Despite our long-standing enmity with geese—both for the time a gaggle attacked our brother near a pond and because they’re just plain jerks—we recently got to wondering why the idea of the Christmas goose is such a thing. Really, though, stop a second and think about it. You probably have some reference in your brain to eating goose at Christmastime, though when we started asking the people in our lives if they’ve done it in the past, know anyone who has or if they’re maybe just thinking about eating one of those migratory assholes some holiday, the answers were a resounding, “No, I don’t think so.”
So then why do we have this image in our heads? Something about A Christmas Carol? Sure, yeah, that’s likely. But it also turns out the tradition of stone-cold goosing it at Christmas has ancient roots. We’re talking the Greeks and the Romans and even the freaking Vikings here. And there are numerous reasons behind this. Did you know, for example, that geese were plentiful and cheap and available, and that they do a really great job of fattening themselves up? Like the goat and its tin can, so, too, did geese pretty much eat anything they could get their beaks on, most notably grain.
See, back in the ancient days when people didn’t have stuff to do besides farming and making statues and boats, winds would blow grain around after planting, and geese would go nuts on that stuff, fattening themselves in an orgiastic display of lacking moderation and riverside honks. Throw in that thing about how they’re migratory (which means their little goose bodies are designed to specifically retain fat), and they actually wind up delicious when cooked.
Geese were also apparently used in Viking sacrifices to Odin and his assorted brood of gods and godlings, and those sacrifices generally went down in the winter. Surely you’ve heard of geese tales from the mythologies of ancient Egypt and for Hindus. Fast-forward a bit to the Victorian era (OK, that’s fast forwarding quite a bit from the era of Viking kingmakers), and you’ve got a bird that’s still more affordable than turkey—a totally North American bird that had become pretty popular during the days of colonialism and things going back and forth between here and merry olde England. In other words, richies ate turkeys and the poors ate goose; and since there are more poors than richies during every time in human history, the story becomes less about popularity and more about volume. If we look also to Elizabethan England (as in Elizabeth I, y’all), the queen was apparently quite the fan herself, and pretty much everyone at the time liked to goose it up around Michaelmas, a late-September holiday that you either know about for some weird reason or just heard about right now that’s all about the end of the harvest for the year.
Anyway, the point is really something about how things poor (and therefore cooler) people did throughout time, as is the point with pretty much anything. Peasant cuisine always becomes cool later, even if it’s more often about survival than culinary know-how. Lord knows there are plenty of dishes that bear recipes all like “Dump whatever you have left in a pie crust and go nuts.”
In conclusion, some people still eat goose at holidays, and we don’t think that’s any weirder than eating any other bird. Eating birds is weird, but at least if you’re going goose in 2021, you’ll know you’re following in the footsteps of the very gods and mortals who paved the way for whatever, and that you should let us know if you’re planning on doing that this year so we can tell our brother there’s one less goose in the world that wants to hurt him.
Ditto.
Also
-Still feeling bummed about how the Talin World Market closed its Santa Fe location at some point back there? Us, too! But don’t be too sad as the Santa Fe Asian Market is soon to open in the St. Michael’s West shopping center. The name, we think, says it all.
-And while we’re getting into new things opening, Lone Spur Café is officially open this week. It’s cowboy-ish (by which we mean there’s lots of meat) and it’s in the old San Francisco Street Bar & Grill location on San Francisco Street.
-Just as a PSA, we had an absolutely kickass falafel sandwich at Yama’s the other day. Like, we just thought you should know that. Also, the owner’s that guy Jared Garcia from the band Gold Tides, which is cool, too! Trust us—you want to go to there. And while we’re talking about things you should try, have you ever sampled the tres leches cake from Angel’s Bakery? We’d do shit only Klondike Bar fans would do for one of them cakes.
-Want a good gift idea for the upcoming gifting season? It’s not gadgets or cars that people buy their spouses without discussing it (a terrible plan), it’s local restaurant gift certificates. It helps the restaurants, everybody likes eating out and if you Google our address and send us some, we’ll be really pumped! Just kidding. Don’t send us gifts. But do pick just about any local restaurant you think your giftee would like, and then get them a cert, jeeze.
-Since our first ever Recipe-Off was such a dismal failure (we got, like, 3 submissions), we’re going to hit pause on that and think about how to better handle it in the new year. If you already submitted, we’ll keep that in mind, but we’re hopeful folks will just start sending us recipes they want to share.
-Have you been by the Wild Leaven Bakery on Guadalupe Street? We haven’t yet, but it’s majorly on our list. See, the Taos-based bakery can be found in grocers like Whole Foods and La Montañita, but now it has a Santa Fe location and we’re looking to pick up some sourdough or some croissants or both. OR MORE! THE WORLD IS OUR OYSTER AND WE DO WHAT WE WANT! Anyway, the takeaway here is that Wild Leaven exists in Santa Fe now.
-Speaking of bakeries, do y’all remember the time SFR was like “Check out this vegan bakery called Plantita Vegan Bakery?” We do, and we want everyone to know that owner/baker Thomas Kamholz is kicking off some special vegan holiday treats, like a mint chocolate yule log, vegan pot pies, gingerbread cookies and more. You should really check out the website and order something for the vegans you know (or yourself, because we promise you won’t taste a difference). Here’s the website link, just know that you’ll need to order by Tuesday, Dec. 21 if you want the stuff for Christmas.
It is not unhealthy for you to eat it.
More Tidbits
-In we’re-actually-very-into-this news, Philadelphia (being both the City of Brotherly Love and also where the Fresh Prince comes from) announced it will require proof-o’-vaxx for folks interested in indoor dining. If this sounds shocking to you, wait’ll you hear about how New York City and San Francisco have been doing that for months.
-We didn’t get a chance to check out the new Julia Child documentary (though we’d like to), but we did read a rather interesting little think piece from writer Mayukh Sen about how it’s time to ditch the “Julia Child Of” language. In a nutshell, Sen argues, likening women chefs to that most famous woman chef might seem like a compliment to some, but mainly reinforces tired gender nonsense and also reduces new and innovative ideas from people who maybe hadn’t considered Child at all—nor should they be forced to do that.
-Coca-Cola put out a recall for Minute Maid products that might just contain metal across eight states. Not to worry if you’re in New Mexico, though. Still, folks in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Maine might wanna be cool.
-Is it rude to send a cocktail back? So asks HuffPost’s Caroline Bologna (ha!). We actually have the answer to this question: Nope. But it depends on your attitude. Folks who work in bars (and restaurants) want you to enjoy your order because enjoyment often means better tips. If you’re kind and gracious, that’s cool. If you’re a jerk about it, that’s a whole other story.
A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence
In this week’s print edition of SFR, you shan’t find our regular awesome food awesomeness because it’s a week of double music. Burt we do have a brief interview with Plantita Vegan Bakery’s Thomas Kamholz. Still cool.
And you can always find tons of food writing at sfreporter.com.
Please note we’ll be off next week for the holiday, but we’ll return at some point after, probably with information about booze for New Year’s Eve or something.
Number of Letters Received
25
*Some of y’all missed us that week we took off.
Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader)
“Really?”
*Yes, really.
Actually Helpful Tip(s)
Seems many of you have been to Wild Leaven Bakery already and think our plan to pop by is a good one.
*Again, we like sourdough.
___________________________________________________
Honk!
The Fork
