Bridget Fernandes started out a student in one of my online courses, and has ended up a volunteer with Sharana, helping out with the “Hindu Trans-Nationalisms” conference at Rice University (back in 2009), and generally being a source of warmth, laughter, and unfailing, large-hearted good cheer ever since. [And hugs, no-one can forget Bridget’s signature, larger-than-life, tighter-than-tight, wholly irreplaceable, available-no-where-else-on-the-planet hugs.] Our conversation on Mississippi mud cake started out with a comment on an early exchange with Mark. The fuller account of chocolate cake, living off the land, and time spent in a grandmother’s kitchen follows at last.
Words and photographs are Bridget’s alone. The recipe visualization is my very small contribution.
I turn it over to Bridget--and her grandmother, Martha G. Diggs:
I asked my grandmother, “Why don’t you come and visit me in Houston?” She replied, “The furthest that I have ever been was from Lexington (a very small Tennessee town) to Jackson (a slightly bigger Tennessee town) by train to get hot peanuts. I would have gone any distance to get those hot peanuts.”
The memories of movement, hot peanuts, and a train ride bring my grandmother such joy. She associates those hot peanuts with meeting my grandfather, her mother’s dark red dress, and going to the “big city” to shop for what she called “the necessities.” This conversation began as she organized her ingredients to make her simple (but overly sweet) Mississippi mud cake. Memories of childhood, Sunday lunches, and lazy summers in my grandmother’s kitchen are all brought back as I watch her mix the ingredients of the rich, chocolate cake. The years have passed but the conversation still flows between sips of coffee.
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Mississippi mud cake began to appear in 1970s United States, so named as its dark, gooey chocolate textures called to mind the dark banks of the Mississippi River–which in turn is a sign of freedom and movement and roots for some, slavery and servitude for others. The Mississippi’s dark, muddy banks represent both fertility and the threat of flooding and destruction.
Land has been important element defining my grandmother’s life. My grandmother pours her batter in the glass cake pan saying, “We moved back from Illinois when your dad was around 9 years old and your grandfather started planting tomatoes. He planted tomatoes every year and was about ready to harvest his last tomatoes before he died. I canned those tomatoes and made salsa and tomato soup.” My grandparents both tended to the land and their plants since the time they married. “If you didn’t work, you didn’t eat,” my grandfather would say, “If there was a disaster and people couldn’t go to Kroger, they wouldn’t know how to survive or what to do.” I tend to agree. He worked hard until his body would no longer allow him to work. The weeks before he died he dreamed of working the land again.
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My grandmother spent the past thirty years working as an “environmental specialist” at the Methodist Hospital. She says that “environmental specialist” is just a big word for maid. She had to stop working last year after a bout of pneumonia, but still talks about returning.
My grandmother’s life was all about freedom and movement. She got on that train to get those hot nuts, moved from Lexington to Pinson to work the land with my grandfather, moved from Pinson to Illinois in search of work, and has spent the last 30 years working in a hospital.
We sit down to eat her completed, still hot, Mississippi mud cake that runs all over the plate. The coffee and chocolate complement each other as the conversation flows.
What a beautiful write up! Your grandparents lived in interesting times. Your grandmother, in particular, is a force of nature! I enjoyed reading about her and the cake–which sounds very yummy indeed. I just woke up and I’m craving coffee and Mississippi mud cake… Thanks for making me hungry so early in the morning :-).
Thank you Oyinna. It is amazing the changes that my grandparents have seen in their lifetime. They lived through the great depression (my grandfather talked a lot about his experience), the invention of the TV, WWII, Vietnam, the 1980s, and the technology boom. I just think about the changes that I have seen in 35 years (cell phones and the internet). When I was a child, there were no computer games or google searches. Everyone actually had to go the library to find information (which I enjoyed thoroughly). I can see this difference in my classes at UH. The students are much more aware of how to use technology and globalization is evident in that they are already aware of certain cultural phenomena. So, anyway, I hope that you try the Mississippii mud cake. If you do, please let us know how it goes!
This post made me long for my grandmother who is half way around the globe 🙁 Grandma’s are just the best! I have never had this version of mud cake, just the probably inauthentic cake part with ice cream which is pretty good too 🙂
Very awesome post. This made me miss my grandparents as well, Grandmothers always seem to be so wise. I believe we are so blessed to have elderly people in our lives, because you can learn so much from them. In your case, your Mud cake. I bet no matter how much you can try Ms.Bridget, your Mud Cake can not possibly be as good as your grandmas.
Grandmas have these secret love ingredient they forget to share in their recipes. 😀
My grandma makes this delicious, white rice with cinnamon and no matter how many times i ask my mom to make it for me, it never comes out quite as good as the way my grandma does.
Very awesome post! It shows how some people from the old days had better attitude and mentalities towards hard work. Gotta try some Mississippi Mud Cake sometime!
I like this article because it makes family seem important. If we lost touch of communication with our family in this busy fast paced world we live in, what would become of such stories? Our elders pass stories and recipes down the generation line to preserve a great or shocking moment in life and I feel like we should never lose touch with our elders for it could possibly lead to us losing touch with our past and where we came from.
This was a very interesting post, I know my grandparents were the same way, they believed in working for what you wanted or needed. This actually reminds me of my granny’s own garden. The bond you have with your grandmother seems very close as I was with mine. I have never had Mississippi Mud Cake, but by the pictures and ingredients it seems like it would be delicious and I am an advocate for anything chocolate 🙂
Great post! There’s a story behind everything, and the making of the mudcake seem to symbolize something beyond the tangilble. Something that brings back everlasting memory and warmth. This also remind me of my grandparents and their cooking! Never had mississippi mudcake, do they taste like brownies? Would love to try some!
I really appreciate this post Dr. Fernandes! I believe that tending to your own land and providing your own food is a lost art. In today’s society the “you don’t work, you don’t eat” concept has been put on the back burner because of various reasons such as technology and laziness. I find it very cool that you wrote and interviewed your grandmother, you can gain a great deal of insight from elders. Unfortunately my grandparents have passed away. I wish I could talk with them now, now that I am no longer a boy, so I can understand my history a little better because I know it will help me know who I am and therefore help me in the future.
This was a nice insight into some of your family history Ms. Bridget. We talk all of the time in lecture about culture, and how it affects the shaping of lives, and the culture between the time period of your grandparents and now’s age has certainly changed ! I’m quite hungry now, eager to taste the Mississippi Mud pie. I’ve never had anything even close to that before. I find that sometimes even the culture in the south, and on the west coast where i’m from is completely different. I loved your grandfather’s “dont work, dont eat” logic. I read some of the other posts, and even your analysis of that saying (although i’m sure is correct) is different from what I thought was being said by that statement. Your grandparents cultivated different ingredients that they put into their meals, I could tell by the storage of mason jars and how fresh the food looked in them. That’s priceless, because if Kroger’s ever shut down, or they didn’t have any money to go to the market, they could go right out side to their backyard and fine something to whip up in the kitchen. Today’s age isn’t exactly like that. I could go on forever, because it was just so nice to read about something so close to your life. Thanks for sharing !
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