Page 61 - Philly Girl

Philly Girl 45

Fried Zucchini Blossoms

When I was not quite 20, I met a boy who made me fried
zucchini blossoms. He found me at a commune in New Eng-
land, populated by lost souls, draft dodgers, closeted gay
boys—and me for a few days. It was called the Total Loss
Farm, and it was (famously) part of the back-to-the-land
movement promoted by Ray Mungo, cofounder of the alter-
native Liberation News Service. (I didn’t know that at the
time.) I landed there after the Jeep that had picked me up
hitchhiking overturned in the snow; the driver had a con-
nection to the farm, and he had the good sense to deposit me
there while he dealt with the chaos that had just erupted in
his own life on that wintry, snowy day. There I met Robby,
who liked me. Later that summer, back in the city, he some-
how tracked me down (there was no Google then to aid in
that process)—and cooked an entire meal for me. The first
course was fried zucchini blossoms. This was the beginning
of my evolution as a foodie.
Oddly, I can’t recall the exact taste of those zucchini
blossoms, but I remember they were delicious. Also, I loved
the notion that someone would cook for me to win me over.
(It worked.) The beauty of the presentation, the original-
ity of the ingredients, the thought and care he put into the
meal opened my eyes to a new art form. And, he used salt—
a brand new concept to me. In my mother’s kitchen, salt
was only used in the koshering process. As for ingredients, I
was trained to eat an apple a day—baked, since my mother