Call it Ish-meal.
A Park Slope foodie will host a literary supper featuring dishes inspired by Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby-Dick” at a Carroll Gardens gallery on Jan. 22. But the night’s adventurous eaters should not expect any whale meat to grace their plates during the whaling-inspired feast, says the organizer.
“There’s a pretty descriptive passage about eating whale meat in the book, but I wasn’t about to go there,” said Mackensie Griffin. “I didn’t even look into it.”
Griffin has created two other literary dinners with her Table of Contents Supper Club, including one with food inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises.” She was shopping around for the club’s next classic when a friend mentioned Melville’s delectable description of clam chowder in “Moby-Dick,” she said.
“It’s a very detailed, mouth-watering description,” said Griffin.
After reading Melville’s opus, the self-described foodie cobbled together a menu featuring squid with balsamic syrup, broiling fowl and dumplings, and beefsteak served rare, just like Ishmael’s pal Queequeg likes it, according to Griffin.
“He prefers them rare for breakfast,” said Griffin.
For those who have not read “Moby-Dick,” or who need a refresher on Melville’s notoriously dense classic, Griffin will provide place mats featuring passages from the novel that served as inspiration for the dishes.
The literary inspiration does not stop with the food — the Moby-Dick Dinner will also feature some period-inspired drinks, including a molasses and gin cocktail briefly mentioned in the book as a health remedy.“I always try to do at least one cocktail,” said Griffin. “The cocktail I made up was based on a brief reference to one of the characters drinking molasses mixed with gin, which apparently used to be a health remedy back in the 1800s, which they thought cured colds.”
“Moby-Dick Dinner” at Court Tree Collective [371 Court St. between Carroll Street and First Place in Carroll Gardens, (718) 422–7806, www.court
