The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 55

Section ij.h cinch Inside Food A new cookbook traverses the length and breadth of Africa. F5. Recipe Index, F2. 11 March of D.me nraros; From Marcn So. none; Mutual data per 3 gram; ch.

O' Wednesday, February 17, 1999 Philadelphia Online: http:www.phillynews.com MNW With the abundance of fresh fish and produce now available in winter, giving up meat for a few days during Lent is not the penance it once was. Here are some new ideas for the season's menu. When black caterers held a lofty status Vi -4 v'V'. n-- -X f-r d- a 'K 1 A They were among the worst of times to be black in Philadelphia, the 1840s slum housing was frightful and race riots swept the city. A particularly deadly confrontation was touched off when a white mob attacked a black man who had a white wife, torching homes on Sixth Street; one black and three whites were killed.

But there is another face to the history of that era, one that is considerably more optimistic, even transcendent the triumphant face of the black caterer. The Philadelphia caterers' guild, sociologist W.E.B. DuBois would later observe, came to rival in power and prestige the craft guilds of medieval Europe. In fact, that was the golden age of black catering, though it is so unsung that even today's practitioners of the craft have never heard of it. At the Jamaican Jerk Hut, Nicola Shirley tells me it is news to her.

Sadiki Tra-vick at Blue Monkey Catering was almost sputteringly delighted to learn about it. -It is a tale both inspirational and, in the end, cautionary a missing moment in what most Philadelphians know about the city's grand and colorful culinary history. Indeed, for a time, DuBois notes, one simply did not in dulge in lobster salad, chicken croquettes, deviled crabs or terrapin at an affair unless they were prepared by the hand of a black i Shrimp 'n' Pasta Salad takes on a saucy spring attitude with the addition of asparagus and papaya. Mango chutney, lemon peel and light sour cream provide even more flavor. By most accounts, I TllJM tne story begins be- iuie me ixevuiuuuii, when most of the city's black population was of West In- Rick Nichols On the Side Almost is MvV .4 ft the wide availability and growing appeal of fish, and to health reports such as one last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association on a decade-long study that showed even moderate fish consumption (once a week) could cut the risk of sudden cardiac death by half.

The mild taste and consistent quality, availability and price of farm-raised catfish have made this once regional species the fifth most popular fish in the country after tuna, pollock, salmon and cod. And it leads among aquacul-tured fish, with production of 447 million pounds a year, compared with 55 million pounds of farmed trout. Those still timid about cooking fish at home need only remember that fish become opaque and firm in texture when cooked. As soon as that occurs, remove the fish from the stovetop or oven and let it finish cooking on residual heat to avoid overcooking. See LENT on F2 By Marilynn Martcr INQUIRER FOOD WRITER Forget the overbreaded frozen fish sticks with watery stewed tomatoes and the pasty macaroni thick with neon-yellow processed cheese.

Such familiar past Friday foods seem all the more like penance when compared to the wealth of fresh fish and vegetables and other food options now open to cooks through Lent. While Catholics are required to abstain from meat only today (Ash Wednesday) and on Good Friday, many Christians are guided or tend toward meatless meals each Friday of the six-week Lenten period that started at midnight. The Roman Catholic tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays began as far back as the first century A.D. to commemorate Jesus' 40-day fast in the desert. These days there is an overall reduction in meat consumption, which can be attributed to Breaded Pear Saiad (top) and Catfish With Apple-Fennel Salad and Pickled Pearl Onions are two fresh suggestions to brighten the Lenten table.

In the Kitchen WhhAminBitar dian descent, practic ing a style of peppery Creole cookery now associated more typically with New Orleans. Ingredients were easily available, writes food historian William Woys Weaver: Three times a week, ships arrived on the Delware riverfront loaded down with fresh bounty from the Caribbean limes, coconuts, bananas, plantain fruit and guava. From African tradition The ubiquitous gumbos of the time, called olios or pepperpots by English-speaking colonists, says Weaver, were descended not from Spanish or Portuguese cookery as written cookbboks would later attribute but directly from African tradition, "especially in their hot spicing, the use of salt fish and the quantities of okra that thickened them." And it was upon this specialty peddled by black street vendors such as Flora Cal-vil and Polly Haine that black culinary expertise expanded its reputation. But it would not be until the 1790s, in the person of Robert Bogle, that the craft took on a new dimension. By introducing the catering contract and carefully training his cooks, Bogle all but invented the city's catering business.

He used a brilliant form of economic jujitsu, transforming one of the few trades in which blacks were relatively unchallenged domestic service into a business they directed and controlled. In his seminal study The Philadelphia Negro 100 years ago, DuBois concluded that those early caterers "shrewdly, persistently and tastefully transformed the Negro cook and waiter into the public caterer and restaurateur, raising! a crowd of unpaid menials to become a set of self-reliant, original businessmen," amassing fortunes and wide respect. End of the golden age By the end of the 19th century, the tide had ebbed Philadelphia society was taking its cue from New York, not local trend-setters; it took larger amounts of capital to get into big-time catering; and palatial hotels inhospitable to black entrepreneurs were taking bigger shares of the business. New waves of immigrants, too, among them the Irish, were competing for a piece of the pie, even as family-centered caterers found themselves catering not to the extravagantly rich anymore, but to a lower-profit middle-class market. Still, it had been an extraordinary run, a time, as DuBois writes, when black caterers Henry Jones and Henry Minton ruled the social world of Philadelphia through its stomach and, in the dark days of the 1840s, the delicacies of a West Indian immigrant named Peter Augustin made the reputation of Philadelphia catering famous the nation over.

I Grilled falafel: Putting a healthy twist on a staple By Gerald Etter INQUIRER FOOD EDITOR i 1 1 I he Turkish coffee is not yet done this morning, but the phone is al I 1 ready relentess, demanding immedi 1 Jk ate attention. Everyone is speaking Arabic, and then a word in unfamiliar dialect has them literally scratching their heads. Adding spice to the early-morning action at Bitar's Specialty Food Store Grill, the lemony-sage aroma of coriander mingles pleasantly with the nutty sharpness of cumin and the heady fragrance of cardamom. Amin Bitar, the senior brother at 36, runs this South Philadelphia Middle Eastern grocery and sandwich shop with Jude, 34. But it was their parents, Elias, 69, and Mariette Bitar, 69, who created the business, in 1974.

Back then, it was a much smaller place, a half-block away, at 10th and Annin Streets, in the soul of the Lebanese community. "They started carrying Middle Eastern products and baking their own pita bread. The first sandwich we sold was a hoagie wrapped in pita," Amin says. "By early 1996, we were here, at 10th and Federal." Amin was getting the grill fired up, The patties of seasoned ground chickpeas and fava beans are found throughout the Middle East. readying to show me how he grills not fries falafel, those small, exotically seasoned patties of ground chickpeas and fava beans that are a street-food staple throughout much of the Middle East.

Jude was nearby, in the grocery section, talking with some customers. Both are trim and fit-looking, outgoing and personable. Amin admits liking to talk a bit more than Jude. See FALAFEL on F5 MICHAEL PEREZ Inquirer Staff Photographer Amin Bitar prepares the ingredients with a food processor at Bitar's Specialty Food Store Grill in South Philadelphia..