THURSDAY - DECEMBER 5, 2013

Weekly Trivia Quiz is below

TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE

“In my experience, clever food is not appreciated at Christmas. It makes the little ones cry and the old ones nervous.”
Jane Grigson
 

Food Holidays - Today is:

- National Sacher Torte Day
- The ‘Noble Experiment’ Ends (see 1933 below)
- Cookie Cutter Week: (Dec 1-7, 2013) [Cookie Recipes]
- National Handwashing Awareness Week (Dec 1-7, 2013)

TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY

On this day in:

1624 Gaspard Bauhin died.  A Swiss botanist, he developed a binomial (2 name) system of plant classification.  He published 'Pinax Theatri Botanici', which was a compilation that included over 6,000 species that had appeared in works from Theophrastus, Dioscorides and many later herbals.

1822 Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz was born.  An American naturalist, cofounder with her husband (Louis Agassiz), of the Anderson School of Natural History.  She was also the first president of Radclife College.

1854 Aaron Allen patented a folding chair.  Setting up for banquets becomes a whole lot easier.

1855 Clinton Hart Merriam was born.  A biologist, he studied the effects of using birds to control agricultural pests.  He also helped found the National Geographic Society.

1870 Alexandre Dumas died. French author ('The Three Musketeers', etc.) was also well known as a gourmet, and author of 'Grande Dictionnaire de la cuisine,' which he finished a just a few weeks before his death in 1870.  It was published in 1872.

1876 D.C. Stillson patented the Stillson wrench, the first practical pipe wrench. Fixing that leaky pipe in the kitchen became a lot easier.

1933 Utah and Nevada voted for the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment and ended prohibition, 'the noble experiment.' Cheers!

1935 Ernest Brundin and Frank Lyon set up the first commercial scale hydroponic plant culture system.  A patent was issued to them on December 1, 1936.

1960 Walter D. Teague died (born Dec 18, 1883).  A pioneering industrial designer, he designed Steuben glassware, cameras for Kodak and Polaroid and Texaco gas stations.

1967 'Apple,' the Beatles (Apple Corps) clothing store opened in London. (Closed July 30, 1968).

1974 The BBC broadcast the last episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus.'

1985 A bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux that had belonged to Thomas Jefferson, sold at Christie’s London for 105,000 British Pounds ($158,000). The world's most expensive wine.

2006 New York became the first U.S. city to ban artificial trans fats in restaurant food when the Board of Health voted to ban them today.  NYC restaurants will have until July 1, 2007 to stop using frying oils with artery clogging trans fats, and will have to eliminate trans fats from all foods by July 1, 2008.
 

DID YOU KNOW?

Frangipane is a rich pastry cream flavored with ground almonds and used to fill or top pastries and cakes.  The name has a very unusual origin.  In the 16th century an Italian nobleman, Marquis Muzio Frangipani, created a perfume for scenting gloves.  It was popular in Paris, and pastry cooks flavored pastry cream with almonds and called it 'frangipane', presumably to take advantage of the scents popularity.
 

UPCOMING FEATURED FOOD FESTIVALS

December 7-8, 2013  Indio Int’l Tamale Festival - Indio, California
December 10, 2013  Terra Madre Day - Worldwide
December 13-14, 2013  Hammond's Candy Cane Festival - Denver, Colo
 

FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ   (new on December 2, 2013)

1) Which of the following foods were introduced to America from Europe ?
      [a] the white potato
   [b] the tomato
   [c] the pumpkin.

2) Which of the following dishes were born in Italy?
   [a] Caesar Salad
   [b] Fettucine primavera
   [c] Chicken Tetrazzini.

3) Liederkranz Cheese comes from which country?
   [a] Austria
   [b] Germany
   [c] United States
   [d] Switzerland
   [e] Italy.

4) In 1925, how many restaurants were in New York City?
   [a] 6,000
   [b] 17,000
   [c] 24,000.

5) Hello-Billo, Korn Kure, Malt-Ho, Tryabita, Tryachewa, Oatsina and Orange Meat were all brand names of what type of food in the early 1900s?
   [a] Breakfast cereals
   [b] health drinks
   [c] vegetarian meat substitutes
   [d] varieties of corn.

6) The slang term 'moxie,' meaning the ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage, comes from:
   [a] WW I army slang
   [b] the name of a breakfast cereal
   [c] the name of a soft drink
   [d] a 1920s banker named George Moxie.

7) Hershey introduced the 5 cent Hershey bar in 1903. For how long did the price remain a nickel?
   [a] 25 years
   [b] 43 years
   [c] 52 years
   [d] 67 years.

8) While we are on the subject of Hershey, what candy product did Milton Stavely Hershey become rich selling?
   [a] caramels
   [b] chocolate bars
   [c] granola
   [d] cocoa.

9) John Styth Pemberton, the Atlanta pharmacist who created Coca-Cola, sold a 2/3 interest in his company in 1887 for how much?
   [a] $100
   [b] $283.29
   [c] $2,000
   [d] $25 million.

10) More than 75% of the world's supply of maple syrup comes from where?
   [a] Vermont
   [b] New Hampshire
   [c] New York
   [d] Canada
 

Click here for the answers to this Culinary Quiz

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

TOP

Robert May created Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in 1939 as a Christmas promotion for Montgomery Ward department store in Chicago.

Animal Cracker's were introduced at Christmastime in 1902.  The carrying string on the box was designed so it could be hung on a Christmas Tree.

The 2013 Capitol Christmas tree, an 88-foot Engelmann spruce, was selected last summer from Colville National Forest near Newport, Washington.

Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program!

In 1959 the Aluminum Specialty Co. of Manitowoc, Wisconsin introduced the first aluminum Christmas Tree.

The enoki mushroom is also known as the Christmas mushroom.