Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2007 - (Page 59)

Okra probably was first introduced into the continental United States via Louisiana. R.W. Schery in Plants for Man (Prentice Hall, 1952) postulated that okra was brought to the New World by the French in the 1700s. Others suggest the Portuguese introduced it to the New World and place its arrival in the 16th century. Whoever it responsible for the pod’s presence in the Western Hemisphere, by 1748 it is verifiably being used in Philadelphia. In 1781 Thomas Jefferson commented on it growing in Virginia, and we now know that it was certainly grown in the slave gardens of Monticello. (It also appeared on the master’s table if we are to trust the Virginia Housewife by Mary Randolph who included a recipe for “Gumbs: A West India Dish.”) By 1806 the plant was relatively widespread and botanists spoke of several different varieties of the plant. Okra is one of the plants indigenous to the African continent that was brought over the Atlantic to feed enslaved Africans. Okra delivers a generalized African taste for the mucilaginous that is also found throughout Africa in the use of “slippery” vegeta- gumbos and soups. In antebellum South Carolina, okra seeds were dried by the enslaved and used as a substitute for coffee (a practice that was adopted by their owners during the privations of the Civil War). Okra’s lack of respect in the culinary world (I call it the Rodney Dangerfield of vegetables!) is due to its propensity toward ooze. Like the Africans and their descendants who came to revere it in almost totemic capacity, okra does not behave. It is tricky. It cannot be tamed into submission by the cook who does not know how to use it properly. It is for this reason that okra is not often found in wide usage outside of areas where black hands turned the wooden spoons in the cooking pots. The distaste for okra is all about the sticky substance that the vegetable exudes when cut. The more it’s cut; the more it‘s sticky. Some dishes in Brazil and on the African continent make a point of releasing as much of the ooze as possible, resulting in thick glue-like sheets of almost elastic consistency. In Louisiana folks understand that the beauty of okra is in its “slime.” The prodigious thickening properties of the Enjoy the best of Louisiana four times a year. Simply fill out the enclosed card and mail today! In 1781 Thomas Jefferson commented on okra growing in Virginia, and we now know that it was certainly grown in the slave gardens of Monticello. bles such as melloukiah (a leafy green that is cooked into a slick stew and savored in Egypt and North Africa), and in the creolized world in the use of xilo, a prickly and slimy Brazilian vegetable. One of the reasons for okra’s popularity is that it can be used both fresh, when young and tender, and also dried and preserved for future use. It is also relatively high in nutritional value — rich in calcium, phosphorus, potassium and iron (who knew!). It is also easy to digest, mildly laxative, and has emollient properties. Dried okra can be found as far afield as the bazaars of the Middle East and the homes of the Gullah in the Atlantic coastal Low Country of the South where the pods are dried and strung with shrimp heads, garland-like, to provide seasoning and thickening for roux-less vegetable mean that it can take a thin watery soup and transform it into a substantial one. Those who are hellbent on defying okra’s natural propensity toward ooze can fry it, as they do in much of the South, or blanch young tender pods and serve them in a salad with a light vinaigrette as they do in parts of Brazil. It is said that a squeeze of lemon juice or a bit of vinegar in the cooking water will cut down the stick, but I say let’s stop fighting these mucilaginous qualities. Let okra do its own magnificent thing. After all, it’s only doing what comes naturally. Jessica B. Harris, Ph.D., is the author of eight books documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora. Arts, culture, history, literature, all for a mere $16. Don’t delay. Fall 2007/LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 59

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2007

Contents Friends & Letters Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Big Charity: A History of New Orleans’ Public Hospital Historic New Orleans Collection Making Groceries: A History of New Orleans Markets New Orleans’ Faubourg Tremé: Rooted in Tradition Jazz Notes Louisiana Association of Museums Chinatown New Orleans Louisiana Foodways A Question of Secession Louisiana Architecture Louisiana State Museum The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish Terra Incognita Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2007

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