Best Dinner Ever
Inside his notebook for a German language class, one finds the book cover of “Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule” by Thomas Čapek. The rather lengthy subtitle for this 1915 manifesto is “A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak peoples as Related to and Affected by the European War.” As a Czech-American, Maresh was deeply interested in the lives of Bohemians under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Another example of Maresh’s political interest is a short paper titled “How I would like to see the War in Europe end.” In this paper, he wrote about his hopes for the unification of “all the Slavonic provinces,” which is partially realized in the unification of the Czech and Slovak lands in the first Czechoslovak Republic under president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. President Masaryk had his own unique international ties: his wife, Charlotte Garrigue, was an American and he unconventionally took on her last name as part of his own name. Maresh was conscious of the delicacy of small nations emerging from the falling Austro-Hungarian Empire. His statement that he “would not like for England and Russia to take any territory” underscores popular Czechoslovak sentiment that their region could still be subordinated.
What does the First World War and its geopolitical aftermath have to do with food? Underneath Maresh’s prediction for the Slavic regions lies an essay humbly titled “The Best Dinner I Ever Ate.” Maresh sets the scene by describing a day trip to the countryside and the adventure of finding a place to eat lunch. This is more than a simple picnic with ham sandwiches and trail mix. Maresh recounts the roasting of a large turkey, frying of fish, and the stewing of squirrels. These strong scents mixed with the smell of boiling coffee and drew other picnickers to their table. Maresh’s writing invokes a decadence that one would not have expected from a meal prepared and eaten outside. In relating the lavish amount of baked goods, fruits, and even ice cream, Maresh paints his own version of a “Proustian memory.” However, this picnic was much more elaborate than Marcel Proust’s simple, yet compelling, memory of a madeleine. Placed next to documents such as the Čapek book cover and Maresh’s own political musings, this collection juxtaposes historical events with everyday life.
Maresh’s mother and father make an appearance in this short story. The family traveled together on the day trip and the meal would not have been likely without their assistance in roasting and preparing the food. One can connect with Maresh’s excitement for the meal by remembering he is a student at the time and probably was not eating home-cooked meals regularly. The combination of his mother cooking for him and the content of the feast surely reminds other students of the joy of visiting home over a school break and reminding our stomachs that there is more to a healthy diet than ramen noodles and Dr. Pepper. The simplicity of this essay reminds us that food acts as a connection between family and friends. However, no matter how appetizing his description may seem, today your dinner guests might appreciate keeping the stewed squirrels a memory of the past.
