Dear Y'all--
Below are photos of last weekend's serendipitous discovery: RED VELVET WHOOPIE PIES!
Red Velvet Cake is truly a Southern delicacy. In fact, in sixth grade, at Millington South Elementary School (TN), I demonstrated how to make Red Velvet Cake as a class project. My great-aunt had instructed me on how to make it (the trick is both cocoa powder and red food dye) and this cooking lesson was also cultural introduction. Sessel's grocery stores always had this cake as the special Christmas bakery item. Red Velvet Cake is right up there with Co-Cola Cake as THE Southern thing to eat (along with Moon Pies, which these are not, despite what Spouse thought.)
Whoopie Pies, as most of you know, are quintessentially a New England delight. Really good ones are like eating the tops of two of the best cupcakes you've ever had, with the frosting in the middle. The frosting on my favorites is always a vanilla buttercream. Yum-o!, as a certain Boston-New York Cajun-Sicilian girl would say.
So imagine my surprise when I was in the North Billerica Market Basket last weekend and discovered Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from a bakery in Maine--!
They were DELICIOUS!
The point for this blog is this:
Sensory experiences carry many things with them, including memory and cultural knowledge. In my case, I could immediately recognize the red velvet whoopie pies for what they were. Quickly I figured out their rarity as well (but I'm used to thinking in these terms). It took me a while to regain the memories of part experiences of Red Velvet Cake (off-line cognition?). And for you, dear Reader, these items now serve as a cultural tool for you to use in the future (in the ways that Michael Tomasello argues).
What do I hope you will do with these things that are "good to think with"?* Remember this embodiment of regional cooperation and eat something yummy very soon!*To paraphrase Claude Levi-Strauss
