Tags
avocado, crab, crab salad, healthy food, kitschy food, retro food, stuffed avocado, summer food, sylvia plath, the bell jar
The house I grew up in outside of Boston is directly across the street from Sylivia Plath’s childhood home. I remember one day when I was in fourth grade, up to my ears in The Golden Compass and Redwall and full of dreams of someday being a writer, my mom casually told me that a very famous writer had grown up in the house across the street. I was incredulous—“a very famous, female writer lived in the house I can see from my bedroom window and you never told me?” This was, of course, before the days of Google, when every intimate detail of a person’s life couldn’t be accessed with the click of a button, so that afternoon I rode my bike to the library.
I asked the librarian where I could find Sylvia Plath’s poems and she looked at me in a concerned way but led me to the stacks where I spent hours on the floor, enveloped in that old book smell (my favorite) and trying to make sense out of just one line of Plath’s poetry. I left the library that evening with a vague sense of dread that I would never be happy again once I turned ten and more curious about Plath than ever. I spent the next decade staring out the window at the white house across the street and attempting to read Plath’s poetry but it wasn’t until my Junior year of high school, when my favorite English teacher gave me The Bell Jar, that I found Plath accessible for the first time.
In this semi-autobiographical novel, which Plath published under the pen-name “Victoria Lucas” in 1963, a young girl named Esther Greenwood travels to New York City for a summer internship at Ladies’ Day magazine. Esther ultimately has to leave New York after having a mental breakdown and the novel subsequently follows her descent into mental illness, as she attempts suicide on multiple occasions, is put in an asylum and receives treatment from various doctors (including electroshock therapy and insulin injections). Plath eases you into Esther’s degeneration with such subtlety that it takes a moment to realize that she has truly and completely lost her mind. The novel is bleak, there is absolutely no denying that, but Esther is so likable (in my opinion anyway, I’ve heard others say different) and her voice is so unique that you keep reading it because you are rooting for her and rooted to her. The novel ends on a tentatively hopeful note, with Esther entering a conference with her doctors who will determine if she is well enough to leave the hospital.
When Esther first arrives in New York, before everything begins to fall apart for her, she goes to a luncheon for Ladies’ Day. It was this passage about Esther’s relationship to food that made me fall in love with her right away—I love a girl who isn’t shy about pigging out at an elegant affair. Surrounded by girls too timid and dainty to eat Esther begins to load up her plate, stating that she had “discovered, after a lot of apprehension about what spoons to use, that if you do something incorrect at a table with a certain arrogance, as if you knew perfectly well you were doing it properly, you can get away with it and nobody will think you are bad-mannered or poorly brought up. They will think you are original and very witty” (27). With this philosophy in her back pocket Esther approaches the food at the luncheon fearlessly.
“Under cover of the clinking water goblets and silverware and bone china, I paved my plate with chicken slices. Then I covered the chicken slices with caviar thickly as if I were spreading peanut butter on a piece of bread. Then I picked up the chicken slices in my fingers one by one, rolled them so the caviar wouldn’t ooze off and ate them” (27).When she finishes that she moves on and “tackle[s] the avocado and crabmeat salad.” Here she veers off into a food memory of her grandfather, who was the head waiter at a country club in town and used to sneak fancy treats home for her.
Avocados are my favorite fruit. Every Sunday my grandfather used to bring me an avocado pear hidden at the bottom of his briefcase under six soiled shirts and the Sunday comics. He taught me how to eat avocados by melting grape jelly and french dressing together in a saucepan and filling the cup of the pear with the garnet sauce. I felt homesick for that sauce. The crabmeat tasted bland in comparison. (28)
Almost immediately after the luncheon Esther and all the other girls get violently ill with food poisoning. Laying in bed after days of sickness Esther has “a vision of the celestially white kitchens of Ladies’ Day stretching into infinity. I saw avocado pear after avocado pear being stuffed with crabmeat and mayonnaise and photographed under brilliant lights. I saw the delicate, pink-mottled claw meat poking seductively through its blanket of mayonnaise and the bland yellow year cup with its rim of alligator-green cradling the whole mess.” (48)
There is something wonderfully kitschy and 1960’s about a crabmeat-stuffed avocado. It is perfect for this time of year when picnic-season is fast approaching and produce is getting brighter and fresher (can you tell it’s 73 degrees in Brooklyn?). I omitted the mayo from this crab salad and mixed it with fresh herbs, mango, grape tomatoes, red onion and fresh lime juice. Despite the heaviness of The Bell Jar this dish is beautifully light and so simple to make. So pack the crab salad up in some Tupperware, take a few ripe avocados and a blanket with you and get to the park!
Bell Jar Crab-Stuffed Avocados
Makes 12 stuffed avocado halves
Ingredients:
- 1 lb crab meat
- 1 small bunch fresh cilantro
- 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 small red onion
- 1 ripe mango
- 1/2 package grape tomatoes
- Juice of 3 medium limes
- 2 Tablespoons Olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon Champagne vinegar (optional–I like extra acid)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 6 ripe avocados
Directions:
Drain crabmeat well and pick through to make sure there are no shells or cartilage then toss in a bowl. Chop red onion into a small dice, along with mango, cilantro and parsley and add to the crab meat. Slice grape tomatoes in half and mix in. Juice two limes over the salad and mix until well-combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. Slice avocados in half, remove pits and pile crab salad into the center. Because there is no mayo or mustard the salad may not stay perfectly scooped but that’s okay. Serve with hot sauce and crisp white wine or margaritas.
Marcy said:
Wow. Leave it to you to actually find something appetizing about The Bell Jar! And once again you have zeroed in and pointed out one of the best moments in the whole painful book. Love your updated, lighter version of this classic… it sounds so delicious!!
yummybooks said:
It definitely is a tough book to make appetizing, but I just loved her food-memory about her grandfather and the avocados so much I couldn’t resist. I will tell you though, I tried making that garnet sauce with grape jelly and french dressing…not so great.
Stacey Murdock said:
Oddly drawn to recipe given our household food allergies. There must be a replacement plan or Esther we will follow. For us no crab and no mango.
yummybooks said:
We can’t have you going the way of Esther! Luckily there are lots of replacements. You could use any sweet melon in place of mango–cantaloupe or honeydew. Peaches would also be delicious. Any mild seafood could replace crab, but since crab meat comes cooked make sure that if you choose a raw seafood replacement you let it soak in the lime juice for at least an hour so that the acids “cook” it–like a cevice. Hope this helps!
thegallivant said:
My first “food” thought when thinking of The Bell Jar would be something with figs (after the depressing fig tree-future part). I like this more upbeat recipe much better! Definitely making this for summer picnics.
yummybooks said:
Yes! I was going to make fig jam but I really couldn’t bear to write about that fig tree. So glad this book triggers food thoughts for someone besides me.
thegallivant said:
I agree, that fig tree part is quite a downer (every time I reread it it makes me depressed all over again). Way to go for extracting the happiest food in the book for your post:)
The Cozy Herbivore said:
The first thought that popped into my head upon reading this entry was “I love the way she sees the world”. What a great take-off of the original dish! And how cool is it that you were raised across the street from Sylvia Plath’s house?!
This salad looks absolutely delicious– fresh and light, perfect for these lovely spring days. AND delightfully kitschy (am I the first person ever to use the word “kitschy” in correlation to Sylvia Plath?) to boot! So glad you left off the grape jelly and French dressing sauce… holy cow, my fondness for retro dishes aside, that just sounds GROSS.
yummybooks said:
It was gross! I’m not crazy about grape jelly or french dressing on their own, but mixed together it was a whole new kind of terrible!
Seymour Salett said:
Yummybooks, the book would probably frighten me , so I won’t read it. However the recipe sounds so delicious . I would have loved to have that beautiful presenation for my lunch .The pictures of the Bell Jar Crab Stuffed Avocados are so tempting . Unfortunately I have to settle for chicken salad.
Seymour
yummybooks said:
It is frightening, Seymour, better just stick to making the crab salad! I bet it would make a wonderful pool-side treat.
Susan Corson said:
I remember reading the bell jar in college and as disturbing as it was, impossible to put down…I forgot the part about the luncheon! Poor thing. Enjoying the caviar and spoiled crabmeat salad. She shoulda tried it without the mayo and that’s just what’s I’m going to do! Looks like summer on a plate. Yum! Thx!
campsalett said:
I don’t remember anything yummy about The Bell Jar when I read it so many years ago. What a wonderful poolside lunch this will make.
Carl Rollyson said:
Sylvia Plath loved to eat. Her letters from camp are full of her accounts of eating. She relished a good meal and was able to prepare wonderful dishes. I deal with this aspect of her in AMERICAN ISIS: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SYLVIA PLATH, which St. Martin’s Press will publish on February 11, 2013, the 50th anniversary of Plath’s death.
yummybooks said:
Thanks for the info, Carl, looking forward to your book coming out!
silverfinofhope said:
You have struck a chord with me on this one!
I have always been so struck by Plath’s food descriptions…every time I’ve read The Bell Jar I crave one of her grandfather’s smuggled avocados, dripping with the special grape jelly sauce.
Thank you so much for this!!
yummybooks said:
I am so glad you commented so I could find your blog, Chrissy. I love the way you write, and your honesty about how hard it can be to stay inspired and motivated to keep writing is very refreshing. I will definitely be stopping by your site often.
silverfinofhope said:
Thank you!!
Verbal Vixen said:
Reblogged this on THE LITERARY MAN and commented:
Because we love Sylvia Plath, avocados, and things without Mayo (the Literary Man has an aversion), we bring you mayo-free Crab Stuffed Avocados courtesy of Yummy Books. A perfect springtime meal.
Verbal Vixen said:
We love your blog! We strongly considered re-blogging your pig head terrine (we’re super impressed and it looked delicious) but went with this instead. Maybe we’ll get brave some day and attempt the terrine ourselves! Great writing, great recipes, great literary connections, great blog.
yummybooks said:
Thank you so much! I love your blog and go to it often for inspiration. If you ever decide to attempt the pig’s head terrine let me know, I’ll help you through it!
Gail said:
Oh how yummy! This is going into the summer repertoire!
yummybooks said:
So glad, Gail! Thanks for stopping by!
Arlaina Tibensky (@ArlainaT) said:
Hi! I wrote a book called AND THEN THINGS FALL APART about a girl obsessed with Sylvia Plath and in it she ends up making all kinds of recipes from the BELL JAR!
Oh! You must read it! I had cool people like you in mind when I wrote it… xoxo
yummybooks said:
Oh how wonderful! I’m a sucker for anything related to Sylvia Plath, I’ll be looking your book up tonight!
Somersaulting Through Life said:
This looks so good! I am dying to read this book now. 🙂
I love your blog!! Book + Food = Heavenly. 😀
yummybooks said:
Thank you so much, I’m so glad to have you! I highly recommend the book, although maybe not in the summer–not quite a light beach read. Your blog is wonderful, I will be stopping by for literary inspiration soon!
Somersaulting Through Life said:
Sounds good anyway! Aw, thanks! 🙂