New York City from a Pickled Perspective

Christopher Columbus not only sailed the ocean blue but he was the first to bring pickles to The New World. By the early sixteen hundreds, New York City had the largest concentration of commercial picklers. In 1895, 47 years prior to the introduction of Vlasic's well known pickles, picklers began opening pickle shops along Ludlow Street in the lower east side of New York City. In over 200 pickle shops, pickles were cured in large barrels filled with a variety of flavored brines.  Picklers would travel the northeast selling their pickle selections at weekend street fairs. 

This little bit of pickle history comes courtesy of the New York Food Museum, which hosts a Pickle Day every year. This year Pickle Day will take place on October 4th, 2009 on Broome between Essex and Ludlow. Since Pickle Day is still a few months away I decided to take my own pickle tour during a recent visit to New York City. 

I am a HUGE fan of pickles. Therefore, when I read about New York City's pickle history I thought it would be a fantastic experience to wander around one of my favorite cities, trying different flavors of home-cured pickles that have made Ludlow Street famous. What I found was a pickle lovers paradise. Being someone who has grown up with Vlasic and Claussen I was fascinated by the barrels and barrels of flavored pickles. I am now well aware that a pickle is not just a dill pickle. There are so many flavors of pickles that you can fill a small warehouse full of barrels, all different flavors. For all of you pickle lovers I highly suggest taking your own walking tour of New York City's pickle gems. The picklers that you will meet at each of these pickle shops are often 3rd generation picklers who have great stories to tell. 

These days there are not many pickle shops left on Ludlow Street. Many of the famous pickle stalls have closed their doors or moved to the outskirts of the city. However, there are a few gems that have withstood the years of changing tastes in pickles. Following are a few pickle shops that offer a great pickled perspective on New York City:

Pickle guys

49 Essex Street (corner of Essex and Grand)

Guss' Pickles

87 Orchard Street (corner of Broome and Orchard)

Katz's Deli - not a pickle shop but this famous deli offers great pickles alongside a fantastic slice of corned beef

205 E. Houston Street (corner of Ludlow and Houston)

Just Pickles

569 9th Avenue (corner of 9th and 42nd)

Dine Out and 'Veg Out'

I love the thrill of dining out while traveling and searching through tantalizing menu items, anticipating the tastes and flavors of previously unknown dishes. I am lucky in that I am able and willing to try just about anything. 

Lets see there was the sea urchin in Japan (tastes like tuna tartare,) bone marrow in New York City, and the unidentified object in Thailand. However, I find it a tad intimidating and frustrating trying to search for that perfect restaurant while traveling. Therefore, I can only imagine how difficult it is to search for restaurants abroad for people who have dietary restrictions or preferred dining habits. In addition, being a vegetarian must especially difficult in countries where meat is the main ingredient i.e. Brazil or Argentina. 

So for the vegetarians or vegans out there I found two online resources that hopefully will make it a little easier to find the perfect restaurants while traveling abroad. 

Happy Cow - In my opinion this is the best site for searching international vegetarian or vegan restaurants. It is very user friendly, covers a vast range of destinations, and the recommendations are authentic, good eats. You can also submit your own recommendations for veggie eats as well as join the community of vegetarian travelers. I also found their Facebook Fan Page to be a valuable source if information. 

VegDining.com - I am not a fan of the design of this website. However, it seems to be very popular. It isn't as user friendly as Happy Cow. However, I think it houses more content and resources than Happy Cow. VegDining.com features travel destinations and their vegetarian delights as well as extensive profiles of various restaurants. You can also access recipes, special offers, and join their VegDining rewards program. Their Facebook Fan Page has over 6,000 fans so apparently they are doing something right.

A True Story of Food, Love, and War in the Orient

There exists a cookery book that was written by a woman on the brink of starvation in a Japanese internment camp in China during the Second World War. 

"You would expect from a wartime recipe book - all rations and digging for victory, or subsistence on rotting vegetables and donkey meat in a Japanese internment camp. However, this is a book written as if the war wasn't there at all. As if everyone was back in their warm, safe homes with their families and friends, the larder full and the table heaving with fresh, just-cooked food. It gives advice on how to make good things last longer, how to live and eat to the fullest. The pages are jam-packed with recipes with old-fashioned names: cream puffs and popovers, butterscotch and blancmange, galantine of beef and anchovy toast, jugged hare and ulligatawny soup. There are dinner-party menus, children's menus, cocktails, ice creams, sweets. Its a book for making the best of times in the worst of times, a book that makes you believe that if you could fill your mind with cream cake or anything delicious, then you could transform the bitterest experience into something sweet and shut out the things that you need to forget." - page ix, Lilla's Feast by Frances Osborne

This book rests inconspicuously in the Imperial War Museum located in London, England. Most pages are scraps of what remains of the book as it has weathered with age. Most of the pages were typed on blank rice-paper receipts that are so thin, they are almost transparent. However, if you look past the aged facade you will find one of the most inspiring pieces of literature. I challenge any one of you to travel to London, visit this book, memorize a recipe and return home to cook that meal for your family and friends. It doesn't hurt to ingest a little inspiration every once in awhile! On your way to London you can read the book Lilla's Feast by Lilla's granddaughter, Frances Osborne.