I’ve Often Wondered…
By Mitch Berg
…who was the first person, for example, to think of frying an egg. “Hm – here’s the slime from those things the birds leave lying about; let’s put it on a griddle-shaped piece of granite and fry it up with some tabasco sauce and see how it goes?”
Ditto truffles. “I just wrenched a piece of fungus from the mouth of this warthog. I smell delicacy!”
Nice to know that I’m not the only one who wonders these things. Doug from BoGold ponders the clam. Who? Where? Why?:
There’s really nothing about a clam that convincingly resembles “food.” It’s a hard shell with something resembling phlegm inside.
And yet, at some point in history, someone put one in his mouth and swallowed it. Was culinary history made by the equivalent of that kid on your grade school playground who would eat a bug for a quarter? Was it more of a hazing incident that had a surprisingly tasty upside? Was someone starving on a desert island and it was either eat a clam or feed the seagulls with your own carcass?
And so while I don’t feel any better informed about these things, I feel a little less lonely…
January 15th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
I wonder the same thing about sushi. I have an unbreakable rule: If anything ever moved under it’s own power and capability while it was alive, it must be cooked before I eat it.
January 15th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Who first thought about eating clams? My guess is the French. They eat snails after all…
Granted I happen to love fried clams and steamed muscles and escargot but then again, I’m just that way. Of course, the constant here is that they are all COOKED!
LL
January 15th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
I always wonder about this sort of thing. Take “Rocky Mountain Oysters” for instance. What kind of red-eye would a cowboy have needed to drink to decide that the cut-off balls lying around after castration might be worth a try?!!
January 16th, 2007 at 9:50 am
. . . . and in related news:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/16/burger.ap/index.html
Burger battle brewing between Texas, Connecticut
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) — A burger battle is brewing between a Texas state legislator and the owners of a restaurant who claim the hamburger was invented in New Haven, Connecticut.
With the new session of the Texas legislature now under way, Republican State Rep. Betty Brown has proposed a resolution declaring Athens, Texas, the original home of the hamburger.
Brown, an Athens resident, says that a long-ago resident of the town had a luncheonette in the late 1880s and sold the first burgers there.
Those claims are not sitting well with Ken Lassen Sr., 89, the third-generation owner of New Haven eatery Louis’ Lunch, established in 1895. He says his grandfather came up with the first hamburger there.
Lassen said it happened in 1900 when a man rushed into the restaurant asked for something he could eat on the run. Ken Lassen’s grandfather grabbed a broiled beef patty and put it between two slices of bread.
Mayor John DeStefano Jr., advocating for his city, backs the Lassens and their claims.
“We are even the birthplace of George Bush who wants people to think he’s from Texas,” the mayor said. “So yes, the hamburger is as much a New Haven original as President Bush. Get over it, Texas.”
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Flash
Centrisity.com
January 16th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Hunger is the Mother of all Recipes.