Tag archives: food
Peppers, particles, pain, and the weird words that measure them
For many people, the following two statements probably apply: 20 May is just another day, and You can’t remember the last time you took a moment to contemplate, gratefully, all the varying words that enable us, more-or-less concisely, to understand and efficiently communicate measurement. Yes, measurement. And although 20 May is in fact World Metrology [...]
From jumbles to gingersnaps: the origins of cookie names
It may be difficult to do so whilst piling them into one’s maw, but did you ever think about how Christmas cookies came to possess such deliciously eclectic names? Jumbles. Thumbprints. Snickerdoodles. Gingersnaps. Rugelach. Sand tarts. Macaroons. Kiffles. And these are only a few of the hundreds of types treasured in American households during the [...]
Quaffing and scoffing tool: pairing festive foods with wine
Have you got that festive feeling? An urge to eat, drink, and be merry? Prepare for your seasonal celebrations with our food and wine pairing tool with a difference. Not only can you discover what you should be scoffing to complement your quaffing but you can also learn a fascinating food or wine language fact [...]
The Christmas table
Described by John Ayto as ‘steaming fragrant black cannonballs’ in his newly published The Diner’s Dictionary, it is not hard to see why Christmas pudding is a luxury afforded only once a year. The rich combination of suet, raisins, currants, spices, eggs, and brandy often leaves diners in a food-induced stupor at the end of [...]
Using food for thought: Intellectual hunger, thirst, and omnivorous behaviors
We search for things to read to satiate our intellectual hunger or quench our thirst for knowledge. A favorite of mine is the phrase that someone is ‘intellectually omnivorous’, meaning that their intellectual diet consists of all (omni-) types of brain foods. Junkier ideas which are sweet and appealing are called brain candy. Brain candy [...]
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream: a short history of our favourite summer food
Ice cream, one of the most spectacularly successful of all the foods based on dairy products, has a comparatively short history. The first ice creams, in the sense of an iced and flavoured confection made from full milk or cream, are thought to have been made in Italy and then in France in the 17th [...]
Eating your words
“Keep your words sweet – you may have to eat them” is an aphorism often attributed to the French Quaker missionary Stephen Grellet, although variants of this phrase turn up in a number of other places. Grellet was perhaps a man who was aware of the etymological background of some English words for food, for [...]
Food, glorious food: take our quiz
Travel broadens the mind, they say, but it can also enrich the language as a whole. Food names have entered English from many routes: as imported goods were brought to our shores in past centuries, we encountered terms such as garam masala and macaroni. Later additions to the language reflect the growth of mass travel [...]
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