Superabundant dispatch: Funeral potatoes and this week’s news nibbles

"This week, in honor of Halloween and Día de Los Muertos, we wanted to take a look at culinary mortuary rites — funeral food. Eating bread or cake to commemorate the dead is a tradition nearly as old as humanity itself, first with the practice of literally consuming the dead (endocannibalism dates back to the Paleolithic era). It eventually evolved into eating the symbolic body — bread — with the ancient Egyptians 4,000 years ago, and it’s still practiced today by anyone who takes the Eucharist.

Of course, breads and funerary seedcakes aren’t the only foods associated with the dead. In Indonesia, a pointed cone of rice called tumpeng is presented at funerals to ease the dead through their life’s final journey. In China, eating chicken at a funeral will help the departing soul ascend to the heavens.

No one is sure about the origins of funeral potatoes, though. All we know is that the dish, while looking very Midwestern, is primarily associated with Utah (the Latter Day Saints, to be specific). We argue that this dish could easily have been invented in Oregon. The potato is Oregon’s state vegetable, after all. The casserole’s binder (classically a can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup) is made from the state beverage (milk) and the state mushroom (chanterelles). And don’t forget (never forget!) that Oregon currently holds TWO global cheese awards. Does this version take slightly more effort than opening a can of cream of whatever soup and a bag of frozen hash browns? Perhaps, but your dead loved ones deserve nothing less".