Up First: It's Tempura Day!

Tempura is one of the most famous deep fried foods of the world that hails from Japan. But it did not actually ‘originate’ from there…

ABOVE: sharing a few tempura ‘beauty’ shots from S. California to Brooklyn NY. Craving more on how fried foods show up as special treats and delicacies in many culinary cultures around the world? If you’re not already, become part of my Patreon community and utilize your ‘perks’ for just that!…(see also my Patreon ‘plea’ below)

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Saving the BEST for Second on This Day:

Happy Heavenly Birthday Zora ! (b. January 7th 1891)

If I’m honest, Zora Neale Hurston (author, ethnographer, anthropologist, filmmaker...) is my fave Harlem Renaissance ancestor. Our shared interests and pursuits include ethnography, anthropology, writing and a deep seeded love and appreciation for Black people and our culture — past, present, future. On toppa all that she was a full on foodie! Not only a lover and appreciator of good food but is also known to have cooked and baked well and as the author of today’s featured book reveals, her work as a food sociologist helped document much of the culinary culture of her home state of Florida.

To my knowledge, this is only book publication dedicated to the culinary world of this literary icon. Special shout out to the amazing Mr. Micael Twitty for generously gifting me this special book (he knows me well!)… and to Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie for researching and writing it! …

In sync with the first fried topic of today’s post, flipping through the pages of Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food: Recipes, Remedies & Simple Pleasures. I found a few recipes for deep-fried ‘delicacies’ and references to such, including but not limited to dishes like: fried fish and hushpuppies, sweet potato chips, chicken fritters, fried chicken, and i dunno if ya’ll are ready for this but here goes: Floridian fried turtle ! … Of course there are even more (non-fried) regionally rooted recipes and remedies wonderfully woven throughout the entire book that I’m enjoying immensely — especially since Dr. Opie serves them up in a context full of cultural relevance, narrative and history.

Side note re: Jan 7th: Cosmic coincidence: My first (and longest running) friend Carol (who guest starred in a special strawberries-themed episode on my WURD radio show “Savory & Sweet Food History & Culture” in May 2022 “) shares the same 1/7 birthday as Zora. Capricorn is the zodiac sign and anybody into astrology knows that Capricorns & Cancers (my sign) get along wonderfully. Said all that to say, had we lived in the same plane of time and space, I’m pretty sure Zora and I would’ve been friends too :)

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And Now Here’s That Patreon Plea I warned you About :)

As an independent scholar and entrepreneur, I am grateful to have a platform like PATREON that empowers the “culinarily curious” communities I serve to support this work I do — in exchange for the value received (which makes me so happy to hear about!). And because capitalism apparently wasn’t designed to reward unconventional, unfettered “Black Brilliance” (as my tribe graciously refers to what I crank out and I warmly accept that accolade ;). When folks become aware of how much time, energy, research and writing work goes into serving stuff up on the regular, appreciating it tangibly is a natural response…

You can join as a paying supporter (choose your monthly amount — all amounts matter ;) which helps to keep all this content coming. You can also join for FREE and choose to support in countless creative, non-financial ways (via reposts, comments, quotes, etc.). And if you’re already part of my Patreon community, please do take advantage of the perks I offer there including more commentary and intel on varied topic (+ opportunities for you to type or talk with me one-on-one about your favorite topics. If you’re not part of my Patreon here’s the link to JOIN today thank you!

Sadly, Black and beyond BRILLIANT Zora Neal Hurston who paved the way for so many of us (writers, researchers, culturally-rooted media makers…) today herself died impoverished. That’s all I say on that for now. Clearly I couldn’t resist connecting the dots from my Patreon ‘plea’ above to the legendary luminary featured in today’s post…