Hey now -- let's don't be planting one of those white bonnets on my long-departed Grandma's head. I'm getting chust a little tired of people seeing the Amish and Mennonites as the be-all and end-all of Pennsylvania-Dutch culture (or alternatively, Pennsylvania-German; "Dutch" being a corruption of "Deutsch," but you already knew that, right?). Pennsylvania had heavy German immigration in the Colonial days and after, and the "plain folk" were only a small part of it. Sure, nearly everyone was church-going back then, but not to such fanatical lifestyle extremes. Most of the Pennsylvania-Dutch population was happy to kick up its heels with some beer, pretzels and a bit of oom-pah. And happy to use (or invent) better technology as it developed. Hellooo... Schmidt, Yuengling, Ortlieb, Neuweiler... any of them ring a bell? Pennsylvania-Dutch brewers, one and all. Thinking Pennsylvania-Dutch equals Amish is like... well, I dunno, something really silly. Now go bake some nice cakes.

© 2005 M.Ace

Image: Promotional license plate from Old Dutch beer, brewed by the Eagle Brewing Company of Catasauqua, PA. Circa mid-20th century. Not to be confused with the Old Dutch brands in Brooklyn and Ohio.