Independence Day Slaw

Ok. I can already hear it. This is not your mama’s slaw! It’s not my mama’s slaw, either. Heck, my mom didn’t even make slaw. I am referring of course to the old standby of potlucks and requisite sandwich sidekick – coleslaw. That gloppy salad of shredded cabbage and mayonnaise.  Evidently “coleslaw” derives from “koolsla,” Dutch for cabbage salad. Which as it turns out, thankfully, can be made with vinaigrette or mayo dressing. And since the salad predates the development of mayonnaise, the original slaw was potentially made with vinaigrette. 

I detest mayo. It feels like a mouthful of emulsified vegetable oil. Which is precisely what it is. While I might be rude to assume to speak for my mother, I suspect she didn’t care much for it, either. She didn’t use it in much of her cooking, the one exception being her delicious chicken salad. A dish for which she made a cooked mustard based dressing, which was mixed with a bit of mayo. Even I loved her chicken salad. 

But the real story here emanates from a different farm than my own. We lived for many years in an historic district in a small southwestern Ohio city. There’s nothing like trying to maintain crumbling old houses to bring a neighborhood together. Dear neighbors owned a rural piece of land, with a small outbuilding, open fields, a forested glade and a pond, which they called “the farm.” This idyllic spot was the setting for their annual neighborhood Independence Day gathering. Everyone brought their own lawn chairs, beverages, whatever they wanted to grill and a potluck dish to share. 

The only iffy part of this annual affair was the weather. It was generally hot and obnoxiously humid come July; breathing might have been easier if one had gills! And it was notorious for pop-up thunderstorms, which could put a severe damper on the holiday. So each year, we monitored the weather right up to the time we left. One year, the weather prediction was dire days in advance, and we had determined to stay home. Only the dire weather never came, and we made a last minute decision to attend. 

Now while Midwestern potlucks are not competitions, they can still be competitive, and most folks tried to make their contributed dish at least a bit impressive.  I had not planned a dish, so began scouting around the kitchen for ingredients that could produce something both quick and edible. The produce bin yielded up some cabbage, a motley assortment of other vegetables, and in desperation I decided to make a sort of “slaw.” At best, this blend would earn me a participation prize…

At mealtime, we filled our plates and gathered to eat. When the hostess emerged from the buffet, she asked, “Who brought the slaw?” I sunk into my chair and slowly raised my hand, thinking this might not even be worthy of participation… when she stated, “it’s delicious!” Really? Seriously? People actually liked the stuff! So upon arriving home, I recreated the recipe in my head and wrote it down.  

I’ve made it, actually on purpose a number of times since, and even enjoy it myself. My digestion no longer handles cabbage, so I typically substitute radicchio or broccoli slaw for the base, and it’s still tasty. While I don’t recommend potlucks at the moment, I do recommend the slaw. And yes, there’s no mayo in sight.