When
placed in the hands of a man, the apple becomes a legendary symbol that stands
for wisdom and innovation. For example, when the physicist Sir Isaac
Newton witnessed an apple falling from a tree, he came up with the theory
of gravity. Another example of this is Steve Jobs, who named his company 'Apple
Inc' and funnily enough, even has a logo sign which features a bitten apple.
But, for today we are going to look closely at Johnny Appleseed.
Johnny Appleseed’s desire to plant apple trees, instead of eating them like
Eve and Snow White does, makes him innovative, instead of destructive (which
seems to happen when the apple is placed in the hands of a woman. How unfair!)
In Eating
in Eden: Food and American Utopias Etta Madden and Martha
Finch discuss Johnny Appleseed's positive character:
 |
| This is an example of how the relationship between men and apples are viewed as positive and legendary. |
This ‘myth’
of Johnny Appleseed is brought to life when mentioned in the peri-text of apple
based cookbooks, which I found when reading Phillip Stephen Schulz As American as Apple pie (1996) and Amy
Traverso’s The Apple Lover’s Cookbook
(2011). The first thing I noticed about these two cookbooks was the disparity
of time between the two.
In his
introduction, Schulz tells us his cookbook is a celebration of “America’s best”
dishes, that are to be enjoyed “casually and comfortably”, a prominent factor
of the “American style”(12). Schulz’s patriotism
is demonstrated through his language, which at times comes across as
forced enthusiasm. He repeats the words ‘America’ throughout his introduction,
and even the title of book As American as
Apple pie (which is the common
idiom used to describe things that are American). I started to wonder why his
patriotism came across as forced, and realised when reading his beginning
chapter on ‘Apple Pies’, that it could be something to do with what food writers fear
the most: maintaining authenticity.
Schulz
indulgently talks about John Chapman and his legacy, but fails to mention
that apples themselves are not American. This is because Schulz wants to enchant his reader with the fantasy, rather than the reality of the matter. This could be why he describes John Chapman in a fairy tale like manner.Schulz wants to maintain authenticity, particularly when it comes to his apple pie recipes, which I think is why he uses John Chapman, to almost justify his original 'American' recipes. I looked through some online websites that discuss this idea of authenticity and found this insightful quotation:
However, in Traverso's cookbook she differently does mention the origin of the apple before she talks about John Chapman:
Her
tone of voice comes as across as genuine, as she is not preoccupied with patriotism.
This is because of the time differences between the two cookbooks. One is
focused on using food in the form of an apple as a representation of a
race and ethnicity, while the other is focused on just food. Overall, both
cookbooks allude to the John Chapman story as a way of praising his innovative
act of planting apples.
Madden, Etta M, and Martha L Finch. Eating In Eden. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. Print.
However, in Traverso's cookbook she differently does mention the origin of the apple before she talks about John Chapman:
Madden, Etta M, and Martha L Finch. Eating In Eden. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. Print.
Schulz, Phillip Stephen. As American As
Apple Pie. New York: Wings Books, 1996. Print.
Traverso, Amy. The Apple Lover's Cookbook.
New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.
Wonderful post Amy! I wanted to read more when I got to the end. I really liked that you read the story to us and talked us through it, as well as the annotations on the video. This was really helpful, as it allowed us to have a greater understanding of the story.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about the apple changing role in a male vs female context.
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