Rayro's Account of Katz's Venture

Mel Katz fancied himself the best businessman on all of Manhattan Island. He spent long hours doing research before embarking upon his capitalist ventures. He was a familiar face in the Reading Room of The New York Public Library on 42nd Street. During his infrequent breaks he would eat his pastrami sandwich at the feet of one of the famous library lions for inspiration. Unlike another acquaintance of mine named Leopold, who took his breaks outside the library with the end of his necktie stuffed into his mouth, Mel was determined to get ahead in this world, to make his mark on America.

One day, Mel stumbled upon research that made excellent sense to him and inspired an extra helping of pastrami outside. One of its major premises that struck Mel was that “When children are old enough to have a general diet, allow them to have pickles.” One rarely meets such inspirational greatness, you must admit. You know that feeling you get when you feel that at last success lies within your very reach? That was what he felt. Most of this exciting research was centered around the work of a Doctor Francis M. Pottenger, Jr., MD.

Among other things this creative doctor suggested for a healthy diet were the following: a) “Use glandular or variety meats as one-third the necessary protein,” and b) “Use the following meats rare: steaks, lamb chops, leg of lamb, rib and sirloin tip roasts, fresh ground beef for patties.” Mel was in heaven, from a culinary standpoint.

What fascinated Mel the most was Pottenger’s experiments with cats, demonstrated to be at their healthiest when fed on “a diet of 2/3 raw meat, 1/3 raw milk and cod liver oil,” and the brilliant way in which this researcher was able to generalize his findings to human beings too. Truly, Pottenger’s cats held the key to Mel’s future, once he figured out how.

Well, why not open up a food market based upon all the new things Mel was learning daily? This would be no ordinary establishment like the nearby Essex Street Market, good as that place also was. He could feature not only the best pickles that money could buy, and the best pastrami, and the best meats, poultry, eggs, grains, and other foodstuffs that a busy man could bring home to his proud family after a day’s work, but also shelves of health literature like all of Pottenger’s studies to benefit his grateful customers. And even the right cooking utensils based on his same research.

And yet more. For example, Mel pored through every dictionary in every possible language at the New York Public Library to find out more about the meaning of the name Pottenger. This led him also to stock vessels of metal, earthenware, and wood for holding soups, broths, and other liquid or semi-liquid foods, including porridge. And because that name was also associated with being an apothecary, Mel set about looking for popular medications to stock in his market, maybe for indigestion, for example. Such a market as this was bound to be highly successful.

What was he going to call his new establishment on the face of the earth? Now the name came naturally to him: Katz’s Pottengers, in memory of Pottenger’s cats.