"Until very recently, I didn't know that white jeans are considered by some in the United States to be acceptable only between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I'd been wearing mine all winter. It first struck me as one of those things that exists simply because it always has, handed down with great conviction. Food is full of these. Don't eat oysters in months without an R. Swallow a cherry stone, and a tree will grow inside you. Add oil to pasta water to prevent the noodles from sticking together (it just makes everything slippery and stops the sauce from clinging)."
"The wearing white-rule, on reflection, probably made sense when it was introduced: Before air conditioning and moisture-wicking fabrics, wearing white in summer kept you cooler. On the partly paved streets of the early 1900s, winter mud splashes must have posed a serious problem. The oyster rule has a similar rationale. Before refrigeration, oysters spoiled in warm weather hence the warning to avoid eating them in months containing an R, which neatly skips the summer. Now, oysters travel cold from boat to plate, the spoilage risk far reduced, and I still feel a little hesitation ordering them in July."
"Something in me has absorbed the rule without quite absorbing the reason for it. Which is, I think, true of many rules: The instruction lingers long past the logic, and eventually the logic gets left behind altogether. Which brings me to potato salad. I've been thinking about what potato salad actually does what job it performs and why it's always there alongside the grilled things, without anyone really questioning it."
"It's the only thing on the table that does something different: a cold and creamy counter to all that heat and char. So many dishes work this way. Their whole reason for existing is a functio"
White jeans are sometimes treated as acceptable only between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a rule that likely originated from practical summer needs before air conditioning and moisture-wicking fabrics. White clothing helped keep wearers cooler, and winter mud splashes on partly paved early streets made white less practical. Similar logic appears in the oyster rule, which warned against eating oysters in months without an R due to spoilage risk before refrigeration. Modern cold-chain handling reduces that risk, yet hesitation can remain. Many rules linger beyond their logic, leaving the instruction without the original justification. Potato salad is framed as a complementary dish that provides a cold, creamy counterbalance to grilled heat and char.
#food-safety-myths #seasonal-etiquette #culinary-traditions #refrigeration-and-spoilage #potato-salad
Read at cooking.nytimes.com
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