Broccoli Rising and Remembering the Ladies

March is Women’s History Month. It’s time to give credit and thanks to all the sheroes out there, both sung and unsung.

When I was a little kid, the DAR sponsored an essay contest encouraging students to write about our favorite figure from the American revolution.  You know, our founding fathers. Instead, I wrote about Abigail Adams. In March 1776, she wrote to her husband, John:

Remember the Ladies. . . Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular [sic] care is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.” 

That someone 200 years before — a woman, a wife, a mother of four children  — championed equality the way I did electrified me. I had to tell the world. 

Who is the woman you want the world to know about? Maybe it’s you.

I have no recollection of my actual essay, other than I was passionate about it and had to write it by hand with one of those chubby little kid pencils. The award went to some other kid who chose the more tried and true route and wrote about Thomas Jefferson.

Don’t get me wrong, he and all our founding fathers came up with a good plan. Democracy is inspiring, brilliant, revolutionary even. What worries me is how it’s being systemically chipped and chisled away from underneath us in ways we don’t even want to see. That comes at great risk, especially ahead of a presidential election.

Even 250 years ago, Adams (Abigail, not her husband) had doubts about putting democracy, our country’s noble experiment, into practice. Because she had doubts about the tyrannical nature of men.

If a form of Goverment [sic] is to be established here what one will be assumed? Will it be left to our assemblies to chuse [sic] one? and will not many men have many minds? and shall we not run into Dissentions among ourselves?

I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave cries give, give.

I wonder if Abigail Adams would be shut down today. Would those threatened by her speaking truth to power act to silence her? Would they try to defame and discredit her, spread lies about her character?  And would others come to believe those lies to be truth? 

In this document, the nonprofit Protect Democracy lays out point by point how these tactics and others have been used to erode both democracy and equality over the past few years. I’m not asking you to read every page. God knows I haven’t. But feel free.  At the very least, review actions we can take to ensure our democracy endures.   

For starters, you can vote . There’s still time to register, to be sure your vote and your voter rights are still protected, along with democracy. 

I was happy to find Abigail Adam’s recipe for apple pandowdy.  Pandowdies belong to the family of cobblers, slumps, grunts, buckles, betties, and all those homey American fruit and batter desserts with unlovely names. Pandowdies are basically doublecrust pies with the top crust “dowdied” or slashed through in places just after baking that let the fruit shine through.   If you make it with a double recipe of my foolproof no-roll vegan pie crust, it’s easy and keeps it vegan in the bargain.  

Adam’s original recipe appears in The Culinary Lives of John & Abigail Adams. The author, Rosana Wan, was born in Hong Kong but grew up n the United States. She served as a park ranger at the Adams National Historical Park, and at least at the time of the book’s publication a decade ago, served in the National Guard. Learning about John and Abigail Adams not only inspired her to write the book, it inspired Wan to "become a better individual myself, to stand firm in my beliefs and values, to be curious, to not be afraid of asking questions, to think and write freely, and to voice my opinions."

Abigail would be pleased.  Happy Women’s History Month.   

Bonus Broccoli Confidential Recipe — Fruit Kuchen

This recipe is from Miami Vegan, my cookbook which has yet to find a publisher.  So I figured, why wait?