When archeologists from the University of West Florida announced they’d discovered the long-lost remains of Spanish explorer Don Tristan de Luna’s 1559 settlement and shipwrecks, only one question sprang to Cathy Parker’s lips: What were those weary explorers eating?
Parker, who works with the UWF Archeology Institute, is a “faunal analyst,” which is a fancy way of saying that she spends a lot of time digging through ancient trash-heaps.
This work, which has been her focus for the last quarter century, is aimed at giving researchers a clearer view of what our earliest European ancestors here in the New World ate.
Now, Parker’s research forms the basis for a group of some of Pensacola’s finest chefs to illustrate her findings in a decidedly more elegant environment. The Friends of Downtown Pensacola — with support from Downtown Improvement Board, the University of West Florida Archeology Institute and UWF Historic Trust — will host a unique dinner on Sept. 7 in downtown Pensacola, with a menu inspired by the early Spanish colonial foodways. It promises to be one of the fall’s most talked about events.
A Night for the History Books
Repast is September 7th in Downtown PensacolaDinner will be served outdoors under sparkling white lights and a full Harvest moon, at a table set for more than 200 guests around the de Luna monument. Guests will enjoy a four-course meal prepared by Pensacola chefs Mikosha Franklin of Jackson’s Steakhouse; Ian Gillette of Angelena’s Ristorante Italiano; George Lazi of George Bistro + Bar and Pearl & Horn; David Penniman of Classic City Catering; Greg Rodriguez of The Wine Bar and Rusty Strain of Perfect Plain and Perennial Hospitality Group.
History without the Hardship
As for the menu, the chefs have been tight-lipped about details thus far. That said, they’ve been working with an ingredients list from Parker and the rest of the staff at the Archeology Institute to make sure it is a memorable, historically illuminating and — most importantly — delicious affair.
That balance is not always easy to strike.
Just ask Parker, who quite literally wrote the book on Pensacola’s colonial foodways (her thesis). She said that, for Pensacola’s earliest settlers, the story of food was often one of deprivation.
The 1559 settlement was hit by a hurricane shortly after the settlers landed, destroying many of their supplies and dashing their prospects of founding a successful colony.
“They weren’t here long enough to grow any crops,” Parker said. “They encountered no friendly natives with whom they could trade or barter for food. So they were quite dependent on the animals they had that survived and the preserved food they brought with them that had survived — salted pork and maybe salt beef — and whatever fish they could catch — And things like hard-tack.”
Hard-tack, for the uninitiated, was a type of hard biscuit that formed a dietary staple for 16th century sailors.
“It was literally hard as a brick,” Parker said.
Preserving the Past, Cultivating the Future
Diners at the September event can expect a much “softer” interpretation of Pensacola’s culinary history — heavy on the storytelling and light on the salt pork.
“We have a fascinating culinary heritage in Pensacola,” said Walker Wilson of Pensacola’s Downtown Improvement Board, who is coordinating the event. “As a community, there’s an incredible story to tell, and ‘Repast’ provides a memorable, enjoyable way of telling it.”
For Parker and research archeologist Margo Stringfield, telling the story of Pensacola’s culinary past is as much a teaching opportunity as it is an investment in the city’s economic future.
“The story of Pensacola’s first explorers is a story of adaptation,” said Stringfield. “How they adapted to the inevitable, how they functioned in a hostile and unfamiliar environment, how they made the most of what they had.”
Event Details
Repast will take place on Sunday, September 7th with passed appetizers beginning at 6pm and dinner at 7pm. Tickets start at $160 per person (plus processing fee) and are available on Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/45DP574.
