Food of Miami. Caroline Stuart

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      A Culinary History of Miami

      Fish in the summer, Yankees in the winter

      by Caroline Stuart The

      Old-timers often declare that Miami and the Keys are not really a part of Florida anymore, but an extension of the Northeast and "the islands." Greater Miami encompasses a number of towns beneath its giant umbrella, but be it in Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, or Sweetwater, the flavor has gone global. You can find lox and bagels, Southern-fried chicken, Japanese sushi, Jamaican curried goat, and Cuban sandwiches within easy driving distance of one another. Grocery shopping, too, is international: an Asian market selling lemon grass may sit next door to a Latin bodega boasting an extensive selection of tropical tubers—and both may be just down the street from a supermarket selling sour oranges for authentic Cuban marinades.

      The culinary history of South Florida is one of immigration and adaptation. Even the area's Native Americans, the Seminoles, immigrated from other parts of North America. They may have been the ones who first slit open the base of the cabbage palm tree to harvest hearts of palm (the delicacy known to locals as "swamp cabbage"), which is frequently found on South Florida menus.

      Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon reached Florida's shores in 1513, searching in vain for the legendary Fountain of Youth. He arrived on Easter Sunday, "Pascua Florida" (Feast of Flowers), and named the land La Florida in honor of the holiday. Other European explorers also trudged through Florida's swamps searching for gold, jewels, and natives for slave markets. But all early attempts to establish settlements failed.

      The United States acquired Florida in 1821 and granted it statehood in 1845. From other states, a few hardy souls braved the mosquitoes and hostile natives to farm under the bright blue skies. These early farmers and their modern-day descendants are known as "Crackers," perhaps from the cracking sound of their cattle whips, perhaps from the cracking of corn to make grits.

      Timucua people inhabited the hanks of the St. John's River during the sixteenth century. Occasionally chiefs and nobles would gather to discuss important issues, and during these meetings, the men would share an infusion of dried casina leaves. Only those who were able to consume the noxious liquid without becoming ill were deemed resiliant enough to defend the tribe.

      Grits, made from dried, hulled corn that has been finely ground and cooked into a gruel, is eaten as a breakfast food or as a side dish with meat and fish. Grits and cornmeal remain staples of Southern cooking on Florida menus to this day. Cracker cooking is simple rustic food that can be as quirky as the characters who claim it. It incorporates Southern country cooking and soul food and includes oddities such as alligator, which is often served breaded and deep-fried, not unlike chicken nuggets.

      Florida's isolation, alligators, and Indians made it a destination for escaping African slaves in the nineteenth century, who brought with them their native foodways to create what is known today as "soul food." Okra, black-eyed peas, fried chicken, and collard greens, as well as chitterlings, or "chitlins" (the small intestine of a hog) and cooter (soft-shelled freshwater turtle) are just a few of the "soul foods" that have become an integral part of the Florida menu.

      Southern food, soul food, and Cracker cooking are today the culinary cousins that keep the old foodways alive.

      The early settlers of the Keys—known as Conchs (pronounced "konks")—were Tories and seafarers from the Bahamas and New England. Their two foodways blended into one of the early fusion dishes that is now part of every Florida cook's repertoire: conch chowder. Conch is a mollusk that must be pounded to tenderness before being transformed into fritters, marinated salads or the ubiquitous creamy chowder made of conch stewed with tomatoes and hot spices. From the Keys also came the state dessert: СКАЧАТЬ