Rhubarb culture is celebrated in a new book (UALR Public Radio) - A new book chronicles the history and cuisine of a Little Rock group that has the self-proclaimed cause of "gluttony."

Since the 1990's, "The Rhubarb Club" has grown from a handful of fans to a loose membership of 450. There are no dues, no committees. Just a chance every couple of months for some humor, fellowship, and rhubarb.

Rhubarb is not a fruit. It's a cold-weather vegetable that looks like a stalk of red celery. It has a slightly tart taste, and softens as it cooks, until it turns into a kind of sauce.

The club was started inadvertently at a local retreat center by former professor and rhubarb fan Allen Ward. One of the retreat's benefactors would routinely request rhubarb pie. He'd have to call the chef ahead of time, because rhubarb is so hard to find in the South.

"So I said, Put my name down by the [chef's] phone. And when he calls, call me.'" said Ward. "And this was a funny story, I thought. I told some co-workers, and a couple of them didn't laugh. They said 'Put my name down, too. I want to come.'"

It was just a one-time joke that expanded. It grew into a kind of Rhubarb Club culture.

"People said, What do we call ourselves? And where did the word rhubarb come from?'" Ward said. "I looked it up, and rhubarb comes from the same root word as barbarians."

So the group's members started to call themselves Rhubarbarians.

Since the rhubarb only grows in the North, Ward says most of the Rhubarbarians are Northerners. But other people were curious about the group. The wife of one member didn't care for rhubarb itself, but she enjoyed the people. So the group asked: If you're not a Rhubarbarian, what are you?

"You could see the lights flicking in her eyes as she said I... I'm... a designated driver!" said Ward. The term stuck.

Ward says there was almost a rhubarb civil war once. One member went to the chef to request rhubarb-strawberry pie, a common preparation. When it was served at the next meeting, Ward says, a dozen people marched to the kitchen to demand that the chef never dilute the rhubarb again.

"They were the purists!" said Ward.

The Rhubarb club now has a motto, an anthem, a logo and a secret hand sign. Dozens of people come to meetings every two months to share rhubarb dishes and jokes.

"Because ultimately it's a community coming together, where friendship and cohesion develops around something as ridiculous as rhubarb," said Ward.

Dr. Allen Ward is the author of "The Rhubarb Club," a new book of recipes and recollections available at Wordsworth Books. He can be contacted at alward@ualr.edu.
© Copyright 2009, UALR Public Radio