Dr. Gary Mormino to present ‘Ten Foods That Define Florida’
What’s in a dish?
According to Dr. Gary Mormino, everything.
The University of South Florida history professor, author, and contributor to the Tampa Bay Times is currently working on a book about Florida foodways, and he is bringing his touring talk “The Ten Foods That Define Florida” to the Fort Myers Beach Library on Jan 25.
The 10:30 a.m. talk, presented by the Estero Island Historic Society, will cover the foods that Mormino considers iconic in the Sunshine state and explain their historic significance.
To give everyone a taste of his upcoming presentation, Mormino answered four of our questions about the foods of Florida:
Why do you study and write about Florida’s food?
Almost 200 years ago, a French gourmand said famously, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” That said, 21 million Floridians gather at a very big table and eat an extraordinarily diverse diet.
If Florida hosted a dinner party, what would be on the table?
Under a very big tent, Floridians tonight will be eating everything from goat curry to smoked mullet, from black beans and rice to swamp cabbage.
What can our local dishes tell us about Florida’s history?
The grouper sandwich can be found at almost any Florida beach caf or tavern. But grouper was not always wildly popular. A 1940 seafood market advertised grouper for ten cents a pound. Mullet was the same price! Pompano and red snapper were more popular and more expensive. Sadly, we overfished too many species.
Of the ten foods that define Florida, which is your favorite and why?
A blackened grouper sandwich is perfect; however, my favorite fish is pompano, fileted by an elderly Spanish waiter at one of Ybor City’s classic restaurants.