My research over the past three weeks has been quite interesting. I have found a ton of background information, especially important facts correlating to German heritage and the Roman Catholic religion within Wisconsin. These two factors are the main influences to why fish fries started and still continue to be so important to Wisconsinites. During my research, I also ran into a few troubles. The toughest obstacle I came across throughout researching was finding a credible primary source. I found numerous sources that reflect on society and specific events from certain time periods, but hardly and direct sources. Eventually, I came across an interesting journal from a freedom writer who traveled to Missouri who worked on integrating races together. This primary source became so valuable to me as a researcher because it ties Wisconsin values of helping others through fish fries.

Overall, all of these sources have helped me to better understand my research question of why and how Wisconsin Friday night fish fries are so important to Wisconsinites and to our states culture. The research I found makes me understand past documented experiences, events, and information more clearly based on having better knowledge about Wisconsin heritage. Eventually, I came across an interesting journal from freedom writers who traveled to Missouri who worked on integrating races together. He stated that the freedom writers would use barbeques and fish fries to bring people together.

I still have a few questions relating to what is the most influential impact to why fish fries are so important to Wisconsinites and our states culture. My only concern is that I won’t be able to distinct important historical facts together and blend ideas to structure my overall argument and reflection to my research question.

The source I decided to use is another secondary source from a page out of a Wisconsin Magazine of History. The edition was published in 1988. The edition focuses on how life was in rural Wisconsin throughout the 1940’s. This made for an interesting read because on page 15, the article goes in depth about how taverns impacted the lives of communities and families.

This excerpt from the magazine seemed to relate to my research the most:

“On Friday and Saturday nights, entire families crowded into nearby taverns to par- take of a fish fry or the other weekend special- ties of the house and then to enjoy the company of friends and neighbors. For the tavern in Wisconsin was, more often than not, a place that attracted women as well as men, and the children they brought with them. This was particularly true in communities made up of people of German and other central and east-ern European descent, where beer, wine, and spirits were an integral part of nearly every celebration and social gathering.”

This excerpt, even though it is short in length, caught my attention right away! I was first glad to hear that families would crowd the tavern to indulge in fish fries, but I was also glad to read about how taverns in Wisconsin were a place of community and celebration. The German influence in many communities had this impact on their local taverns in the 40’s because of their cultural tradition. This idea of the German inclusion into Wisconsin history and especially fish fries has been very useful to my research topic. The final thing that stuck with me from this article was how it described women and their involvement with taverns. The article states that women would then bring their children and before you know it a whole community was connecting at a large friendly social gathering.

This article made me realize how much my hometown is still like Cable, Wisconsin even in today’s society. I worked at a supper club on the lake in my hometown and Friday nights were always the busiest nights for us. Families crowded the doors and would wait for up to two hours for a table. This whole idea of community involvement at a tavern is quite familiar to me. Looking to see how we got where we are today because of our German heritage and large Roman Catholic influence is quite interesting. If both of the factors were not major impacts in Wisconsin, who knows if the Friday night fish fry would even be that big of a deal?

This article is good at using rhetoric throughout the entire magazine. Pathos are one term that really connected to me personally as I read this article because I felt connected to what people in the 1940’s did on their normal journey to a tavern. Overall this made me feel intimate with my own family and our traditions of gathering with friends at local taverns in my hometown. This magazine has credible ethos because it is historic and yet it still exists today.

Works Cited:

Thompson, William F. “1940.” Wisconsin Magaizne of History  Autumn 1988: 15. Print. 

My second source, an excerpt from The Flavor of Wisconsin, will be a great resource for my research. I chose this scource because it is an informational history book about food and eating in the badger state. This book has a picture of a sign for a fish broil on the front page, so it gave me a great first impression when looking into sources relating to fish fries in Wisconsin. This one in a half page chapter has so much information relating to fish fries in Wisconsin. The chapter; “Thank God It’s Friday Fish Fry”, is goes in depth about how food connects on a greater scale with regional culture through “history, geography, ethnicity, and religion”(Allen & Hatchen).

Some rhetorical context and information about this source includes how credible the source is. I think it is a great source for me to use based on The Flavor of Wisonsin having a second edition. The original was revised and improved with more information to the print that I used, the second edition.

The way the chapter is organized makes connecting information together be easy. Questions are used to introduce a specific topic or general idea and then historical and other information and facts are explained to back up the question. For example, in the beginning paragraphs of the chapter two questions are asked to probably help readers understand what they will learn in the future paragraphs of the chapter as well as make readers brainstorm their own ideas relating to the question even prior to learning chronological historical information. The questions are: “Why fish fry? And, How did it start, and why does it thrive in Wisconsin?” These questions are very straightforward and they really helped me in terms of my overall research question.

The chapter deeply explains how and why the Indigenous tribes like the Ojibwe depended on the fish supply from the Great Lakes. The chapter then goes on to connect the Ojibwes relationship with Eurpoean explorers and how the two groups shared culinary practices.  The populatin in Wisconsin expanded and the European and Yankee settlers used the areas large white fish population to create jobs and provide affordable food. The idea of fish fries expanded tremendously because Wisconsin citizens had a good, cheap system of feeding large populations at social events like church gatherings, community picnics, and other events. (Hachten & Allen) “Certainly Wisconsin’s large Catholic population, many members of whom did not eat meat on Fridays, was a factor in the popularity of fish in the region” (Hachten & Allen). The next idea of the chapter relates to the time of Prohibition. Foklore professor, Janet Gillmore, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has information on how fish fries becoame so important to bar owners during the Prohibition. She notes, “that’s when bar and tavern owners, desperate for business that the alcohol ban had taken away, lured customers of all kinds to their establishments by offering “free lunches” of fish and selling alcohol under the table.” Gillmore then states; “After Prohibition, they brought customers back by providing cheap and peniful Friday night fish fries that large Catholic families could afford.” Gillmores ideas are so important to me as a researcher because now I have greater knowledge to a specific time in history where Wisconsin fish fries bloomed.  The last important information I took away from reading this chapter was information relating to Wisconsins large German heritage and the word gemutlichkeit, “the German concept that connotes geniality, hospitality, and good fellowship, often in a context of food and drink”(Allen and Hatchen). The Wisconsin phenomenon of fish fries fits this German “party culture” exactly. Hachten and Allen say, “it’s not just a meal;it’s a social event, an end-of-the-work-week celebration that is as much about camaraderie as it is about food”(Allen & Hatchen).

Overall, the chapter gives a great historical and background understanding of how fish fries grew to become so popular within Wisconsin. I wish the chapter would’ve included specific people or examples of where fish fries took place throughout history.

Works Cited:

Allen, Terese. Hachten, Harva. “Thank God It’s Friday Fish Fry.” The Flavor of Wisconsin : An Informational History of Food and Eating in the Badger State. Second ed. Madison : State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 2009. 93-94. Print. Revised and Expanded.