspapers grew tired of her, and in 1926 Alice was demoted from detective back to police officer. Within the following months Alice’s silent battle with diabetes intensified and she quickly deteriorated and had to leave the force completely, expiring at her home right after Christmas 1926. Unfortunately, the memory of Alice as a detective died shorty thereafter, but her legacy as the first female detective allowed for the advancement of female detectives, officers, and lieutenants.

[asweethistory]

19th Century Ice Cream Landscapes

Photographed by Daniel McCarthy for my master’s thesis: PLEASURE, PARLORS, PHOSPHATES, AND THE PASTORAL: ICE CREAM CONSUMPTION SITES AND “SPA” CULTURE IN 19TH-CENTURY AMERICA

From left to right: Pleasure Garden, Ice Cream Parlor, Soda Fountain.

For more on the flavors inspired by my thesis, become a member of my Patreon.