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Learned
panels on bagels, seminars on pierogies—these were among
the events that took place on the Foodways stage held on the
National Mall in Washington, D.C. as part of this summer’s
2001 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. As with every proper Smithsonian
exhibition, curators were necessary, and the food curator
for New York City’s contribution to this feast of culinary
diversity was Dr. Annie Hauck-Lawson, Associate Professor
in the Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn
College. The originator of the concept of “food voice”
to describe the ways food is used as a channel of communication,
Hauck-Lawson’s special area of interest is the relationship
between food and culture.
Seen here is the “New York Brunch Classics” panel
on the Foodways stage. The delectable combination of sliced
smoked salmon and fresh cream cheese on a bagel is demonstrated
and discussed by (right to left) Herman Vargas, store manager
of Russ and Daughters, Steve Ross, owner of Coney Island Bialys
and Bagels, Mark Federman, owner of Russ and Daughters, and
Cara De Silva, food writer and moderator. This was one of
more than eighty Foodways presentations made on the Mall from
June 27 to July 8 in an annual festival that typically attracts
more than one million visitors. Other preparations included
Shanghai long life noodles from a Manhattan-based chef, roti
from a Brooklyn food entrepreneur, Coney Island fudge by a
New York food writer, West African kansiye (a chicken, peanut,
and vegetable stew served with rice) by a NYC folklore educator,
and New York Cheesecake by an MTA engineer.
 Speaking
of her efforts as Foodways curator—tough work, but someone
has to do it—Hauck-Lawson says, “I aimed to show
slices of contemporary New York life through food, and was
very pleased with the reflection of the dynamism of our special
town. The stories that accompanied each of the food demonstrations
brought New York to life. In ‘Pierogiology 101: Pierogi
in Comparative Perspective,’ five individuals representing
two extended families shared their techniques and lore about
this little Polish dumpling as made and eaten in Brooklyn
and Queens. Egg creams entranced visitors, and the bialy proved
a major curiosity on the National Mall. It seemed that very
few people knew what they were, and many people wanted to
know and taste.”
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