WASP Heaven

[Originally posted August 2007)


I just returned from a (very) long weekend with family in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula. The highlight of the trip was the Leland Yacht Club's annual Bar-B-Cruise. The day started with a parade of boats. My little cousins decorated theirs with the theme of "Cherry Potter and the Petoskey Stone," but alas, won no prize. Then in the evening the club hosted a barbecue in a local park. It was the picnic that time forgot--little towheaded children running around serving cubes of cheddar cheese with Keebler Club crackers to the adults, who were decked out in loud pink and green, with lots of whale and anchor motifs. (And those were just the men.)

The whole event was wonderfully wholesome and corny, and reminded me of Alexandra Wentworth's The WASP Cookbook, which delicately pokes fun at the way preppies eat and socialize. Wentworth is the comedienne married to political pundit George Stephanopoulos. She was Jerry's annoying "Shmoopie" girlfriend on Seinfeld and now stars in Head Case.  Anyway, the cookbook is very amusing. My favorite recipe is for Chicken Walnut Salad. Wentworth writes, "The curry powder is so exotic--it's for the daring and well-traveled WASP."

Wentworth's book was published in 1997 and proved to be a bit ahead of its time. A recent Wall Street Journal article addressed the return this summer of preppy fashion, albeit with a hip-hop twist. But here's the thing--the charm of true Wasp style is that it is immune to trends. Just ask anyone at the Leland Yacht Club.