We are what we eat

By Paulette Tobin (2/15/00)

Those wacky legislators in South Dakota are at it again, debating a bill that would make kuchen South Dakota's official state desert. Frivolous, you say? Does the state really need an OFFICIAL state dessert, you ask? You bet, say supporters of the kuchen bill. They say South Dakota has an official state dirt, for heavens sake, so why shouldn't there be an official dessert?

The Associated Press reported that the kuchen bill has already passed the state House and on Tuesday passed the Senate State Affairs Committee by 8-1. Next it will go to a vote of the full Senate, and if it passes, on to the governor for his signature. Some of you may remember that a similar bill passed the state Senate last year, only to be defeated in the House, but odds look pretty good that this time it will pass.

Sherlock Hirning, superintendent of schools in Eureka and also president of the Eureka Development Corp., testified for the bill, saying its passage would mean more people would be demanding kuchen for dessert. Perhaps the publicity about the bill will be good for kuchen sales, and will bring more attention to the heritage of the South Dakota's Germans from Russia and to communities like Eureka.

Kuchen in all its creamy deliciousness is certainly worthy of being the official state dessert. My mother used to make then a dozen at a time, especially at Easter, in prune, raisin, date, peach, apple, cottage cheese, and sugar. So did my grandmother. Perhaps the champion and certainly most prolific kuchen maker in my family is Great-aunt Alma Weller, who with her late husband, Emil, owned the Eureka Bakery for many years. I wouldn't even want to guess how many kuchens Alma has baked - and she's still at it.

I tried making kuchen once. It was a lot of work and didn't turn out that great. I'd much rather mooch my kuchen off Mom, or buy it at the Eureka bakery. (Ever tried their chocolate kuchen? It's sinful.)

I do believe we Germans are one of the most food-loving ethnic groups. When I look back at our history over the last several centuries, there was an awful lot of migration, across continents and oceans, and that made for some pretty hard times along the way. Perhaps that's why the Germans are so good at making hearty and tasty food out of not much of anything. Give a good German cook some flour, potatoes, a few eggs, some milk and water, and she can make you dumplings, knephla, strudels, keachla and more. Throw in some cottage cheese, salt and pepper, maybe a green onion or two and some butter, and you've got kase knephla.

German food, food customs and traditions are the subject of a new documentary that will air March 5 on North Dakota Prairie Public Television and March 7 on South Dakota Public Television. The one-hour film is called "Schmeckfest: Food Traditions of the Germans from Russia," and it was produced by Prairie Public Broadcasting, Inc., and North Dakota State University Libraries of Fargo.

This documentary, part of which was filmed last September at the Eureka Schmeckfest, is a follow-up to an earlier Prairie Public documentary called, "The Germans from Russia: Children of the Steppe, Children of the Prairie." "Schmeckfest" focuses on traditional foods, savory recipes and folk memories that are so important in the history and culture of the Germans from Russia community. The filmmakers visited kitchens and reminisced with cooks, and shared the festivities at Sauerkraut Day in Wishek and a traditional German wedding that took place during Eureka's Schmeckfest. (Information about ordering this documentary on video can be found elsewhere on this site.)

Every now and then I am reminded that some of the food traditions I take for granted can seem pretty exotic to others. One day I brought chicken noodle soup to work for my lunch. My co-workers couldn't believe it when I sprinkled cinnamon on my soup. Doesn't everyone eat his or her chicken noodle soup sprinkled with cinnamon? No, not everyone, says my friend Ron Vossler, who was part of the making of the "Schmeckfest" video and who grew up in Wishek, N.D. Ron says some Germans put catsup in their soup. He says there's a cafe in Bismarck well known for its German food where they claim they can name your hometown by whether you put cinnamon on your soup, or catsup in it. (Catsup in chicken noodle soup? Gross!)

Of course the cinnamon on the soup didn't create nearly the reaction I got from my co-workers when I told them we used to eat noodles with stewed prunes every Good Friday. I don't think they'll ever get over that one.

(Paulette Haupt Tobin grew up at Eureka and graduated in 1973. Today she lives in Grand Forks, N.D., where she is a reporter at the Grand Forks Herald.)