Long - Green Bean Casserole (1)

The Green Bean article by Long raised a couple of issues about how traditions are introduced into a folk foodway: through aesthetics and ethos.

Long talks about industrialization having an impact on food cultures throughout the world not just in Ohio where the green bean casserole is popular. There are so many traditions that we take for granted and that we do not realize have been recently introduced through access to new products or product preservation and the mass marketing of those products. I was particularly struck by the use of canned ingredients that create not only this recipe but many quotidian food traditions. One such in Canada that always struck me as rather ‘odd’ or ‘quirky’ is the use of baked beans as a breakfast side dish in Newfoundland.

Because of the way Long describes the ‘training’ of tastes that creates a culture ‘that accepts commercial and processed foods as the normal and right way for foods to be” I decided to look up the history of canning. I had assumed it had been around ‘forever’ but in fact it was invented in 1809 (with, funnily enough, the can opener being invented 30 years later). The Ohio area houses processing plants and canning factories so people in those areas would be inclined to adopt this new method of food preparation even though they were traditionally agricultural areas. But during that era many places were going through their own industrial revolutions and these ‘new’ foods were being introduced everywhere and Campbell’s and other companies were creating recipes in order to sell their products. People would try them and often incorporate them into their food events.

It is rather odd to think that ‘tradition’ comes out of a can—with the folkloristic aspect being contained within the aesthetics of variation. People adopt a new food, from these corporations or previously from the upper classes, incorporate it into their community and then proceed to make it their own. Campbell’s states that the green bean casserole is one of the most popular recipes downloaded from their web site and a couple of years ago I came across the recipe and tried it. I tried the original recipe and variations but it always seemed to be a congealed mess of clumps of cream and soggy onion rings. Perhaps because I was not brought up in a ‘casserole culture’, I could not find a way to ritualize this dish; the gustatory aesthetics could not overcome the unpleasant visual aspect.

The only Campbell’s soup used consistently in my family was the ‘tomato’ (for everything from cold day soup to spaghetti and meatloaf sauces) any other soup was considered exotic.

Long - Green Bean Casserole (2)

This article by Lucy Long follows the transition of a creative marketing gimmick into a family favourite foodway in Midwestern United States. Green bean casserole was invented by the Campbell's soup company in 1955 and since then has graced their soup cans and been features in countless magazines and on the Internet.

This evolution of a mass produced canned good into a family favourite is not out of line for the times. We're all a part of a new generation of foods that are fast, precooked, and ready when you are. The people interviewed for this article told of the variations they had made to the recipe, how they've incorporated it into family functions, and how they just thought "it's always been there." As I was reading this I couldn't help but realize how closely I could relate this to myself and Kraft Dinner. I loved KD as a child, it was part of our family repertoire, each member having their own preferences for its preparation, and I just thought it was "normal food". Even as I grew older I never thought of the commercialization of it, or the fact that's it's mostly manufactured product that somehow made it into the [] family traditions; it would be eaten at Christmas when times were the busiest, before skating lessons and basketball games. It was a quick filling alternative that brought the family together, and is one of my favourites to this day.

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.