The poet Walt Whitman visited and supported the Civil War wounded in DC, carrying goodies in an old leather bag. According to the WaPost, "Moved by the horror of the war’s damage to helpless young patients, Whitman made hundreds of visits, toting the haversack packed with fruit, brandy, sweets, to…
We've been saying this for 40 years---"First, we eat, Then we do everything else." It's our motto, words from the fabled food-oriented writer MFK Fisher.
Whether preparing to battle our fellows in war, or raise babies, we need to eat.
So now we see that food as a pursuit is coming into focus in ma…
7500 years ago or so, farmers from what is now Turkey, apparently brought agricultural practices to Europe, according to a report in LiveScience. "...the earliest farmers in Germany were closely related to Near Eastern and Anatolian people, suggesting that the agricultural revolution did indeed brin…
The badge of the Welsh Guards
One of the symbols of Wales is the leek, because supposedly Saint David urged Welsh soldiers to snatch leeks from the field in which they were fighting the Saxons, and place them on their helmets/hats, so that they could recognize one another. Why a 6th c. extremel…
Our foodie fore bearers needed helmets, apparently. Their heads were split open fairly frequently, according to a study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
"Linda Fibiger, an archaeologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and her colleague…
Domesticated olives date back 6-8000 years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean. "When talk turns to chocolate, Tobago rarely jumps to mind. But this small island off the Venezuelan coast was once home to dozens of thriving estates planted with indigenous Criollo cacao trees. Though Criollo beans are celebrated for their rich, complex flavor, they are highly susceptible to disea…
SOFAB wants your help in funding a food library in New Orleans, people. Let's do this!
The Great War killed off master, servant ( and farmhand,) alike, in huge numbers. "Without the skilled labor required to make them, complex, time-consuming dishes dropped off the menu. Cooks had long relied on imports of produce and other ingredients to supplement limited domestic varieties, ( food …
