Page 118 - SOM FALL 2017 BOOK

chow | local habit

IT’S TIME FOR

CHOWDER

international origins create
a dish to enjoy in autumn

Chris Dennett

Not too long ago I was having in modern French means “boiler”
a discussion with some friends and is also an old French term
about signature foods from par- for a pot or a cauldron. So the
ticular cities or regions. When name is probably derived from
we talked about San Francisco, the vessel in which it was cooked,
I immediately thought about like the North African tajine, the
sourdough bread. But one of Spanish cazuela, the Portugese
my friends mentioned chowder cataplana, or the French terrine.
as the food that they associated
with the Bay Area. This was The arrival of the name to North
strange to me, since I always America can best be traced to
associated chowder with New the Northeast Coast, specifically
England. As we continued our Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and
conversation we started talk- New England, which is why its
ing about other kinds of chow- presence on menus and in homes
ders. There is a Manhattan clam is ubiquitous in these areas still.
chowder (made with a tomato But here’s where it gets tricky.
base), and Corn chowder, and
cream-based chowders, and not One theory of its origin is that
cream-based chowders, sea- it was a basic fisherman’s stew
food chowders, smoked salmon from France, brought over with
chowders, beef chowders (yes, a the first wave of French trappers
real thing!). who settled in that region. But
there is also reasonable evidence
With so many different kinds to suggest the exchange was the
of chowders, it started to beg other way around, and that it was
the question: what, actually, a Native American stew adopted
is a chowder? It turns out the by early settlers. This theory
answer is a little complicated. would imply that maybe it should
be referred to as “Naragansett” or
The word “chowder” is most “Wampanoag” stew rather than
likely an Anglicization of the “chowder.”
French word “chaudière,” which

116 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | fall 2017