Long - Green Bean Casserole (3)

You here about casseroles all the time, because they are quick and the ingredients are readily available. In this particular article it was green bean casserole. A baked mixture of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and canned fried onions, that add a crunch to the dish. It was invented in 1955 by the Campbell Soup Company. Since it has been marketed nationally it has taken on different recipes in magazines, cook books, and on internet websites. It has become a common, sometimes expected part of family meals, community potlucks, and holiday dinners throughout the nation.

This dish seems to hold a special place in food ways in the Midwest. From an informal ethnographic research green bean casserole is everywhere in the Northwest Ohio area. Every November the local supermarkets display cans of fried onions, mushroom soup and green beans in a sort of holiday arrangement. Foreshadowing the Thanksgiving meal and suggesting that this dish is part of the “proper” national meal.

Green bean casserole in the Midwest seems to be in many contexts an unintentional performance of identity, but at other times a very purposeful expression of local identity.

Lucy Long first realized that green bean casserole holds a special place in Midwestern food ways when she noticed that it frequently showed up in menus in family dinners, particularly Thanksgiving meals.

She then began informally surveying people from the local community. Asking weather green bean casserole was part of their family traditions and asking for their own response to the dish. It was a well known favorite in many everyday meals. It is inexpensive, quick to make, easy to transport, requires little culinary skill and it is dependable dish that most consumers always liked, and in many Midwestern families it was the favorite dish. Not everyone appreciated green bean casserole and reasons ranging from personal aesthetics and taste to health concerns, but they all recognize it as part of their local culinary universe. Most individuals had never thought about the dish and assumed it was just one of those foods, as one person stated “had always been there”.

Campbell’s Soup proudly claims it as its own invention stating it is one of the company’s “top ranked” and “most recommended” recipes.

It is marketed nationally for Thanksgiving meals and seems to have become an accepted part of holiday within Mass-Mediated culture. Casseroles have a special place in American identity. At office potlucks, church gatherings, supper and community picnics; casseroles are a staple. During WWI cooks had to rely on leftovers, often recycling them into casseroles.

There are many variations of this recipe; these variations may come from individuals or communities. Some people may use fresh beans rather then frozen and some use breadcrumbs or almonds instead of fried onions; turning something ordinary into something special in their own eyes. They may do this for a sense of ownership or to attach these recipes to their own identity.

In conclusion I have learned that food always originates from the most unlikely places. Like many others, I just assume that recipes (like the green been casserole) have always been there and I never put any thought of where it its origins came from. This makes me stop and think about the food that I have always been eating, where it came from, and what the origins behind it are.