Why would a newspaper scold readers about cooking water? The AFRO columnist mocked beans served swimming in liquid, borrowing one homemaker's quip that they arrived "à la bird-bath." The fix: use little water, drain completely, and turn what remained into sauce so the minerals stayed in the meal. Southern cooks had long saved pot liquor for children and the sick. The column recast that inheritance as nutrition science. Arjun Appadurai reminds us that food carries messages about who holds power over the plate (Appadurai, "Gastro-Politics in Hindu South Asia," 496-497). In markets that overcharged lower-caste shoppers, pouring nutrients down the drain surrendered value a family had already paid for. Which inherited kitchen habits work as quiet resistance?
[Side Bar]
Pitched to the "adventurous," this dish stretches half an orange across two cups of beans and wastes no liquor.
Orange-Bean Supreme
Ingredients
2 tablespoons white vinegar
¼ cup finely minced onion
2 tablespoons melted butter
Salt and pepper
Juice of ½ orange
2 cups finely sliced cooked green beans
Nutmeg
Directions
Blend the vinegar, onion, butter, salt, and pepper. Simmer in a frying pan until the onion is tender. Add the orange juice and beans and toss in the liquor until hot. Add a suggestion of nutmeg and serve at once with any main course.
Afro-American (Baltimore), October 1, 1932, 15.