From Table Scraps to Oysters
The Sandulak - Saranie Legacy
One of Slovaktown, Arkansas’ founding fathers, George Sandulak, was born in Hungary in April, 1852. With serfdom officially ending only a few years prior in 1848, a young Slovak in Hungary had limited opportunities. However, George Sandulak’s life and the lives of his descendants is anything but typical.
While making a living in Hungary (now current day Slovakia) George found himself as the valet to Count Gyula Andrassy, the first Prime Minister of Hungary (1867–1871) and later the Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary (1871–1879). Count Andrassy was an active member of the political landscape as he helped create the Austro-Hungarian dualist form of government. George had a front row seat to the inner life of government and the elite.
Count Gyula Andrassy
In a 1982 interview with Fred Brown, staff writer from Memphis Press-Seminar, George’s daughter, Cecilia Saranie (née Sandulak) recalled that her father’s position as the valet afforded him special perks such as table scraps from the stately dinners to take home to the family. A very special privilege and food-diversity many Slovaks did not have.
It is unclear what prompted George to set out for America. Perhaps it was Count Andrassy’s retirement or maybe it was the pull of opportunity in America. That reason still remains to be unearthed.
Regardless of the specific reason, it led George, along with many of his contemporaries, to work for low wages in the steel mills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
George was part of the first wave of Slovak immigrants that often utilized chain migration to guide him, which is just a fancy way of saying friends and family members followed each other to create community while migrating to the new land. Although this term more often applies to country to country migration, it also occurred internally in America.
George heard through the proverbial grapevine of a Slovak-centric farming community out in the prairie land of Arkansas. The stories told of a great opportunity to be a part of a community that served him and his fellow community members. It was an opportunity to be the lord of his own land.
So in 1895 George purchased 40 acres sight unseen, spending his last penny to travel by train and wagon down to his very own farmland in Slovaktown, Arkansas. His daughter noted that, yet again, the abundance he moved for was less than he hoped upon arrival.
The 40-acres consisted of 7-foot tall grasses, difficult farming soil, and a bunch of prairie chickens George was too poor to hunt, what with guns being so expensive.
According to Cecilia, they sustained in the first years on trapping rabbits and eating cowpeas.
Fast-forward to the introduction of rice to Slovaktown; the Sandulaks were prospering. Cecilia was able to take trips to Pennsylvania to visit family for extended periods of time. During one of her long visits she met a first generation Polish-American named Stanley Saranie. Stanely worked in his brother’s restaurant in Pittsburgh. However, in 1928 Cecilia and Stanley were married and moved down to Slovaktown.
Despite Stanley believing that his brother had all the cooking skills, Stanely’s soup making was passed down, perhaps unknowingly, to his son Stanley (aka Sonny). To this day Sonny’s granddaughter, Amanda Saranie, cannot make a cup of soup without being transported back into her grandfather's loving Slavic arms and the Sandulak-Saranie legacy.
Amanda as baby with her grandfather Sonny. Photo courtesy of Amanda Saranie.
But it does not stop there! Back in the late 1940’s Stanley Saranie Sr’s market store was the local gathering place for many of Slovaktown’s men. Stanley and several of his buddies decided to do a special dinner one night. I have uncovered three different stories as to the reason for the special dinner. 1) to celebrate the local WW2 soldiers returning from Europe, 2) to celebrate the local minor league baseball team 3) to celebrate the ending of harvest. I hope the further I talk with the town, the clearer the picture will become.
So what, you may ask, makes this dinner so unique? Well, Stanely and his fellow landlocked Arkansasans decided to take a trip to Louisiana and pick up Oysters as the main dish for the special dinner. No one knows how or why oysters were chosen. But, the Slovak Oyster Supper has remained an annual tradition to this day thanks to the Slovak Knights of Columbus and Sts Cyril & Methodius Parish.
Oyster prep assembly line; Slovak Knights of Columbus. Photo courtesy of Lawson Plafcan.
The Slovak Oyster Supper, which sells out every year, is a time for the state politicians, governors, senators, and representatives to meet with the people. With almost 2,000 tickets sold and well over 200 gallons of oysters consumed, in 2023 Slovak Oyster Supper was nominated for 2023 Arkansas Food Hall of Fame in the Food-Theme Events category.
The Sandulak and Saranies have created a remarkable legacy. Nowadays, Cecilia and Stanley Sr’s children and grandchildren live in Slovaktown, other parts of America and Costa Rica.
Arkansasan - Costa Rican Saranie Family Reunion. Photo courtesy of Zuzana Palovic.
We were very lucky to have helped organized a zoom family reunion for the Slovaktown and Costa Rican Saranies. There were many smiles, memories, stories, tears, and laughter between the families. Raymond Saranie, (Grandson of George) along with his wife, children and grandchildren spent much needed time (albeit virtual) with his late-brother Sonny’s (Stanely Jr) children and grandchildren in Costa Rica.
I will leave you with a quote from Cecilia Saranie via Slovaktown’s own Beth Hook’s 1971 University of Arkansas project interview with Cecilia. .
“There isn’t so much that you couldn’t go through it, there isn’t too little you could do without.”
A special thanks to Mr & Mrs Raymond Saranie, Stephen Saranie and Amanda Saranie for spending much time with me sharing their family’s legacy. And thank you and the rest of Slovaktown for your continued trust in me sharing your stories with the world.