Cynthia D. Bertelsen's Gherkins & Tomatoes
A Writer's Musings on Nature and Culture, Since 2008
Unlike cowboy lingo, lumberjack lingo did not add many words to the pantheon of American spoken English. Nevertheless, this fascinating list of terms --- used by lumberjacks to describe food and items associated with food and cooking --- proves highly entertaining. Notice the meaning of "pregnant woman pie," for one. Axle Grease: butter Bait Can:…
Continue reading ➞ Lumberjack Culinary Lingo
The importance of logging camp cooks can’t be fathomed, really. But try to imagine being miles from anywhere, without a restaurant nearby or a place to cook for oneself; imagine the sheer dependence on log camp cooks, of men burning up 8000 calories a day while felling trees. Like baby birds counting on their parents…
Continue reading ➞ Cookies and Cookees
On a typical day in 1929, cooks at Ritter Company Camps of Dickenson County, Virginia , served the following menus to anywhere from 75 - 100 loggers: BREAKFAST: Cornflakes Oatmeal Stewed or fried apples Canned peaches Fried ham, pork chops, or beef steak, with country gravy Fried potatoes Biscuits Butter, jam, jelly, syrup Coffee, milk…
Continue reading ➞ Bean Burners and Hash Rasslers: More Logging Camp Food
Legends and folklore provide wonderful entrées into cultures. And in the United States we’ve generated a few of these delectable tall tales ourselves. Take the mythical lumberjack Paul Bunyan, who stands heads above the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow and other similar characters. Lumberjacks created Paul and, with each telling, he grew bigger. And hungrier.…
Continue reading ➞ The Appetite of Paul Bunyan
