| A Word Edgewise
by Mary Joe Clendenin |
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EATING, DRINKING AND BEING INTRIGUED BY IT
People seem to have taken what they eat very seriously down through the ages--except when hunger pushed them to eat anything that moved or had leaves. In 1666, the year Isaac Newton measured the orbit of the moon, Louis XIV, of France, was expecting a fancy fish dinner cooked by a famed chef named Vatel. Vatet took his food seriously; whe the fish didn't arrive in time, the chef committed suicide. He was also the first chef to serve ice cream in France--prior to the fish dinner, no doubt.
Here in the United States at that time, Spanish and other European colonist were beginning to arrive in large numbers. They found Native Americans hunting and gathering for their food, and growing a few crops. Imagine how patiently the Indians had to be to determine which foods were edible, which plants had medicinal qualities, which ones would sooth burns and bites of many kinds. On e of the first thayused for medicine was the aloe, the same plant offering hope these days as valuable in thefight against HIV.
The Inde (Apache for "the people") used nightshade, the stickery plant with lavender blossoms, for medicine. It was one of the first sources of digitalis. How they must have worked to find out how much to use for what purpose.
I've never sucked boiled crawfish out of the shell. Maybe I'll get up enough nerve to try that. Our son, Patrick, now lives in Louisiana wher such food is classified as near ambrosia, food for the gods.
Neither have I eaten rattle snake, or chocolate coated ants--though I am a chocolate nut. Chocolate melts at body temperature. Ray was reminded of that when he put a sack of chocolate in his pocked while watching "Forest Gump"--do you suppose ignorance is catching?
Aztec Emperor Mectezuma II drank 50 glasses of chocolate sweetened with honey every day. His recipe included ground cocoa beans, spiked with hot ground chile, mixed with water. They didn't have milk, no dairy products, before the Spaniards came and brought cattle and sheep to this continent.
Chocolate originated in the Amazon basin and grows only in an area bounded by 20 degrees latitude on both sides of the equator. Thirty-five countries grow this cash crop. Some tasters say they can tell the difference in taste of all the 35 countries.
The reputation of some plants and potions came about in strange ways. Garlic, still touted as a preventative or cure for several ailments, has several stories about it. One true tale happened in France in 1721 when a pestilance was killing thousands of people per day, so many that they couldn't get them all buried. Four thieves scheduled to be beheaded, were made to bury the dead of a certain area. If they did contact the terrible sickness, it wouldn't rob them of many days, so the jailors reasoned. But they did not die of the plague. Instead, they seemed to thrive.
Authorities were curious about why they lived when others coming in contact with corpses were dying. They learned that the prisoners were drinking a wine in which garlic was soaked until it became pulpy. No one seems to know what happened to the thieves, but their invention, "Four Thieves Vinegar," may still be purchased in France today.
Some things never change in England, around the same time period, ",,.the gregarious Englishmen founded coffee houses rapidly opening around London to be the best of all possible places to meet for conversation and discussion. They soon became gathering places for poets, writers, politicians, and merchants who would sip coffee, trade witticisms, recite poetry, gossip, do business, and plot."
Sounds like goings-on at Jake and Dorothy's or Peacock's, or any other place where men gather in the mornings and afternoons for serious discussion in Stephenville.
I heard a newcomer to Texas, Stanley Lystad, tell a pretty good hunting story one night this week. He may join one of the coffee clubs soon and compete with the old pros, like Bill Nix and Ralph Starling. Wouldn't hurt to have a few new stories. They could tell you about a few of the strange dishes they have eaten--possum--maybe a little crow? That, crow, I have had to eat a few times, and it is not my farorite pastime.
I'm about as brave as anyone about trying new foods. I did eat some fried alligator when we went to see Pat, but I'm not hankering to eat armidillo--though I have a recipe for cooking one.