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Weekly Trivia Quiz is below - New on July 23
SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2010
TODAY'S FOOD QUOTE
"Only a fool argues with a skunk, a mule or a cook.
Cowboy saying
TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY
• National Raspberry Cream Pie Day
• Lughnassadh, the Celtic first harvest festival.
• Festival of Xiuhtechuhtli: Aztec celebration of the god of the calendar.
• Ghana: Homowo. The Ga people feast and mock famine.
10 B.C. Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus was born. (Emperor of Rome A.D. 41-54). Known as Claudius I, supposedly he was poisoned with mushrooms by his wife Agrippina, after her son Nero was named as his heir.
1137 Louis VI "The Fat" died. (King of France).
1733 Richard Kirwan was born. Kirwan was an eccentric Irish chemist who hated flies. He had dysphagia, which is the inability to swallow food without convulsive movements. He always dined alone.
1744 Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck was born. A French naturalist, he believed in the inheritance of acquired traits. Some of his ideas influenced Darwin.
1790 First U.S. census. We had a total of 3,939,214 mouths to feed.
1793 France introduces the first metric weight, the kilogram.
1817 Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert was born. Gilbert and his partner, Sir John Lawes, conducted agricultural experiments at Rothamsted Experimental Station, the oldest agricultural research station in the world. They are considered founding fathers of the agricultural sciences. They are also the co-inventors of superphosphate fertilizer.
1870 Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was born. Ivanov was a Soviet biologist. Others had previously shown it was possible to artificially inseminate domestic animals, Ivanov developed the practical procedures in 1901. Initially working with horses, by the early 1930s the procedure was being used on other farm animals.
1889 It rained ants at Strasbourg, Germany.
1893 Henry D. Perky and William Ford patented Shredded Wheat. Whole wheat is boiled, dried, pressed into thin shreds and finally baked. They presented it at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893. When their patent expired in the mid 1930s, the name became generic.
1932 The Mars Bar, candy bar, was introduced.
1960 Chubby Checker's 'The Twist' was released. Great exercise music.
August Food Festival Listings
FEATURED ARTICLES:
Mark Vogel Weekly Column
SUMMER SALADS VI
While specific guidelines vary, health pundits generally recommend consuming 7 - 12 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Seven to twelve servings! Is that for a man or a swarm of locusts? Well then, I propose we rethink how we conceptualize fruits and vegetables. I think wine should count as a fruit.....more
FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ
1) The following events all took place during the same year.
Can you guess the year?
• The NY Central railroad's 'Twentieth Century Limited' between Chicago and New York charges $7.50 for a complete Filet Mignon Dinner.
• 'Mashed Potato Time' by Dee Dee Sharp reached #1 on the charts.
• Bridgford Foods introduced the first frozen bread dough.
• Pet Milk introduced Pet-Ritz Frozen Pie Crusts.
• 'Stalking the Wild Asparagus' by Euell Gibbons was published.
• Booker T & the MG's released the instrumental single 'Green Onions'.
• The sugar-free soft drink, Diet-Rite Cola, was introduced by Royal Crown Cola.
• The first Taco Bell fast-food restaurant opened in Downey, California.
• 'Silent Spring' by Rachel Carson was published.
In what year did all those events take place?
2) The cultivation of this plant originated somewhere in Europe or the Middle East, relatively recently compared with other cereal crops. Its cultivation was probably encouraged by the increasing use of horses in farming, sometime before 2000 B.C. The Romans knew of it, but considered it a weed, and it was probably originally discovered growing as such with other cereal crops. Accidentally harvested with other crops, its value was eventually discovered and it was cultivated as a crop in its own right. By the 17th century it had become an important crop in northern Europe, but most other countries looked upon it as a weed, or an animal fodder crop. Until recently (19th century), it was still a basic food crop in certain European countries.
World production is over 50 million tons annually, with Russia growing almost one-half of the total. Only about 5% of world production is used for human food.
Because it contains a natural antioxidant, fatty foods, such as potato chips, nuts and coffee are processed with its flour or are dusted with it prior to packaging. Other foods such as chocolate, peanut butter and margarine have its flour as an ingredient for the same reason.
Name this crop.
3) This member of the family of Cruciferous vegetables (which includes cabbage and turnip), is a Eurasian plant, most likely a native of Asia. It was probably domesticated in China over 3,000 years ago, and possibly also the eastern Mediterranean area. The Egyptians pressed oil from their seeds (before the arrival of olive oil), and were part of the food rations of the workers who built the pyramids. They were also a popular snack food in ancient Rome, although Pliny (in 'Historia Naturalis') thought it "a vulgar article of the diet" with a "remarkable power of causing flatulence and eructation."
Name this plant.
4) What was the first ready-mix food to be sold commercially?
a) Duncan Hines Cake Mix
b) Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour
c) Jell-O
d) Betty Crocker Cake Mix
e) Bisquick
5) In 1849, Henderson Lewelling traveled from Oregon to San Francisco with 100 of these, which he sold for $5 each to gold prospectors.
What was he selling?
a) potatoes
b) pans
c) chickens
d) apples
e) strawberries
6) Jethro Tull is the name of a rock group, but Jethro Tull was also a real person (1674-1741).
What was his occupation?
7) This tree is native to tropical areas of South America. It has an edible root, small edible black fruit (olive sized), sugar is produced from the sap, and a wax is collected from the lower surfaces of its leaves. This wax is used in carbon paper, polishes, plastics, floor wax, lubricants and as a food additive. The pith is also used as a cork substitute, fiber from the leaves is used to make rope, and the wood is used for building and to produce excellent veneers.
Name this useful plant.
8) What was the first toy advertised on TV?
(Hint: this is a Food quiz)
9) What happened in Camden, New Jersey on June 6, 1933 that had an extreme effect on the sales of popcorn?
10) Who, When, Why, What?
Who discovered the Sandwich Islands, when were they discovered, why were they called the Sandwich Islands, and what do we call them now?
Click here for the answers to this Culinary Quiz
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Dedication
This website is dedicated to:
Gladys Ehler, my mother, who taught me patience and how to make Sauerbraten (it is still my favorite)
Edward Ehler, my father, who taught me a love of books and history.
Cpl. Thomas E. Saba, my nephew. Died in action on Feb. 7, 2007 in Iraq. He was 30 yrs. young.
Chef James
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