BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FOOD & DRINK #2 (DIGEST?)

for Nelson & Alex Breen
***********************

ON EATING NEW TESTAMENT LOCUSTS 

"The locusts John the Baptist ate are not bugs, but
the flat seed pods of the carob tree -- which are
also the husks fed to swine and the Prodigal Son.They
can now be bought in the markets of Manhattan's lower
East Side as 'St. John's bread."
     TIME MAGAZINE. "Religion" (March 31, 1941)
**


MUSTARD

“Mustard runs deep in French culture. “My blood is boiling” is rendered in French by the expression ‘la moutarde me monte au nez,’ or ‘the mustard is rising into my nose’ – and as Bastille Day testifies, when that effect can be devastating.”

Roger Cohen . “Steak Frites Without Mustard? France 
Shudders as Jars Vanish” in The New York Times
(July 15, 2022)
**


OYSTERS AND MONTHS THAT HAVE
NO R’S IN THEM

“In 1599, William Butler, a contemporary of Shakespeare, wrote, ‘ It is unseasonable  and  unwholesome in all months in all months that have no R in their name to ear oysters. “ The myth has an element of truth in the case of New York. Oysters take their cue to begin spawning when the weather warms up, which is in May, and it is true that spawning oysters tend to be thin, translucent and generally less appealing. Some argued that letting the beds rest durin spawning season was a good conservation measure. Summer oysters are, however, perfectly healthy unless spoiled in the market by summer heat.


Mark Kurlansky. The Big Oyster (New York: 
Random House Trade Paperback, 2006)

**
APHORISM

The world is nobody's oyster.
The question is:
Who gets the pearls.
LJP
**


"Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper
and vinegar and then thrown out."
 
Samuel Johnson
**


THE RIDDLE OF SAINT ALDHEIM (ca. 639-709)

I am black on the outside clad in a wrinkled cover;
Yet within I hear a burning marrow;
I season delicacies,, the banquets of kings, and the luxuries   
        Of the table,
Both the sauces and the tenderized meat of the kitchen.
But you will find in me no quality of any worth=,
Unless your bowels have been rattled by my gleaming
    marrow.

Jack Turner. Spice (New York ;Vintage Books, 2005)


The answer at the end of the blog.

**


CHILLED ICES & ICE CREAM

“It is true that circa 400 B.C. , Hippocrates, or one of the anonymous writers who were known as Hippocrates, warned that snow-chilled beverages might ‘suddenly throw…The body into a different state than it was before producing thereby many ill effects.” It is also true that in 1997 the British Medical Journal noted that ‘ice cream headaches’ can be produced by cold tempratures on the back of the palate, which stimulate the spheno-palatine ganglion to dilate blood vessels in the brain. However, the article concluded with the heartening sentence “Ice cream abstinence is not indicated.”

Anne Fadiman. At Large and At Small. New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007) 
**

The first product to have a bar code
was Wrigley's gum.

**

MEL BROOKS AND HIS TOMATO SANDWICH

"...my mother would often make a sliced tomato sandwich on a buttered kaiser roll and put it in a paper bag and fling it out the fifth-story window  for me to catch and have lunch. I almost never missed, but once when I did, the bag hit the sidewalk and flattened out, drenching the kaiser roll with rich tomato juice from the sliced tomatoes. It was one of the best things that I ever tasted. I loved it. From then on, I always missed it on purpose so the sandwich flattened out. It was probably the first  version of a 'pizza' I ever ate."
Mel Brooks. All About Me! (New York: Ballantine Books,
2021)
**
In 17th century Turkey, it was against the law to drink 
coffee because authorities claimed it caused bad behavior.

**
Answer to riddle: PEPPER
**
MY DRINKING SONG
Shots of rum
Leave me glum,
But Cherry Heering
Makes me endearing.
**
DINING WITH CANNIBALS
The night I was served 
the brains of Ronald Reagan
Was the night I became a vegan.

LJP


'