Walter Mondale the celery

 Recently, I had been tasked to make a small video about how a specific food ingredient relates to a recipe in my family’s history in order to connect food with my family heritage. To complete this project, i asked my mom a couple of questions about food in my familiy’s history and learned that a nearby greek restaurant was able to nearly replicate a long lost salad dressing recipie.

Here is the transcript:

Hello, I’m Walter Mondale the celery! Here to talk to you about celery. I’m a green vegetable first found in the Mediterranean region, and first domesticated in 850 BC. The modern English word for me derives from French, Italian, Latin, and Mycenaean Greek. 

In 1623, my use as a food was first recorded in France, and before that I was considered a medicine for hangovers in places like China, Rome, and Egypt (It didn’t work). I was mainly a filler to make medium dishes even larger. In Sweden, I was regarded as a high class food because I’m difficult to grow in the harsh winters there.

As French America became part of the US (and also via British Canada), so too did the US gain access to me. By 1806, I had cultivated into four varieties,the most popular being the Pascal variety. I began cultivating in Michigan due to the good summers there, and the Dutch immigrant farmers were willing to capitalize on an untapped market.

From 1880 to 1914, many Italians fled to the US from the wars of Italian unification. When they came to the United States, they brought their foods and their recipes, and I was one of these foods. I’m used in many Italian dishes, like Soffrito, and Polpette di sedano (Tuscan celery balls) however, there is one dish not like these.

Vera wheeler’s salad dressing recipe has no known record, however it is claimed by her granddaughter that a nearby Greek restaurant has come close to discovering it. She claims a specific salt is missing, and says that it might be celery salt. 

Sources:

Division of Plant Sciences, plantsciweb@missouri.edu. “Celery: A Brief History (David Trinklein).” Celery: A Brief History // Missouri Environment and Garden News Article // Integrated Pest Management, University of Missouri, University of Missouri , 1 Nov. 2011, https://ipm.missouri.edu/MEG/2011/11/Celery-A-Brief-History/. 

“Celery.” American Cookery & A History of Its Ingredients, http://www.digitalussouth.org/vegetable/vegetable.php?vegName=Celery. 

Insidetherustickitchen. “How to Make Soffritto.” Inside The Rustic Kitchen, 24 Oct. 2021, https://www.insidetherustickitchen.com/how-to-make-soffritto/.