Dancing Egg Whites

Reading over a previous post about the 4th of July in the Bronx, I noticed an embarrassing spelling error: I meant to refer to merengue (Latin dance music) and instead wrote meringue (fluffy, peaked egg whites).

Funny, because both play auspicious roles in city and country life, respectively.

The history and origins of merengue are interesting; there are controversies about the dance's origins and evolution, directly related to the geopolitical histories of and relationships among the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba (and the colonial powers of Spain & France). Merengue is a type of music that I may never have encountered if it weren't for Latin immigration patterns and my living in urban areas populated by Dominicans. However, ironically, it appears that authentic merengue currently exists only in rural areas of the Dominican Republic.

Meringue has a kind of international (and debated) history as well. We know it is a French dessert, but, according to Wikipedia: "It is believed that meringue was invented in the Swiss town of Meiringen by an Italian chef named Gasparini (legend varies in regard to the date of invention, between 1600 and 1720)."

As I think of it, merengue and meringue connect for me in the universe of pleasure. That is, pleasure as opposed to entertainment, which is a kind of city-country theme I've stumbled upon in these posts. There is a sense - loosely, over-generalized - in which I associate suburban culture with American culture, and, I admit, the worst of stereotypical American culture: fast food, TV-addiction, processed/packaged/fabricated everything, and passive experiences of entertainment (American Idol, etc.). One of the things you encounter when you travel or meet people from other countries is a very different - healthier and more natural, I think - relationship with the body: the natural, untormented ability to experience physical pleasures which are neither addictions nor guilt-ridden; a more intuitive sense of what the body wants and needs; how to engage and address those needs deeply; and when it's enough.

I've always admired cultures in which dance is a regular, organic activity. In the (white) suburbs, little girls go to dance class, but rarely do folks go out dancing. (Maybe more so in the suburbs of the '60's and '70's?) I loved this about the American South; in New Orleans, in a regular ole family restaurant, people are eating crawfish etouffee, the Zydeco band is playing (France again! Haiti!), and couples, young and old, just get up to dance. Men just know how to dance, they grew up in it. You can see how far Americans have fallen away from the mind/soul/body connection when you look at the popularity of yoga these days. (I see yoga centers in many of the small towns in the country as often as I do throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn.) I do yoga myself, and yes I find it pleasurable; but yoga is a very individual-focused practice, and for Americans at this particular cultural moment, I think it's a kind of corrective (managing stress, realigning from too much desk-sitting, etc.), as opposed to a pleasure. It doesn't get to this pleasure principle, i.e. movement as relationship and sensuality and community.

I'm not a big fan of meringue, frankly. I'll pick chocolate mud cake over key lime pie anyday. But here's an interesting exchange, from a Web page titled "Making Perfect Meringue":

QUESTION: I have tried many times over many years to make meringue. When I lived in Northern PA. I use [sic] to bake as a teenager and my meringues were beautiful and big. I now live in southern Pa. and my meringue stinks. It comes out of the oven, huge and nice, but give it 5 minutes out of the oven and its [sic] flat as a pancake. I've tried under beating, and over beating, and all types of recipes, but it's always th[e] same. I know it's always humid down here, but this is ridiculous. I've lived down here for 30 years now and it never changes. HELP.

ANSWER: Humidity affects a meringue's texture. Damp, humid days may cause it to be limp and sticky. Check the weather outside before you start. You can not make crisp meringue on a humid day. Meringue should be made on dry days. The cornstarch mixture helps them hold up under humid conditions, but to ensure success, plan to bake when it is less humid.

Sultry merengue, arid meringue. This "southern" baker should try some merengue.