Sunday was the 7th annual New York City International Pickle Day. I'm not sure we need such a day, but apparently picklers feel they need equal time, and NYC was pickle country at one time. The festival, co-sponsored by the NY Food Museum and the Lower East Side Business Improvement District (LES BID), was held on Orchard Street between Broome and Grand Streets on the Lower East Side, on the same block as famous pickle vendor, Guss' Pickles. There were pickling demonstrations, children's activities, tours, exhibits, music, book signings and of course pickles and pickled products for sale and as free samples. And Guss' Pickles? - well that's a whole other story and controversy. A hundred years ago, NYC had 200 pickle shops with half of them in the Lower East Side. Now, virtually all are gone but Guss' Pickles, founded by Polish immigrant Izzy (Isidor) Guss in 1910. Through a number of twists and turns there are two companies battling in court over ownership of the name Guss'. Read about the twisted tale here ...
Monday, September 17, 2007
Pickles
Sunday was the 7th annual New York City International Pickle Day. I'm not sure we need such a day, but apparently picklers feel they need equal time, and NYC was pickle country at one time. The festival, co-sponsored by the NY Food Museum and the Lower East Side Business Improvement District (LES BID), was held on Orchard Street between Broome and Grand Streets on the Lower East Side, on the same block as famous pickle vendor, Guss' Pickles. There were pickling demonstrations, children's activities, tours, exhibits, music, book signings and of course pickles and pickled products for sale and as free samples. And Guss' Pickles? - well that's a whole other story and controversy. A hundred years ago, NYC had 200 pickle shops with half of them in the Lower East Side. Now, virtually all are gone but Guss' Pickles, founded by Polish immigrant Izzy (Isidor) Guss in 1910. Through a number of twists and turns there are two companies battling in court over ownership of the name Guss'. Read about the twisted tale here ...
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4 comments:
Who would think that pickles would become the reason for a lawsuit?
Hopefully you got to eat some while you were there...they must be good if people are vying over them in court...
I won't born you with the comments I left my journalist friend on his blog from Australia. He wrote about this Pickler's parade. Those pickles you posted have a dark side that the picklers don't want anyone to know about. I just recently got back to eating dill pickles.
I did enjoy your post.
yewwww... I hate pickles
Yes!!! So glad you are reporting on that because I missedit. I went last year and their catch phrase was "what's the dill?" I remember being stunned that you could smell the vinegar about two blocks away from the event. And I discover a little marvel: there was a booth from a Lebanese shop from Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn who had "citron confit" (lemon preserved? - not sure of the translation). This is something rather hard to find that is often part of meditarrean recipes such as couscous and south of France dishes.
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