Nikola Tesla's menu

Snezana28 15.11.2020.

Every man has his own menu. At first, in childhood, it consists of dairy and some meat products, vegetables, fruits and cereals, while in the period of growing up and adulthood, the choice becomes different, the list of dishes that are consumed changes and expands. The menu, of course, depends on climatic conditions, religious beliefs, as well as the social milieu in which one person lives and works. Today, food is not just a basic energy need, it is enjoyed and sometimes experimented with. Foods and spices from other climates are added, or incompatible components are combined in search of new flavors.

When Nikola Tesla passed away, on January 7, 1943, in the New Yorker Hotel, an unopened bottle of milk and a covered plate with apple slices were found in the refrigerator. If this seems too dietary to someone and is associated with a person who was not interested in food, it should be said that the famous scientist was actually a gourmand, which can be seen from his menu. Boston duck, artichoke hollandes, beefsteak in various ways, avocado soup, au gratin cauliflower, lamb chop, strawberries with vanilla cream, marinated mussels, omelette with truffles, are just some of Tesla's favorite specialties, along with Lika pihtuje, Lika choror vegetables or cicvara. He drank alcohol only in moderation ("brandy was often good in my life"), and he even exaggerated his favorite coffee drink in such a way that, according to his own confession, it adversely affected his heart. Eventually he was forced to give up coffee and for ten years he ordered it every morning enjoying only its scent.

We learn all this from the book "Nikola Tesla's Menu in 60 Stories" by Predrag Puzić (publisher "Tesla's Scientific Foundation Serbia"), in which we get to know the gastronomic side of a scientist who, after the traditional native diet in Lika, had the opportunity to try different cuisines - German, Czech, Hungarian, French and finally American.

Viewed from a culinary point of view, the scientist's biography is more than interesting, because it is often filled with unusual anecdotal events. It is known that during his stay in America, Tesla lived exclusively in hotels and that this is his way of life. Especially after a not at all pleasant experience when he was forced to do hard physical work, he ate sparingly and slept on the floors of inconspicuous inns. At the height of his fame, he often invited numerous guests to lunch or dinner, not only friends, but also those from business, scientific, artistic, journalistic or other social circles. He organized lavish banquets as part of one of his successfully started or completed works. He himself selected and created a list of dishes and drinks, supervised their preparation and gave suggestions to the staff. Later, as Tesla's financial power declined, the number of his receptions decreased. Especially when he had to move to cheaper and not so luxurious hotels because of the debts. He also fell into awkward situations, when his guests would be discreetly refused to serve until he settled the previous bills.

When he became famous and rich in the USA, he regularly went to the renowned New York restaurant "Delmonico's", which was then a cult gathering place for rich and business people, as well as artists, athletes, actors, and where, along with the usual steaks and steaks, on the menu were unusual dishes, lobsters and desserts. Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Pulitzer, John Astor, Antonin Dvorak were seen in his company.

The book "Nikola Tesla's Menu in 60 Stories" was conceived and created as a documentary-narrative form. Real moments from Tesla's biography intertwine with our narrative shaping. We used relevant sources and literature, primarily what he wrote about himself in scientific terms. autobiography, diaries, lectures and articles.The secondary part consists of records of people who had the opportunity to have lunch with him, as well as menus and menus of the restaurant where the guest was seen.The third part is journalism that still continues to be printed today.

WHAT DID NIKOLA TESLA EAT? This is the MENU of the famous scientist + RECIPE

Here are some interesting facts from the life of the famous scientist Nikola Tesla that he wrote in his autobiography (the book "My Inventions: Autobiography of Nikola Tesla"), but also his daily menu which was published in the old scientific journal "Electrical Experimenter", for Tesla himself wrote several articles.

Nikola Tesla's menu in these writings looks very simple. For breakfast, he usually drank warm milk and ate eggs that he would prepare himself, for lunch he mostly did not eat anything, and he ate celery stalks, soup, chicken and potatoes with a glass of light wine, and a piece of cheese or an apple for lunch.

Recipe for celery soup

Ingredients:

1 onion

olive oil

5 stalks (leaves) of celery

spoon of primrose

2 cloves garlic

so, pepper

Preparation:

Finely chop the garlic, then simmer it in olive oil over a low heat until it gets a golden color. Peel a stalk of celery, chop it and put it in 1.5 liters of water.

Cook the celery, then add the sauteed onions. When the celery is cooked, after about 20 minutes, add the primrose. Cook for another 5 minutes, then strain, but save the soup in which you cooked celery.

Put the ingredients from the soup in a blender and add two cloves of garlic. Simmer until you get a uniform creamy mass. Add 1 cup of soup in which you cooked celery, salt, pepper to the cream soup, and mix.

Tesla's menu consisted mainly of vegetables, he took care to eat one egg white and one egg yolk a day in order to live as long as possible. He also liked good wines, but gave them up when the prohibition came.

Fresh mussels with shrimp chips and lemon foam, clear duck soup with aged sherry jelly or asparagus in Dutch sauce with Parmesan snow, are just some of the dishes from the famous scientist's menu.

In his later years, he became a vegetarian. He explained his secret of a long life with vegetarianism, walks in the fresh air and giving up coffee. But in his vegetarianism, there was room for milk, which he classified as the most useful food. Hence the bottle of milk in his refrigerator that was found when he died.

It is no coincidence that Tesla revives the menu in the hotel on Studentski trg. During his only stay in Belgrade in 1892, Tesla stayed right there, in the then luxury hotel "Imperial", on today's plateau.