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© 2006 Dan Perlman
Casa SaltShaker
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chef: Dan Perlman
Host: Henry Tapia
December 15-16, 2006
Apparently, in some households, Zamenhof Day is not a major festival. It seems some don’t celebrate it at all. Many seem to simply be unaware of its existence. Of course, at Casa SaltShaker, it’s worthy of a feast. Or two.
Zamenhof Day is, of course, the birthday of Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof. A Polish opthamologist, he was dismayed by what he saw around him amongst the various ethnic groups in his home area - inequality, misunderstanding, brutality, and distrust. His feeling was that much of the antagonism and many of the problems could be avoided if the various groups could simply communicate clearly and effectively. Idealistic yes, pie-in-the-sky, no. He had no illusions that the artificial language he created, Esperanto, would, as he put it, “turn men into angels”, but he did believe that much of the strife in the world arises from lack of communication. He’s certainly not the first to propose the idea… isn’t that, in some ways, the lesson of The Tower of Babel? There are, by the way, roughly two million people out there who speak Esperanto (including yours truly, though not fluently), amongst them a few over a thousand who were raised as native Esperanto speakers (the most famous of whom is businessman George Soros).
I like themes like this for our dinners - they pretty much give me carte blanche to do what I want. True, Zamenhof may have been Polish, but bringing in the whole Esperanto movement basically means I could bring in dishes and ingredients from wherever I felt like it. I did start with a sort of Polish, or at least Eastern European, core to the menu… and didn’t stray too far.
Comments from some of our guests:
"Nothing but cudos for you guys. The evening was a lot of fun and the food was great. We were impressed with how you were able to serve 8 people from your kitchen, which is a domestic kitchen as opposed to a comercial industrial one. The food came out hot, at the same time, and it was like you didn't feel the presence of the kitchen. I mean, in an apartment normally you do.... Anyway, we all had a great time. I can't think of anything that you could have changed." - F.A.
"Dinner at Casa Saltshaker was a highlight of our visit to BA. The ambience, the aesthetic and the people involved were all a real pleasure to meet. The food seemed particulary well-selected and executed. And yummy to boot. Esperanto´s founder would no doubt be proud that you were able to honor his devotion to communication with communication through food and wine. We were happy to lift our forks in celebration." - R.S.
"We had a great time, thanks. Great food! I especially liked the salmon empanadas and the cabbage roll.... Today we try to learn some tango!" - R.R.
