Gain A Perspective on Foods That Are Native To Our Region
Katharine Eneguess, President of White Mountains Community CollegeAs many of the graduates of our Culinary Arts Program at White Mountains Community College know, when visitors come to New England they want to sample foods that are native to the region. This is especially true in the fall, when we draw visitors from around the globe who come to see the brilliance of our autumn foliage. Fall bus tours usually include an overnight on the Maine Coast, complete with a lobster dinner, and a stop at a maple sugar house in New Hampshire or Vermont.
At this time of the year, dining establishments go out of their way to use ingredients in their recipes associated with New England. The Balsams Resort in Dixville Notch offers a butternut squash salad with cranberry conserve as an appetizer on its menu. The menu of the dining room at the Mount Washington Hotel is "based on an innovative approach to classic New England Style, including seasonal and regional specialties like shallot and rosemary seared duck breast with maple shitake bread pudding, broccolinni, roasted carrots and vanilla bourbon gastrique," according to information on the hotel's website.
We here at White Mountains Community College are especially proud that these mouth-watering dishes are from the kitchens in which many of our Culinary Arts students serve their apprenticeships or work as chefs following graduation.
We are also pleased to be hosting "Baked Beans and Fried Clams," the first talk in our fall lecture series at the Fortier Library on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. This informative and entertaining talk by noted Yankee magazine columnist Edie Clark, author of "Saturday Beans and Sunday Suppers: Kitchen Stories from Mary's Farm," will leave you with a new perspective on many of the region's favorite home-grown dishes, such as Indian pudding, pork pies and lobster rolls. After Clark's talk you will never look at your vegetable garden the same, knowing, as you harvest those pie pumpkins this fall, that you are part of a proud New England tradition.
You will also not look at the menus in our North Country restaurants the same. Just as knowing a little bit about art history helps you appreciate fine art, knowing the history of recipes can increase your enjoyment in foods even as seemingly simple as baked beans. Did you know that beans were among the first plants cultivated by our early ancestors? Beans have been found in Egyptian tombs dating back at least 4000 years ago. At that time those living in what is now Asia were cultivating soybeans, which led them to soy sauce. Can you imagine Chinese food without soy sauce? Can you imagine New England baked beans without molasses or maple syrup?
The lecture series, partially funded by the New Hampshire Humanities Council, is sponsored by the college's Fortier Library and the Berlin Public Library. You don't have to be a visitor to the region to enjoy the culinary expertise of New England. Take time out from your busy schedule, come Edie Clark's lecture, then take your own New England dining tour!
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