The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

raj — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:25:07 -0000

i'm of indian descent and had no idea cucumbers originated in the motherland. as a matter of fact, i regularly enjoy chutney sandwiches with cucumbers. i'm also half mexican, which probably contributes to the habit i make of eating just cucumber with salt, lemon, and valentino.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

rapier — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:18:55 -0000

TNC is on to something, but he has no idea what.I eat cucumber sandwiches every damn day and so do most white people. It's supposed to be a secret but it's time to lay the cards on the table.

Cucumbers are the not just the essence of whiteness they are the source of whiteness. They contain a special amino acid which enhances and strengthens whiteness. This amino acid is in fact indigestible by non whites so eating them will do them no good.

It's time for white people to embrace their cucumbers (in a non pornographic way)

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Robert Waldmann — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:24:12 -0000

On cucumbers and watermelons, the Italian word for watermelon is "coccomero". In a still more extreme genre bender, the Italian translation of "great pumpkin" (as in Linus's halloween story in Peanuts) is "il grande coccomero" that is the great watermelon and not "la grande zucca"(the great squash for example maybe an extremely large pumkin).

I think cucumbers are delicious -- salad half cucumber half tomato (no lettuce) with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Very good provided that the tomatoes are Italian. Heeeeeeeyyy cucumbers in the USA are actually edible, that is some vegitable no ?

I have never eaten a cucumber sandwich but an English/Argentine woman claimed they were made with bread, cucumber and butter and no mayo.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Elliot — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:50:00 -0000

I'm not sure where all this anti-cucumber animosity comes from. I'm not a WASP nor one of these eastern dbags you're describing, and the whole cucumber sandwich is a bit weird, but what's wrong with a couple slices of deliciously cold cucumber with vegetable dip among the sliced carrots and red peppers? Or a delicious triscuit cracker loaded with a thin slice of cucumber, a layer of provolone, a slice of salami, and an olive to top it off?

Nothing is wrong with that. Nothing.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Jon H — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:17:53 -0000

I was reading yesterday about a medieval magical procedure that involved burning cucumber seeds and watermelon seeds.

So, uh, there's that.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

paramu — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:06:06 -0000

Cucumber sandwiches are as colonial Indian like gin. I think if you watch the movie Gandhi, you will see this being served at one of the cricket matches.

As an Indo-American, I give you the cucumber avocado sandwich - replaces butter with avocado paste.

1/4 avocado

2 slices white bread

Very thinly sliced of cucumber (ice cold).

Thinly sliced onion.

Pile on more than a layer of cucumber if you like. But don't use thick slices.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

bum — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:18:04 -0000

First off,cucumber sandwiches do not have mayo in them. They're made with cream cheese. Second, around here (Los Angeles), we've got abundant supplies of persian cucumbers which in my opinion are far tastier to normal cucumbers. They're smaller with thinner skin, less bitter and better on sandwiches.

The best breakfast: Toasted everything bagel topped with slices tomato, persian cucumber, onion and fresh jalapeno. Then seasoned with salt and pepper. Yum!

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

LL — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:11:36 -0000

I just checked in Isabella Beeton's Book of Household Management--the mid to late nineteenth century bible on cooking--and not a single recipe for cucumber sandwiches. I'm almost positive they were an upper-class British things, since Beeton's book was aimed at a lower-middle-class audience.

Oh, and in Wilde's play, everything to do with food is a metaphor for sexual appetite; Algy and Jack are constantly eating or hungry. So, for Wilde, cucumber sandwiches are about sex.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

woolie — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:11:33 -0000

I've never had a cucumber sandwich, but maybe I'm not the right kind of white person... Texas/Louisiana...

I frequently enjoy sliced cucumber as a garnish on Vietnamese and Indian food, however. In the former it's a nice change of texture, in the latter a refresher after an otherwise intense experience.

And I concur that fried chicken and watermelon are universally approved.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

pseudonymous in nc — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:24:09 -0000

"It has been a common saying of physicians in England, that a cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing." -- Dr Johnson.

English people don't quite get bagels, so you'll find them serving cream cheese + cucumber, which really doesn't work when the bagel's toasted. Cream cheese and Marmite on the other hand is fantastic. Egg and cress sandwiches are fine, too. As are cheese and pickle.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

BrianSierk — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:23:12 -0000

I wanted to take back fried chicken for the multi racial milleu, but then I realized that the best fried chicken in the world competition is a toss up between Go Chicken Go and Niece's in KC.

The best white people chicken is Stroud's also in KC, but it doesn't hold up head to head.

http://www.gochickengo.com/

51st and Troost was my spot.

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=4533

http://www.stroudsrestaurant.com/

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Sporcupine — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:09:45 -0000

Speaking of bizarre behavior found mainly among white people, can anyone explain to me about James Joyce?

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

JC — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:08:16 -0000

You know, it's just SAD for us white folk, that there is an Indian (asian type) and an "amrita" (also Indian?) who are giving the best description of the CORRECT way to eat a cucumber sandwich.

I say - have we no PRIDE anymore??

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

LonBecker — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:46:19 -0000

Doug,

I don't know if Stoppard quite qualifies as a czech expat, he was born in Czeckoslovakia, but a quick Wikepedia search shows that he left when he was two. He went to school in English as a child.

Conrad is amazing. He didn't know any english until he was 22, and he only wound up in England because of some trouble running guns to Spain.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

PeterGuillam — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:00:06 -0000

"And let's add cucumber sandwiches to the long list of things which rock harder than Coldplay."

I vote we trade Coldplay for Sigur Ros as the streotypical white people music. patagonia, Stacy et al would be happy ...

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Doug in Chi — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:34:54 -0000

Lon: Word! Travesties is a travesty of, among others, "Earnest". And it was written by a Czech expat for whom English was a second language (as for the =ly brilliant "English" writers Nabokov and Joseph Conrad).

More evidence that race and ethnicity and nationality can explain some of who we are, but are more dangerously close to prejudice --literally pre-judging someone. We can't really know you just because we see your skin or where you (or your folks)are from. And we sure can't guess what food you like. And that's why this exchange is both funny and important, and why this blog is one of this white boy's favorites.

And let's add cucumber sandwiches to the long list of things which rock harder than Coldplay.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

white girl — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:21:48 -0000

We eat them with cream cheese though, no mayo. And they are called, "Benedictine" sandwiches.

Yes, white people eat cucumber sandwiches. It may be regional, but does it get any whiter than sipping a mint julep and eating a benedictine sandwich at the Kentucky Derby?

For a recipe:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,171,157186-225201,00.html

TNC-if you like white music, maybe you'd like them?

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

LonBecker — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:28:15 -0000

Well a couple of people beat me to noting that the status of cucumber sandwiches as elegant white people food probably comes from Oscar Wilde. But another place one will find that connection is Tom Stoppard's "Travesties" probably the greatest collection of references that the audience has no chance of picking up on combined together in a single play.

The cucumber sandwiches appear in Travesties because in the actual world James Joyce put on a production of The Importance of Being Ernest in Switzerland in 1917 or 1918. I don't know if that counts as a particularly white type of humor on the part of the playwright, but it might.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Sorn — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:55:51 -0000

If anyone else has names to add for foods that would more adequately reflect the history of white people please be my guest.

I think we could start a whole movement.

Segregation Salad (for a caesar because there are no vegetables other than lettuce).

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Sorn — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:38:06 -0000

(sarcasm warning)

As a white person I demand better food with more appetizing names. Black people have soul food, Koreans have kimchee, Chinese have General Tzo's chicken, as a White American what do I get a $&@! cucumber sandwich. As a white person I demand that we get better treatment. After all this is the race that founded America, killed the Indians (feathers not dots) after taking their land (sometimes before we weren't really too particular), and invented Jim Crow, not to mention Jim Bean as well. I think we could do with a few names of dishes to celebrate the achievements of white people.

As a start in the right direction I recomend the following.

Klu Klux Klan Kabbage.

Sitting Bull Sirloin.

Small Pox hocks (pigs in a blanket)

Railroad Carbombs (to commemorate the Union Pacific)

Also I move that we stop calling white bread white bread. White is not a color it's a value judgment. I that in the name of the years of oppression that we as white people have inflicted upon others we deserve to have a bread that reflects these accomplishments. Therefore I think that we should stop calling white bread white bread. Instead we should call it colonel custer crust. Staff of life just won't do anymore.

(end sarcasm warning)

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Nina — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:30:07 -0000

FUNNY!

May I venture that my first cucumber sandwich was at the "welcome poor scholarship students" reception at my fancy college. And it tasted damn good. So delicate, so wealthy, so.... donated.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Amrita — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:38:04 -0000

Miracle Whip and Mayo?!!! These things have no place in a cucumber sandwich. The traditional cucumber sandwich is made thus:

Thinly (as thin as you can slice it) sliced bread, crusts removed

Thin (think shaved but still cut, not shredded or anything) slices of cucumber

Butter

Salt and pepper

Generously butter both slices of bread. Arrange cucumber slices on one slice. Do not heap but do not be stingy either. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Place second slice of bread on top. Cut in half. Arrange on a nice plate. Serve with tea.

[Still tastes fucking awful unless you like cucumbers. But is very cooling as a snack]

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Triumvere — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:08:46 -0000

What the hell is a cucumber sandwich?

And who the hell determined you get fried chicken?

*I* want fried chicken. Its MINE.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Andrew — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:05:42 -0000

Another sign that China will eventually rise and rule us all: KFC is huge in China, and both watermelons and cucumbers are referred to in Chinese as melons. "Yellow melon" for cucumber, "Western melon" for watermelon. There's some sort of significance to all this, I'm sure.

Re: Again with the cucumber sandwiches...

Ben — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:20:51 -0000

Cucumbers are alright, but please do not stop making fun of Coldplay.