CITY DAILY PHOTO MARCH THEME - COMFORT FOOD

This will be meaningful only to people who live in certain American cities. White Castle is the original fast food restaurant, founded in 1921. It is known for its tiny square hamburgers, about 2.5 inches / 6 or 7 cm on a side, often referred to as sliders - you could almost slide it down your throat. They are cooked on a griddle with water and referred to as steam grilled, then served with a bit of chopped onion and dill pickle. Nothing like it.

There are only 377 of them in the US, less than one-tenth the number of McDonald's, concentrated in the Midwest, upper South and the NY-NJ metro area. There was one in the neighborhood in Queens, New York, where I grew up, and I became hooked. There are several in St. Louis. It's where I go when I need some soothing.                   

 

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.

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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, the inscription over the gates of hell in The Inferno, the first part of Dante Alighieri's fourteenth-century epic poem Divine Comedy. Some people with their noses in the air feel that way about White Castle, a fast food joint in some American metropolitan areas, insisting that it is truly culinary hell. I contend that sliders, as the diminutive, steam-grilled hamburgers are often called, reflect a cultivated taste. They won fame among the international stoner set in the classic film Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. They must permeate your soul, or at least your arterial walls, from childhood to be understood. There was one in the neighborhood in New York City where I grew up. My whole body knows how delicious they are. Therefore, I enter with the expectation of paradise.

By the way, you can calculate which circle of hell to which you will be consigned by taking a simple test. Most White Castle patrons would end up in the Third Circle with the gluttons but your results may vary. Click here.