A Food For all People: The Story of DC Sausages and the People that Buy Them
Like the offering of sausages at a cookout, all good things must come to an end. This is the end, a wrap up of five blogs on the sausages of DC. Read them if you would like, ignore them if you don't; both are equally good options. This short little paper will sum them up, more or less, so it serves as a third option for those that would take it.
The sausages of DC were, in my opinion, a very fun thing to study. With that being said, I didn't do it very well but it is what it is. The story I originally set out to tell was on gentrification in DC. This story, however, has yet to be told through sausages by me in these blogs, nor I assume, through anyone else's. It should be told.
The stores I have visited seem to cater to the same sort of people. People that have a couple of extra bucks to toss around. To tell the story of gentrification I would have had to visit markets that I would not normally go to. In this respect, I failed. I didn't even try.
Gentrification is, of course, a widely acknowledged reality in DC. How could it not be? We have Union Market, The Wharf, and every new six-story luxury-condo complex as it's billboards. Though gentrification is not a black and white issue, the rise in demand for housing and it's consequent inflation of rent has hurt many who have called DC home for generations, especially the black community. To summarize Chef Kwame Onwuachi; Harlem had it's renaissance, DC never needed one (Onwuachi, Notes From a Young Black Chef).
Though some of the shops I visited were diverse in terms of age, gender, and race, I was never once a minority within the confines of its walls or the neighborhood that it was in. I explored the expensive DC and with that, saw only the expensive sausages.
I first traveled to Whole Foods. The majority of the foods, sausage included, are displayed in the lower, basement level of the Foggy Bottom Whole Foods. Coming down the escalators directly in front of the automatic glass entrance, and taking a left at the tangerines, I found myself in one end of the meat section. To my left, the butchers counter; to my right, a row of open-faced refrigerator units filled with various offerings of meat. On the concrete floor between them is an open-faced cooler, filled with ice, displaying even more meat. The whole ordeal is lit with stark white lighting which gives a cold but clean feel. A faint smell of fish perfumes the air (the butchers and fishmonger stations are side by side) but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Compared to the rest of the store, the space is relatively barren, almost clinical. With that being said, the 15’ by 25’ space is a practical, to the point kind of place.
Sausages are found in the butcher's display, the central coolers, and the open-faced refrigerators. The butcher display has a large variety of “made right here” pork sausage in between the thick cut steaks and fresh-ish fish; Bratwurst, German, Andouille, Habanero Green Chili, Sweet Italian, Mild Italian (with and w/o casing), Maple Breakfast, Country Breakfast, Bulk breakfast-sage (w/o casing), and Spicy Italian (with and w/o casing). They also have; Chicken Bratwurst, Mild Italian Turkey, Hot Italian Turkey, Sweet Italian Chicken, and Spicy Italian Chicken. All are displayed in an orderly manner; the links are aligned and the patties are pretty.
Next, I went to Trader Joe's. The sausage section at Trader Joe’s sucks. First of all, it’s mostly chicken sausage, which any lover of sausages knows to be inferior to their pork filled peers. It is also right next to the “fully cooked, uncured bacon.” Anthony Bourdain once said a cook doesn't deserve garlic unless they’re willing to peel it. With this rule in mind, I hope he would approve of my following statement: if you can't cook your own bacon, you don't deserve to eat it. Besides that, the section is quite small, but it seems to get the job done (again… only if you like chicken sausage).
After that disappointment, I shipped myself off to union market. They charged 12.99 for a pound of pork sausages. That about sums it up.
Finally, I made it to the holy land; Stachowski’s Market. The sausage selection was extensive. Some were found in the butcher's case, but a majority were found in a stand-up freezer off to the side, opposite of the cash register which sat in the middle of the floor. Much of the sausage behind the counter was priced at $10.99 per pound. To be fair, they looked worth it. Portuguese Linguica, Smoked Kielbasa, Hot Italian; these were all out to be bought.
The shop itself is little but filled with people, often in groups grabbing a little lunch to eat in or take out. Most were white, many I assume, live in Georgetown. There are two tables against the windows and a couple of shelves stocked with delicious, though unaffordable goodies. The magic happens behind the counter where the meat is cut and the sandwiches are prepared.
To my sincere surprise, I found myself going back to Whole Foods for my final observance. Whole Foods, as it turns out, does some pretty decent sausages at a pretty decent price. This did not change my opinion of the place though. I opened my first blog saying that the supermarket chain is a detriment to society. I stick by these words, and you should too.
References Cited:
Onwuachi, Kwame. Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2019.