美国国家公共电台 NPR Encore: For 100 Years, Celery And Olives Were Thanksgiving Mainstays

Encore: For 100 Years, Celery And Olives Were Thanksgiving Mainstays

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0002:59repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: 

Imagine digging through decades of Thanksgiving menus stretching back to the 1800s. What do you think you would find? Turkey, cranberry² sauce, stuffing, sure. When journalist Hilary Sargent performed this feat³ of culinary archaeology⁴, she found that two foods were more common than almost any others.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

HILARY SARGENT: Celery and olives.

SHAPIRO: Yup, celery and olives. For nearly a century, they were staples⁵ of the Thanksgiving table. Two years ago, Sargent revealed this vintage pair in an article at boston.com. She told us that celery and olives started to become holiday must-haves in the late 1800s.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

SARGENT: I pulled almost a hundred years' worth of Thanksgiving menus from The Globe archives and realized really unexpectedly that these two items popped up again and again and again and didn't understand why.

SHAPIRO: And so you write, for example, that celery was almost a palate cleanser that people could use if they couldn't afford servants to serve sorbet between the other courses.

SARGENT: Yeah. So you notice around the mid-1800s the Thanksgiving menus shift away from actually suggesting the types of palate cleansers that would require a servant. A sorbet is something that's frozen, so you couldn't put it on the table at the beginning of the meal. And olives and celery were also both considered items that were not everyday. And by that, I mean, celery, for instance, was one of the few vegetables that people ate uncooked.

SHAPIRO: Other things were just stewed⁶ beyond comprehension you say.

SARGENT: Yup. So olives were different. Olives were something that hadn't been available and then all of the sudden were. So while they became available here, they were still considered sort of a luxury upper-crust item, and Thanksgiving naturally would be the day where you would sort of strive to include them in your menu.

SHAPIRO: We're talking about raw celery sticks and olives on the table, but you also go into some of the very strange recipes involving celery and olives that are the more creative ways of presenting these two ingredients over the years. Do you have a favorite?

SARGENT: I think the mayonnaise of celery...

SHAPIRO: Oh, this was unbelievable.

SARGENT: ...Is my favorite.

SHAPIRO: Describe it.

SARGENT: I think the recipe is pretty simple. You could make it at home. It is celery with mayonnaise garnished⁷ with celery, and that is...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

SARGENT: ...Completely the entire recipe.

SHAPIRO: My mouth is watering. So celery and olives ruled the Thanksgiving table for about a century. How did they finally fall out of favor?

SARGENT: So in addition to Americans having always thought about holiday eating as something that was aspirational⁸, they also really have always looked at what you eat on holidays should be different and more special than what you eat every day. So celery to some extent became a real everyday item.

SHAPIRO: So if you're crunching⁹ on celery sticks every day in your lunch bag, you don't want to put it on the Thanksgiving table.

SARGENT: Exactly.

SHAPIRO: Well, Hilary Sargent, after immersing yourself in celery and olives for all these weeks, will they be making an appearance on your Thanksgiving table tonight?

SARGENT: No.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter) I can't say I blame you.

SARGENT: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: Hilary Sargent is an editor at boston.com. Thank you so much for joining us.

SARGENT: Thank you.

SHAPIRO: Sargent's article is called "Celery And Olives Dominated Thanksgiving For Nearly A Hundred Years - Until They Didn't." It was posted at boston.com in 2014.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

3 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

4 archaeology   

n.考古学

参考例句：

• She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
• He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。

5 staples   

n.（某国的）主要产品( staple的名词复数 )；钉书钉；U 形钉；主要部份v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
• I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句

6 stewed   

adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧

参考例句：

• When all birds are shot, the bow will be set aside;when all hares are killed, the hounds will be stewed and eaten -- kick out sb. after his services are no longer needed. 鸟尽弓藏，兔死狗烹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• \"How can we cook in a pan that's stewed your stinking stockings? “染臭袜子的锅，还能煮鸡子吃！还要它？” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

7 garnished   

v.给（上餐桌的食物）加装饰( garnish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her robes were garnished with gems. 她的礼服上装饰着宝石。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Serve the dish garnished with wedges of lime. 给这道菜配上几角酸橙。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 aspirational   

志同的，有抱负的

参考例句：

• Most of the images that bombard us all are aspirational. 轰击的图像，我们都期望最大。
• Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. 分析师们指出，自助读书、热爱读书是印度人均读书时间超过别的国家的主要原因。

9 crunching   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 这些马在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨头。 来自《简明英汉词典》