Saturday, May 10, 2014

Chef

Yes, go see Jon Favreau's fine little story on pursuing what can make you happy.

First: Of course,  total Reactive Redemption movie. We have a guy - El Jefe, the titular Chef, Carl Casper,  played by Favreau -  who has work issues that he's letting interfere with Important Family Matters, and he wins by resolving them and being Better Than At The Start.

Second: The resolution (and redemption) involves setting up a food truck selling Cubanos, which are a pressed grilled pork sandwich. Emblazoned on the side of the mobile kitchen is a pig.

When you pull in pigs and pork and food and Latin culture, one quickly ends up back in 1492. Anyone following along here knows that while Columbus did Sail The Ocean Blue,  that was only after Ferdinand and Isabella completed the Reconquista,  ending the Moorish occupation of the Iberian penninsula. Around that same time - and no coincidence, as previously noted - the Spanish Inquisition was begun, to not only ensure that the Moors were definitely gone, but to get rid of any Jews as well. One method used in pursuit of that goal was pork: Anyone willing to eat pig flesh was clearly not Jewish or Muslim - not practicing, certainly. This eventually led to a particular sense of pride in eating pork, showing that you were a good Christian, and making it easier to identify those non-pork-eaters. Which further leads to some of the great Spanish pork products: jamón ibérico and the pride of Segovia, roast suckling pig.

(And maybe  morcilla, if you like that sort of thing)

For anyone who thinks it's a big jump from pork to 1492, note that a common Cuban side dish consists of black beans and rice cooked together, called Moros y Cristianos - Moors and Christians.

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