作者:拉塞尔·L. 韦伯
人如其食.
Many of us have heard this common axiom at least once in our lives. 对我来说, it was my grandmother’s constant teasing that one day I very well may transform into a “Sour Patch Kid” myself. But there is a more truthful version of this colloquialism that, if applied to historical research, unveils new avenues for the study of political gastronomy, 流行文化, 和身份. 你和你吃的东西og体育官网在一起.
Popular media has done an excellent job of illustrating the bonds of affection that emerge from sharing a meal – from the cacophonous, 吵闹的, politically charged feast held at New York City’s Life Café in 租金, 对着寂静, somber dinner at The Royal Dragon, during which Matthew Murdock, 杰西卡·琼斯, 路加福音笼, and Danny Rand reluctantly formed an alliance to combat an ancient, 漫威的末日恶魔 的捍卫者. Such bonds, however, are not limited to modern fiction.
When I arrived at the Massachusetts Historical Society in July 2018 to research the relationship between affective rhetoric and political identity in revolutionary British America, I did not expect to be struck by the meals which Massachusetts provincials consumed during the Seven Years’ War.
As I combed through hundreds of pages of 杂志s and 日记 entries, I found a common trend. Most Massachusetts provincials greatly detailed the violence which they participated in or witnessed (be it formal combat or traumatic episodes of corporal punishment, often overseen by British regulars), but otherwise many entries – such as those recorded in 塞缪尔‧格林利夫’s 杂志 – contained a single, repetitive phrase which described the day’s events: “Nothing Remarkable.”[1]
Imagine my surprise when I came across Greenleaf’s entry for 1756年8月19日, when he recounted a singularly important moment for himself and his fellow provincials: “we had a Very good huckleberry Pye of which I eat harty…”[2] As a shameless fan berry pies myself, this passage struck me as a meaningful expression of acute joy. Struggling to reconcile his incessant boredom with a chronic fear of impending combat with French soldiers and their Indigenous allies, Greenleaf experienced not simply physical gratification, but rather delightful comradery by devouring such a tasty dessert with his fellow soldiers. 尽管他说的是"我, it is safe to assume that Greenleaf’s fellow provincials consumed their portions of huckleberry pie with equal heartiness and conviviality. As I read further into the experiences of Massachusetts’ Seven Years’ War veterans, I became aware that such collective pleasures formed combat communities, whose members felt a sense of intimate affection as deep as, 如果不是更深, their allegiance to colony or empire.
The joy that arose from feasting on fresh bread, 肉, or sweet treats provides a stark contrast to one of the greatest struggles and anxieties for Massachusetts provincials: food scarcity. To avoid starvation the afternoon of February 8, 1758, Rufus Putnam and seventy other provincials reluctantly slaughtered a “large dog,” giving “every man his equal share.”[3] “None can tell what a sweet morsel this dog’s guts and feet were,帕特南观察到, “but those that eat them as I did…”[4] For only those provincials who had felt the desperation of hunger and the subsequent relief of its abatement, 普特南认为, might truly comprehend the deliciousness of such canine nourishment. Albeit a repulsive meal born from unimaginable struggle, this winter dinner only intensified the heartfelt wartime tethers of understanding, 同情, and affection that Seven Years’ War veterans had developed for one another.
Through Putnam and Greenleaf’s 杂志s, I realized that food – as much as rhetoric – was an essential tool to foster lasting, intimate bonds of both personal and political affection. By devouring such a “sweet morsel” – be it a dog’s feet, 一片越橘派, 一盘饺子, or even “thirteen orders of fries” at New York City’s Life Café – strangers and friends alike had the opportunity to cultivate the affective sameness required for forging a shared political identity.
[1] 塞缪尔‧格林利夫, 1756年7月10日, in “The Journal of 塞缪尔‧格林利夫,” MSS; Massachusetts Historical Society.
[2] Greenleaf, 1756年8月19日, “Journal of Greenleaf.”
[3] Rufus Putnam, February 8, 1758, in Journal of Rufus Putnam: Kept in Northern New York during Four Campaigns of the Old French and Indian War, 1757-1760 (Albany: Jouel Munsell’s Sons, 1886), 56.
[4] 同前.