As England became more prosperous in the 16th century there was a renewed focus on etiquette and manners. As befitting the influence of the renaissance this was also a time which saw a renewed interest in ‘household ordinances and serving manuals’- namely a series of Anglo-Latin courtesy poems which gave …
Britain in the seventeenth century was quite an unsettling place to live, what with Puritanism and superstition being the norm. Women in particular were still being persecuted for witchcraft as depicted in the 1968 film The Witchfinder General starring a wonderfully snarling Vincent Price. It seems that a certain …
Without doubt one of the biggest fans of the humble carrot was the industrialist Henry Ford, whose passion for vegetables was perhaps second only to his fondness for the car. Ford was anti-milk (“the cow is the crudest machine in the world”) and anti-meat (he promoted soybeans in lieu …
Pythagoras viewed as either a Shamanistic shyster or intellectual innovator, is still one of the most important names in Western philosophy. He and his followers adhered to some rather strange rules such as not to stir fires with iron pokers or to eat meat or beans This was because …
It appears that the poster boy for spinach is a fraud. Popeye would have been just as better off munching on a celery stalk, for spinach does not contain much of anything apart from Vitamin A, which is excellent for night vision but pretty useless as an aid for …
It seems that the poor old turkey has had an identity crisis. For this we can blame the Portuguese. Following Vasco da Gama`s voyage around Africa by the 16th century they were perhaps one of the leading traders along the Americas. Anxious to preserve their monopoly on certain goods …
The problem with onions, almost all agree, is that they smell. Onion breath has been bedeviling the socially sensitive since the first hunter-gatherer ate the first wild onion bulb. Once you’ve eaten an onion, everybody knows it, which is why Don Quixote cautioned Sancho Panza to “Eat not garlic …
It appears that the ubiquitous bottle of ketchup is not quite so modern as we thought. The word ketchup comes from the Chinese dialect Hokkien, Ke-tsiap, the name of a sauce derived from fermented fish. Now popularly known as “ketchup” or “catsup”. The sauce was appealing to the traders …
It seems that we can blame the Portuguese for this. Following Vasco da Gama`s voyage around Africa, by the 16th century they were without doubt one of the leading traders along the Americas. Anxious to preserve their monopoly on certain goods the Portuguese were somewhat vague as to where …
The Anglo-Saxons delighted in the following riddle: I am a wonderful creature, bringing joy to women, and useful to those who dwell near me. I harm no citizen except only my destroyer. My site is lofty; I stand in a bed; beneath, somewhere, I am shaggy. Sometimes the very …
