Is Watergate Salad Named After the Political Scandal?

Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hey, this is James from South Carolina.

Hey, James. Welcome. What’s up?

Well, I want to ask about a dish that was made by my great-grandmother. We used to get together, have dinners, breakfast every Sunday. And one of the things she made around the holidays, I’m really interested where it came from. So maybe you’ve had it before. I’ll kind of describe it and then say what it was called. But it’s basically a pistachio pudding mixed with whipped cream and pineapple. And what she called this was Watergate salad. And that name always confused me. I don’t think it has anything to do with the Watergate scandal. But I’ve just always wondered, where does that come from?

I remember it well. It’s fantastic. So you serve it cold. And I don’t know, it’s just really sweet, creamy. It’s very easy to eat too much. I’ll put it that way.

I have to tell you, I loathe it. I cannot stand it, partly because I don’t like whipped cream, believe it or not. But Watergate salad is the worst. It’s the worst. It’s terrible.

Not for James. Not for James. It’s not for me, though. It’s not meant for me. It’s meant for you, James, and you can have it all.

I respect that, and I appreciate that. It sounds refreshing.

Martha, you didn’t know Watergate salad? From family get-togethers? No, we never had that, but it sounds quite refreshing. Well, growing up in Missouri, this would show up on family gatherings all the time, 70s and 80s, which is kind of the heyday. Is that about when you remember having it, James? 70s, 80s?

No. So my great-grandmother, she was around 80 when she made this for us, and I was a young man, maybe 20. I’m, you know, I’m 34 years old now. So this was like in the 90s.

Oh, so she was still making the 90s. Okay.

Yeah, the Watergate salad shows up right at Watergate. It is named after it, but as you say, has nothing to do with it. You’ll find that happens again and again with food items where people will take the name of a famous person or a famous event and name their food item after it just to kind of give it some sparkle, some cachet. And although this wasn’t a really sparkling event in American history, Watergate did the same thing. There were more than a few dishes named after it, including Watergate cake. But the recipes vary. The canonical version of Watergate salad is pistachio pudding. But, you know, that’s hard to find. So a lot of people would just substitute lime jello or any flavor of gelatin, which was green, just to give it the same color, the green color that the pistachio pudding would have given it.

Wow. For those who are listening from other countries or are too young to remember, Watergate was when five men were arrested for breaking into and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate Hotel. Although at the time, I think it was called the Watergate Apartments. This is in June of 1972. And then two years later, it eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon on national television. So it was a really big deal.

You know, I’m reminded of the origin of baked Alaska. That also had to do with current events because it was invented supposedly in 1867 to honor the acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire the year earlier that year.

Okay. So that’s another example.

Yeah. That derived from current events. But Grant, I’m also thinking about a call we got eons ago from a woman who was asking about Pooflopoo Pie.

Yep, I was headed that direction, yeah. So that is another name. Well, Pooflopoo Pie can be Watergate salad, but it’s also used for other dishes. Watergate salad itself is sometimes just called the green stuff. Or shut the gate salad, or green goop, or green goddess, or green fluff, or mean green. So it has a lot of names, and they don’t all reference the scandal of the 1970s.

Well, very cool. Thank you guys for taking the time to answer my question. I appreciate it.

Sure. Happy to help. Thanks for calling. Take care, James.

I want to try this stuff, James. I’m going to find it someplace.

You should.

All right. Bye-bye.

Definitely try it. So long.

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