Preservation of American Hellenic History
Preservation of American Hellenic History
by Jason C. Mavrovitis
Lining Eighth and Tenth Avenues were vegetable, meat, poultry and fish markets that catered to the ethnic groups of the neighborhood. Delicatessens provided cured meats, salted fish, cheeses, herbs and spices for the immigrants' tables. For Greeks there were containers of their favorite cheeses ~ feta, kasseri, medsithra, manuri and kefaloteri ~ and olives from Amfissa and Kalamata. Baskets filled with vourvi, a small, purple wild onion, might sit next to a pile of salt cod (baccalao) that looked like a cord of stacked wood. Salt and smoke cured herring (renga) and smelt (tsiri) hung from hooks above the counter next to bouquets of dried herbs ~ oregano, bay leaves, dill, mint and thyme ~ (rigani, dafnofilia, anithos, thiosmos, thimari). Below there were containers of spices ~ cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and cumin ~ (kanela, moskokarfi, koriandron, kimino). Large open cans of sardines, anchovies (both identified as sardeles), and tunny (lakerda) were displayed behind glass in the cooler. A mountain of sesame seed covered loaves of bread was piled high on a table or crowned a counter. Jars contained more herbs and spices, even the rare mahlepi(3) that was used to flavor and scent traditional holiday breads.
Butcher shop windows displayed pyramids of fresh lamb heads ready to be split, bathed in olive oil and lemon juice, rubbed with salt, pepper, garlic and oregano and roasted with potatoes to a crispy brown. At Christmas huge pigs heads hung above pyramids of hocks and feet, inviting shoppers to prepare a traditional Balkan winter soup and headcheese (patsa or pichti). As late as the 1980's there were still meat markets on Tenth Avenue that hung suckling pigs, whole lambs and goats in their windows.
Fish stores featured black mussels, crustaceans of all kinds, fresh anchovies and sardines, bass and cod and every other variety of fish available from the east coast of the United States. Unlike the modern marketplace, fish heads, livers and roe were prized. The skilled hands of shoppers would transform heads and skeletal remains of fish into robust chowders. Livers and roes provided tasty appetizers (mezedes) to accompany chilled tumblers of raki or ouzo during conversation before dinner.
Green grocers offered fresh dandelion greens, okra, dill, oregano, and other vegetables and herbs common to the cuisine of the Balkans and the Middle East.
Even in Manhattan, immigrant women canned and jarred fresh tomatoes, apricots and peaches, and put up preserves that included black cherries, rinds of oranges and grapefruit, and rose-petals. They made and dried sausage; and pickled cucumbers, carrots, green tomatoes, celery, cauliflower and cabbage, filling their larders as they would have in their villages in anticipation of a long winter or in preparation for bad times.
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