#grapegate

[geardaddy]

http://mspmag.com/Blogs/Dara/November-2014/GrapeGate-Thanksgiving-A-Modest-Proposal/

All of the Internet was so surprised when the New York Times rolled out a Thanksgiving package this week in which every state got a perfectly representative Thanksgiving dish, and Wisconsin (where they are worldwide stars of cheese) got wild rice, while Minnesota got: “Grape Salad.”

It’s green grapes in sour cream, covered with brown sugar and bruléed.

The writer, David Tanis, explained, “This grape salad, which falls into the same category of old-fashioned party dishes as molded Jell-O salad, comes from a Minnesota-born heiress, who tells me it was always part of the holiday buffet in her family.”

Minnesota explained: You’re nuts.

Noted critics weighed in. Lee Svitak Dean, of the Star Tribune put it well: “How ridiculous! Are all the other states equally misrepresented? After 20 years as food editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I can tell you I've never even heard of this recipe.”

Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, infamous in these parts for carrying a ruby- and bacon-encrusted parasol through the boulevards, was heard from as well: “J'accuse! This is not from a Minnesota heiress. Pecans = the south, grapes = California, even sour cream is more likely from Wisconsin than Minnesota. I'm going to guess this is from an heiress from the fabled land of Mindianapolis, who rides through the land on a silver chariot pulled by golden weasels.”

And yet, everyone is a critic. Obviously it would be more constructive for the New York Times if we would suggest more typical Minnesotan Thanksgiving dishes, that anyone from Roseau to Blue Earth would recognize and find quite easy to prepare:

The Top Ten Most Typical Minnesotan Thanksgiving Dishes
Read the list at the link.

[alarimer]

1. My mom (from MN) makes a sort of grape salad.

Grapes, cranberries, walnuts (I think) and Cool Whip (maybe- it's sweet anyway).

It's good. I don't know what the hell kind of salad they are referring to in the article. I've never heard of anything like that.

Wild rice is more Minnesota than Wisconsin.

I've looked at the rest of the list and it's all so screwy. North Carolina- Sweet Potato Cornbread? What on earth is that? Yes, NC grows more sweet potatoes, but I've have never heard of mixing it with cornmeal. Now, sweet potato biscuits are a thing and a great, tasty one indeed. I never had one until I moved here, but they are something else.

Lefse for North Dakota? See, I've always thought of that as a Minnesota thing, but I guess it's wherever Norwegians settled, which includes North Dakota, I guess.

So much of that list is just weird. The sort of thing some chef dreams up, one who's never been in any of those places.

[Demoiselle]

2. My mother made that salad! But she was born in North Dakota...

…and she didn't make it until we'd been living in Philadelphia for a while.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. WTF? I've lived here forever and I've never heard of this weird grape salad.

Though I might try it.