

Re: "Bivavle brouhaha," Living, April 24.

Oyster po-boyA fried oyster po-boy.

I enjoyed Brett Anderson's piece debating the origins of the oyster loaf. But I question the premise that this foodway was necessarily "invented" at a certain time and place, by a certain individual or operation.

More likely this simple starch-protein combination emerged broadly from various homes and eateries throughout cultural-geographical regions which (1) produced wheat-based bread and (2) harvested and consumed oysters. Basic nutritional requirements drive humans to experiment with combinations of starch, protein and/or vegetables and spices in a meal, and if they deem them tasty and cost-effective, they repeat and refine them.

The same can probably be said of jambalaya, which is essentially a starch (rice) integrated with whatever proteins, vegetables and spices were available and desired. Evidence from my own research on an indigenous North American corn-based dish called sagamite further suggests that broad-based opportunistic experimentation deserves more credit for this foodway than single-point invention. The codified recipes came later.

In investigating the documented "origins" of oyster loaves, poor-boys, jambalaya, sagamite and gumbo, then, researchers may be actually uncovering the origins of the terms we use to describe these vernacular dishes. That's still an interesting question -- but it's a linguistic question more so than a culinary one.

Certain dishes were indeed "invented" from the top down; oysters Rockefeller come to mind. But simple age-old starch-protein dishes probably emerged from the bottom up, in regions where the constituent ingredients were available.

Richard Campanella


New Orleans