Streetcar Salad 2010

Edible Traditions

STREETCAR SALAD

ByCarol J- &rtbr

EARLY SUMMERTIME rN THE cITy oF cHIcAGo,oil Frst the shadow of tall buildings and at the end of the

line" two kids erqving shopping bags made their way downoffa stratcar The year was sometime in the late 1920s, and

Se young girl a redhead named Mary. She and her brotherwould one day become my Grandmother and Great-UncleTony, but on this day they were just kids, swinging along theiremPtt bags and walking over to an abandoned lot out in the

suburbs. They spent the day there kneeling on the ground,pi.king and sorting and filling those bags with dandelions.

I heard this story once as a child and never forgot it. \7hatI didnt know was that Mary and Tony took that streetcar

several times to gather the dandelions. They brought themhome to their mother, my great-grandmother, Palma

Franceschini, and she shared them with her neighbors. Palma

c:lme to America by shipt passage, spoke only Italian, and

raised a large family.hto"gh the Depression Era and beyond.

As a child growing up, I thought her life very different frommy own, especidly upon hearing the story of the dandelions.

I formed a picture in my mind of desperate scarcity, with the

improbable image of my poor Grandma Mary head bent over

a bowl of weeds for her supper. These were the edibles of mygreat-grandmothert table, and I couldnt imagine what onearth she did with them.

Years later and now a mother myself, I recognized a bunch

of dandelion leaves for sale at the local co-op. I wondered

what they were doing there, next to the kale. Didnt they

belong out on somebodyt lawn? Later that day, my own

daughter handed me a bouquet of them, summer's yellowest

flowers, just as I had done for my mother when I was a kid. Ilooked at the delight on her six-year-old face, recalled the

story of Mary out picking her supper, and decided that maybe

it was time to rethink this humble weed. I put my "bouquet"

in water, and set about to do a little research.

Like Great-Grandma Palma, the dandelion was brought

here by ship, on pur?ose. The plant turns out to be bothcurative wonder and super-food, with everything from root-dp to flower-top usefi.rl and edible, the leaves being one of the

STREETCAR SALADServes 4

As created for my family based on Palma's recipe, I used half dandelion and half romaine to help us ease

into the new taste. t also added dried cronberries because I thought they would contrast nicely with the

greens. They did. The vegetables can be changed up occording to whatever you have on hand, but

I recommend plenty of sliced hard-boiled eggs, as prescribed by Palma. And because it is

mentioned in every cookbook, I must add here to be sure your dandelions are pesticide-free.

2 cups dandelion greens, rinsed and torn2 cups Romaine, rinsed and torn1 stalk celery, sliced

1 medium carrot, shredded2 slices of a large red onion, rings quartered

Handful of dried cranberries (optional)

4-5 hard-boiled eggs, sliced (see tip below)

3 teaspoons apple cider vinegarSalt and pepper to tasteDrizzling of olive oil

ln a large salad bowl, toss the greens with the prepared vegetables and dried cranberries. Add the

hard-boiled eggs, slicing right into the bowl. Dress the greens first with the vinegar, then

the salt and pepper, and toss gently. Serve right to the table without the oil, letting each

person drizzle their own. Any extra salad keeps nicely for the next day.

TIP: Use a knife to cut the hard-boiled egg in half with a swift stroke, then carefully scoop out of its shell and slice. lt's easier

and quicker than peeling!

Palma and Tony

.>E.fEE

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most nutrient-dense vegetables on earth. They provide morebeta-carotene than any other plant, almost as much vitamin Aas cod liver oil, rwice the potassium of bananas, and 50o/omore vitamin C than tomatoes. In ltaly, as well as other partsof Europe, dandelions are enjoyed and actively cultivated allsummer long. Those purchasing domesticated varieties arerewarded u.ith not only a Popeye-like swagger, but a less

bitter, more succulent rasting green.Palmas home tou-n of Senigallia resides in the remote

Marche region of ltalr-. boasting the countnrs friendliest andbestJooking people {r}roueh i ma1- be biasedl. Italvs lifeexpectans\- also consistendv rates as number one or nr-o in theworld. It rvas here rhar Palma tirsr acquired her ,raste fbr rhebitter green, and so one can'r help but or-on,Ler about r}revirtues of dris dier. In rnv resea,rch I tbund dish* fbr suchwonderfirl things as Dandelion Pie. Frinered Blossorns. and amusical soundilg enrde translated as Duet of Chickpeas andGreens. I began sen-ing dandelions at nearh'even'meal, but Iwanted to knorv ho'iv Palma prepared them, and so I called onGreat-Uncle Tony.

Twelve years ago I visited Uncle Tony, and he cooked forme wearing an apron and giant white chef hat, waving arounda wooden spoon and bantering with his wife, Celeste, over thebest way to prepare drunken chicken. On the day I called himabout the dandelions, he was 92 years old and it took him a

while to get to the phone. But when I asked him my question,he answered without hesitation, as if it had only beenyesterday that he and Mary went out on that streetcar.

"Oh yes, it was at the end of the line," he began, and yes,he remembered his mothert recipe. I wrote it down and madeit for my own family that night, relying on his advice to pickonly the leaves from plants not yet flowered.

As I rinsed and sorted through the dandelions, I thoughtof Palma and Mar,v and Tonl', and of my o\r'n mother.Lorraine. How, as pa-ren$, so manl of the drilgs \\-e create areerased or eaten and forgonen, nothing left behind. I uonderat times if I rvill leave anrrhing lasting for mv children. But itoccurred to me that day preparing dandelion greens, thatperhaps we are not connected by the things we make so muchas by the act of the making itself. That by doing a thing thathas been done so many times by those who came before, weare drawn closer. \(/e become part of a larger, living story.

'W-e live in a time when looking to the past to re-learn lostwisdom has become essential to moving into a sustainablefuture. If I can change the way I look at a weed and see thepossibiliry of dinner, how many other things can I change? InItaly, cooking begins with the freshest, least-travelledingredients the cook can afford. In sending her children outon that streetcar, Palma was enacting an age-old tradition ofsending the young out to pick the dandelions, one that hasnow passed on to me and my family. I am a descendant ofLorraine and Mary and Palma Franceschini, and I eatdandelions for dinner, all summer long, because, as the saylnggoes, that's ltalian. +

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