The Great Gatsby, Prohibition, and Fitzgerald
Tori Avey | May 14, 2013
On her website ToriAvey.com, Tori Avey
explores the story behind the food – why we eat what we eat, how the recipes of
different cultures have evolved, and how yesterday’s recipes can inspire us in
the kitchen today. Learn more about Tori and The History Kitchen.
The Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, and what F. Scott
Fitzgerald would later describe as “the greatest, gaudiest spree in history”
have all come to describe America under the influence of Prohibition. In
Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, we are introduced to the opulent lives of
wealthy east coasters during one of the rowdiest periods in American history.
How accurate is this portrait of Prohibition America, and what influences led
our country into an era of drunken excess?
In the early 1920’s World War I had just come to an end. A
new generation flocked from small towns to big cities in search of excitement,
opportunity, and a “modern” way of living. Electronics like radios became more
common, particularly in metropolitan households. Flashy new car designs rolled
down city streets. Women had finally earned the right to vote, and their
hard-fought equality and independence was reflected in their fashion– shorter haircuts,
higher hemlines, less curvy silhouettes. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were
creating names for themselves on the big screen. It was an era of change—and
that change was not welcomed by all. Alcohol flowed like water in homes across
the country, and drunkards filled America’s prisons and poorhouses. A powerful
group of activists made it their mission to eradicate liquor in an effort to
help the country return to simpler times. The movement, known as Prohibition,
may well go down as one of the biggest legislative backfires in American
history.
Alcohol dependence was a growing problem in the U.S. for
over a century before Prohibition came into law. In 1830, American boys and men
aged 15 and older drank an average of 88 bottles of whiskey per year, 3 times
what Americans drinks today. Drinking wasn’t a new thing; alcohol had been an
important part of the American food culture since Colonial times. Americans
routinely drank at every meal– breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In the early
1700’s, the most common drinks were weak beer and cider, which were only mildly
intoxicating (around 2% alcohol content, compared to today’s beers which
average between 4-6%). By the 1800’s, as American farmers began cultivating
more grains, increasingly potent forms of distilled liquor became available,
including rum and whiskey. Americans replaced weaker ciders and beers with
these more potent distilled liquors. Before long, alcohol dependence became a
widespread epidemic. Men lost their jobs and neglected their families, under
the spell of “demon liquor.” Societies dedicated to sober living formed in
several major cities. A movement began, and the groundwork was put in place for
outlawing alcohol at the national level. A constitutional amendment to ban
alcohol sales and production became law in 1920.
While Prohibition was meant to eradicate the temptation of
liquor, it had the unintended effect of turning many law-abiding citizens into
criminals. By barring liquor from the masses, the government unwittingly made
it more desirable, more fashionable, and something eager consumers had to get
their hands on. Prohibition gave birth to bathtub gin, cocktails, finger food
and the elusive speakeasy. If you were able to provide your guests with an
endless stream of libations, your popularity was assured. Better yet, if you
were brave enough to invest in the illegal bootlegging business, your fortune
might very well be sealed… as long as you didn’t lose your life in the process.
As the demand for illegal liquor increased, so did the
methods for masking its production and consumption. Cocktails gained
popularity—heavily flavored concoctions assembled to disguise the taste of
potent bathtub gin with juices, herbs, sweeteners and syrups. Finger food
became fashionable, which helped to increase liquor tolerance by ensuring that
party-goers weren’t drinking on an empty stomach. Bootleggers, forced to
produce liquor in secret, used questionable methods to ferment gin and other
types of alcohol in their homes. Often poisonous ingredients, such as methanol
(wood alcohol), were used. A government report from 1927 stated that nearly all
of the 480,000 gallons of liquor confiscated in New York that year contained
some type of poison. Jamaica ginger extract, also known as Jake, was sold in
pharmacies as a headache remedy. It didn’t taste great, but it did contain high
amounts of alcohol. Over time, more toxic ingredients were added that could
result in paralysis, a condition often referred to as Jake Leg.
Despite the reality of the situation, overall it seemed like
Americans were having a lot of fun during Prohibition. No book captures this
wild and carefree time period quite like Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby.
The character of millionaire Jay Gatsby represents the extremes of 1920s wealth
and decadence. Gatsby devotes his life to accumulating riches in order to
attract the attention of his romantic obsession, the lovely but spoiled Daisy
Buchanan. Gatsby’s fortune is evident in the raucous parties he throws from his
mansion on Long Island’s north shore. These decadent bashes, free flowing with
food and liquor, represent the indulgent excesses of the “flapper” period:
“At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down
with several hundred feet of canvas and enough colored lights to make a
Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished with
glistening hors d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin
designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. In the main hall
a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and
with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young
to know one from the other.”
Gatsby character represents “new money;” he’s a seemingly
overnight success with no known ties to family wealth. It is heavily inferred
that Gatsby earned his fortune, at least in part, through bootlegging. How else
could he afford his lavish parties with bottomless cocktails to spare? Daisy’s
husband Tom gives voice to these suspicions during a heated argument, when he
accuses Gatsby and his business partner Meyer Wolfsheim
of illegally selling liquor through the drug stores they own. This fictional
subplot is based in fact. For a small fee, doctors would prescribe their
patients whiskey for just about any ailment, and sometimes no ailment at all.
Crooked pharmacists would even sell forged prescriptions to their customers. As
for Gatsby’s partner Meyer Wolfsheim, a character
described as the man behind fixing the 1919 World Series, he was clearly
influenced by a real gangster named Arnold Rothstein. The novel, at least in
part, provides a reflection of the social issues and attitudes of the time
period.
In honor of Gatsby, Fitzgerald and Prohibition, I decided to
whip up a cocktail reminiscent of the time period. Gin is said to have been
Fitzgerald’s drink of choice; he was under the impression that its scent could
not be detected on his breath. This concoction was born during the years of
Prohibition, when most liquor was low-quality bathtub gin that needed plenty of
masking with other flavors. The cocktail is called “The Bee’s Knees,” a cute
name and a popular phrase during the 1920s. To call something the “bee’s knees”
is to say that it’s top notch and grand. The etymology of the phrase is
unclear; it may be in reference to bees carrying pollen near the middle of
their legs, or it could just be an idiom for “business,” since calling
something “the business” was a similar compliment during that time period.
Either way, the name represents this cocktail well, since it relies on the
sweet flavor of honey to overpower the gin.
This recipe comes from a reprint of a 1934 book of cocktails called Boothby’s World Drinks and How to Mix Them. The original recipe calls for honey, which I’ve made into a syrup so that it will mix into the drink more efficiently. The Boothby’s recipe calls for 1 spoon of honey, but I’ve doubled the amount due to the fact that my honey simple syrup is diluted to half the sweetness of plain honey. Today’s gin is much smoother and tastier than bathtub gin, so feel free to cut the honey syrup in half—it will still be drinkable and the sweetness won’t be quite so overpowering.
The Great Gatsby, Prohibition, and Fitzgerald (PBS), Avey, Tori.
http://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/great-gatsby-prohibition-fitzgerald/
