A Rainbow of Nantucket Books
by Sarah Teach
To some folks, food is no more than a necessity for sustaining life. But to Frances Ruley Karttunen’s family, who has been on Nantucket for the past 12 generations, food runs far deeper than just calories to keep a body moving. It is a concept...a feeling...perhaps even a religion. In Karttunen’s kitchen, her face lights up as she relives cooking tales from her childhood on the island. After spending 30 years as a professor at the University of Texas, she has returned home to Nantucket and is avidly writing what she knows and loves.
Karttunen’s newest book, “Good Things From Nantucket’s North Shore: A Culinary Memoir” is a collection of recipes that have spent the past hundred-odd years journeying through her island lineage. Not just a cookbook, it encompasses the culinary memories of a Nantucketer who grew up living and breathing local island food. Written in a conversational style, the recipes are interspersed with the stories that first brought them to life. Karttunen ushers you into the most treasured food moments of her life with revelations like, “For me, that meal was so perfect that I felt I couldn’t bear to spoil it by ever eating again. Morning inevitably came and with it breakfast, but the memory remains indelible.” Karttunen closes her eyes and imagines her grandma’s refrigerator door, saying that the thought of it still makes her mouth water. “Because behind that door was,” she pauses for effect, “Pickled herring!” she declares with more delight than many people could muster at the thought. It is certainly intriguing to learn how local availability once shaped the favorite foods of Nantucketers.
The best part about this book is that you can easily participate in the delicious adventures embarked upon by the real life characters you meet. You can whip up Karttunen’s mother’s special recipe, “Charlotte’s Bluefish Casserole” and enjoy it as you learn about how your dinner was invented. Long before the term locavore was coined, Karttunen’s family enjoyed the freshness of locally produced food. They reveled in sauce made from fresh Nantucket beach plums and cranberries they handpicked from the bogs. They joked about eating scallops so fresh that they wriggled down the throat. (Her cousin Ellen’s scrumptious recipe for Nantucket bay scallops is revealed!) “North Shore” transports you, mind and body, right into the times when all of these culinary experiences occurred.
It is a must-read for those who remember North Shore Restaurant, which once sat where American Seasons does today. “Good Things” includes an array of genuine recipes straight from Karttunen’s Aunt Esther Gibbs, the independent spirit who founded North Shore back in 1943. Nantucketers of yesteryear enjoyed the tried-and-true, all-American cuisine at this downtown eatery for more than 40 years, and now you can, too.
How did Karttunen cook up the idea for this book? You may have heard of her book “The Other Islanders” which focuses on Nantucket’s surprisingly diverse cultural background. After the book’s completion, Karttunen had leftovers: that is, a heaping batch of interesting information that just couldn’t be squeezed into “The Other Islanders.” So she set off to tell the previously untold tales. “Law and Disorder in Old Nantucket” began her series with a striking red cover. It paints a colorful picture of Nantucket’s crime history. (Think knife fights, blitzed bar brawls, and island gangs, all involving real characters from Nantucket's past.) While Karttunen did not endeavor to concoct a rainbow, the series ended up with such a connection. Karttunen moved on to the blue-covered “Nantucket Places & People 1: Main Street to the North Shore” and then to its yellow and green sequels: “Nantucket Places & People 2: South of Main Street” and “Nantucket Places & People 3: Out of Town.” Perhaps the most unique is the purple-covered “Nantucket Places & People 4: Underground,” which digs deeply into the historic gravesites on island, bringing the first settlers back to life through their stories. And finally, it dawned on her that she only needed a single color to connect a full rainbow. Thus, the orange-covered culinary memoir tops off the series with a flourish. Karttunen loves writing these books, and we love reading them; but when I ask her if she thinks she’ll add onto the collection, she denies it. “The rainbow is the rainbow,” she says with a finality that makes me believe her.
Frances Karttunen might just be the most interesting person on this island. If you’re lucky enough to meet her, you might even wager on that supposition. You too have the opportunity to get to know Karttunen through this tangible, taste-able experience about an evolution of Nantucket food.
