3-Week SASA Reading Group: Caro Tresque: Roman and Southern Cuisine

Previous participation and previous knowledge not required.

 There are remarkable similarities between the cuisine of the Ancient Romans and the Modern American south. I hope to encourage my reading groupmates to reflect on the origins of what is in their meat and three tray, and to try some roman cooking techniques. Texts for the course will include selections from Cato, Apicius, Ovid, Edna Lewis, and Michael W. Twitty. Along with helping direct discussions about the text, I hope to discuss the particulars of recipes, as well as demonstrate a couple.

Week one will cover almost exclusively one vegetable, Collards. This humble staple is both an obsession of Cato the Elder and the state vegetable of South Carolina. We will discuss the history of collards, the cultural importance they hold for southerners and African American Communities moved by the Great Migration, and I will demo a Roman trick for keeping greens…