BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FOOD & DRINK (DIGEST?)

MAIDS OF HONOUR

“Perhaps I had been sent out for the newspaper,
for the papers, brought by sea from Liverpool,
arrived in the shop about this time of day. Or 
possibly my errand was to buy three of the little
cakes called Maids of Honour, to be eaten after
the cold meats of the evening meal.”

Frank Kermonde. Not Entitled (New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 1995)
**

ON BACON

“The old Dutch for ‘bacon’ is baec, and the Anglo-
Saxon for ‘back,’ is also baec; to save one’s bacon 
seems, therefore, equivalent to saving one’s back—
from a beating. Moreover it is the back of the pig
that was, and still is, chiefly made into bacon – the
legs are hams.”

Basil Hargrave. Origins and Meanings of Popular 
Phrases & Names (London: T. Werner Laurie Ltd.,
MCMXXV

**
HELLO MISTER CHIPS

“Americans consume about 1.85 Billion Pounds 
of Potato Chips annually , or around 6.6 pounds 
per person.”

Brandon Tensley. “Crunch Time” in Smithsonian
(January/February 2022)

**

RICHARD BURTON AT THE FOUR SEASONS

“Burton was prone to surprising those around him. 
Once, for example, at New York’s posh Four Season’s  
restaurant at dinner, he ordered a strange meal: 
French fries between two pieces of buttered bread. 
He explained that it was the kind of sandwich he
 used to enjoy when he was a boy back in Fort Talbot, 
Wales.”

Jeffrey Lyons. Stories My Father Told Me: Notes
From ‘The Lyons Den’ (New York: Abbeville, 2011)

**

‘ON ENGLISH PUDDINGS

“Ah, where are the puds of yesteryear? Spotted Dick: 
fine, crusted suet pudding studded with a galaxy 
of plump currants. Boiled Baby: heavy, densely-textured 
pudding boiled in a cloth. A characteristic soft 
coating, known to aficionados as “the slime” was 
scraped gently off the outside before the pudding 
was anointed with very hot golden syrup. Figgy Duff:
 the Prince of Suet puddings, very popular in the 
Royal Navy, both as food and for pressing into 
service as keel ballast, emergency anchor, or 
ammunition for the cannons. An inch-and-a-half 
slice of a good Figgy Duff weighed about three 
and a quarter pounds..”

Frank Muir

Frank Muir & Denis Norden . Upon My Word!
(London:Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1974)

**

JALAPENO PEPPERS

“Xalapa” comes from the Nahuatl (a language spoken 
by the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican groups) word xalli,
 meaning “sand,” and apan, meaning “spring,” and it was 
from this fertile “spring in the sand” that jalapeños 
first took root. Even today, residents of Xalapa are 
known  as “Xalapeños,” which simply means “from Xalapa.”

From INTERESTING FACTS WEBSITE

**
WOODY ALLEN ON HIS DIET OF CHOICE
 
PLAYBOY:  “Are you on a nature-food kick?
 
ALLEN:  Yes. The best thing is a good piece of lumber – sequoia , if possible;
 if not, some of the hairier lichens. The best diet is fatty and cholesterol-rich, 
with gigantic amounts of sweets. Heavy smoking on top of all that builds
 the body. Exposure to radioactivity doesn’t hurt either.”
 
Playboy Interview (May 1967)
**
ON SOUR CREAM IN THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS
 
“For some reason, the Jews in the Borscht Belt 
had strange affinity for sour cream. They loved 
it on their blintzes. They loved it on their 
potato pancakes. They loved it on their chopped
 crunchy vegetables like radishes, celery, carrots, 
etc. And if nobody was looking they gobbled it down 
all by itself with nothing but a huge tablespoon.
Sour cream, unfortunately, was loaded with 
cholesterol. The normal cholesterol levels for 
healthy people should be between 150 and 200. 
I would say the average cholesterol of the 
sour-cream-loving Jews who came to the Borscht 
Belt was probably1500—2000.”

Mel Brooks. All About Me: My Remarkable Life 
in Show Business  (New York: Ballantine Books, 2021)
**

DINING WITH CANNIBALS
The night I was served the brains of Ronald Reagan
Was the night I decided to become a vegan.

LJP