Writer’s Rant for 1/17/24
Growing up, I was both a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout. We lived in the western NY countryside, and had a “community” of houses around us. Not far away from our farm house was the “Community Center”. It was on a side street, across from the cemetery. The Boy Scouts met there (not the cemetery), where we had other community activities. One of them was the annual “Ham and Leek Dinner”. These leeks were not the ones you find at your local grocer. These were wild onions, also known as burdickii, and can be found growing in rich, moist deciduous forests from eastern Canada down through the eastern states, all the way to North Carolina and Tennessee. The Boy Scouts would dig up the leaks and the scout moms would gather at the center, cook them and prepare a “Ham and Leek Dinner” for the whole neighborhood. It was a fund raiser for the scouts. If you are unfamiliar with these wild onions, they have a very garlicky taste to them. In fact, they are so garlicky that it was not uncommon for students to be sent home from school the day after leek dinners because of their offensive odor. There is no washing away the odor; it comes out your pores. It has to go away with time. Looking back, I think we missed a great marketing opportunity. I’m thinking “Leek Cologne” for young men who want a day off from school.
