Each week, The Extraordinary Times catches up with leading figures on the historical scene. This week, we catch up with celebrated cultural historian and culinary explorer Dann Woellert. Dann is passionate about regional food history. He has explored local food delicacies like he explores family genealogy. While a product marketer for over 20 years, he has written about local food history for the past decade and curates a food history blog called Dann Woellert the Food Etymologist. Affiliated with the many regional historical societies, he speaks regularly at local societies and museums about food history. He is a five time recipient of the Ohioana award for literary and artistic achievement.
* How have you been getting on during the current pandemic? I have been very lucky to be able to continue my marketing job working from home. In my free time during lockdown I got another book contract with my publisher and have been writing for my blog Dann Woellert the Food Etymologist. I’ve been Zooming into local history societies’ meetings and have even done a few Zoom presentations to history organizations myself, talking about historic Cincinnati restaurants and the history of goetta. * How has being from Cincinnati shaped your sense of history? Having grown up in a German, Catholic, multigenerational Cincinnati and northern Kentucky family, I see the world through Germanic, Catholic-cultured, and Kenner Toy-colored glasses. In Cincinnati, there is a German explanation to just about anything culturally. It wasn’t till I worked and travelled outside of Cincinnati that I realized eating foods like goetta, sauerkraut, pickled herring or saying phrases like Gesundheit after someone sneezes and asking Please? if I wanted someone to repeat something, were not normal. Growing up Catholic, Fridays in the Spring, during Lent meant fish frys or fish sandwiches, and lots of tartar sauce. Being in the town of Kenner Toys meant I grew up in the capital of Star Wars figures and games. The importance of play and creating or making are part of my history. My brother even worked for Kenner Toys as an engineering intern and took the mechanics out of my sister’s Baby Alive doll to make a motor car. I still own my original Star Wars figures and Millenium Falcon, designed here in Cincinnati. I’m such a geek. * How can Cincinnati's German heritage best be appreciated today? One of the great ways to celebrate Cincinnati’s German heritage is to enjoy the variety of craft brews from the many microbreweries we have. A virtual or physical walk through the Brewery district’s Brewery Heritage Trail in Over-the-Rhine is a great way to learn our rich brewing heritage. Another way is to—when it opens back up—visit the German Heritage Museum in Monfort Heights to see some great local German American immigrant artifacts. You can even taste your way through Germanic heritage cuisine by going to one of our area’s German restaurants like Tuba Baking in Covington, Kentucky (authentic German-Swabian food), Mecklenburg Gardens in Corryville, Kreimer’s Bier Haus, and the Hofbrauhaus in Newport, KY. Or – go to one of the many restaurants that serve Goetta—like Wiedemann Brewery in St. Bernard, or Tucker’s in Over-the-Rhine. * What, in your opinion, is the Queen City's greatest culinary contribution to the world? The easy answer would be to say its Cincinnati chili, goetta, or the Cincinnati brat, but I have to say the culinary contribution that has the largest legs outside of our city is our dressing of the American double decker with tartar sauce. When the American burger took off it was dressed California style, like the McDonald’s brothers and the Wian’s of Big Boy did theirs—with a red Thousand Island like sauce. Our love for tartar sauce in Greater Cincinnati comes from our Catholic pre-Vatican II Friday meat abstaining, and our current Lenten Friday fish fries and fish sandwich culture. When David Frisch brought the Big Boy franchise to Cincinnati in the 40s, he dressed the Big Boy with tartar sauce instead of Thousand Island and our love affair with the condiment became history. * What books have you enjoyed reading in recent months? During the pandemic I’ve read:
* Skyline or Gold Star? Both, and often!! I like menu items and families of both local iconic parlors. The Dauod family of Gold Star are wonderful and have been super-generous to our local charities. The founding Lambrinides family, which no longer own Skyline, are cool too and boast a great comedic writer, Billy Lambrinides, amongst their descendants.
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AuthorMatthew Smith, PhD (History). Public Programs at Miami University Regionals. Historian of Appalachia, the Ohio Valley, & the early American republic. Archives
February 2024
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