The Food Almanac: August 10, 2011
In The Food Almanac, Tom Fitzmorris of the online newsletter, The New Orleans Menu notes food facts and saying.
Today's Flavor
It's National Banana Split Day. A banana split is delicious, because of the underrated affinity bananas and ice cream have for one another. (cf. bananas Foster). But how can anyone eat an entire banana split? I get full and queasy just thinking about it, but I'm not 16 anymore. Today is also National S'mores Day. S'mores, created by the Girl Scouts, consist of graham crackers, Hershey bars, and marshmallows made into a sandwich and heated to near melting over a campfire. They are as irresistible as their name implies.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Banana Lake is a long (about a quarter-mile), narrow (you can throw a rock across it) body of water in northwestern Montana. It's just west of the Flathead Indian Reservation. The mountains surrounding the valley where Banana Lake collects its scant water are crisscrossed with ski runs. It's high, wide, big-sky country. The nearest restaurant is The High Plains Café in Plains, four miles west.
Edible Dictionary
date, n. — Dates may be the original low-hanging fruit. They have been cultivated in the Middle East and across Northern Africa since prehistoric times. Everything about them suggests that they were created specifically to be consumed by humans. They're sweet, delicious, filling, and full of nutrients. They can easily be dried for long storage. Dates grow on palms that originated somewhere around Mesopotamia. There are male and female palms; the males don't make dates. (What else is new?) They have big but easy-to-remove seeds. Huge date plantations exist in arid areas around the world. They're great for making cookies, cakes, and sweet relishes. They also turn up in savory dishes. We don't use them as much as maybe we should, but at one time they were picked up in Indio, Calif., by the Sunset Limited train to New Orleans, and sold in the French Market in large numbers.
Food Entrepreneurs
This is the birthday, in 1814, of Henri Nestle, the founder of the chocolate company that bears his name. A great deal of his success came from his breakthrough in making milk chocolate, which is credited with making chocolate candy possible. His business began with nut oils, bottled water, and lemonade. He invented infant formulas, which until that time were unheard of. He saw it as a way for undernourished children with distressed (or absent) mothers to stay healthy. Nestle is now one of the biggest producers in the world of all kinds of food.
Food in Show Biz
Jimmy Dean was born today in 1928. The sausage line he started spun him off but kept his name a few years ago, saying that they wanted a different spokesman. Hunh? He should have started Seth Ward Sausages then. That's his real name. . . Clara Peller, the old lady in the commercials for Wendy's that made "Where's the beef?" a national catchphrase, was born today in 1917. . . The movie American Pie 2 came out today in 2001. No more pie in it than in American Pie 1.
Deft Dining Rule #511
Tarte Tatin, regardless of which master French baker makes it, is not as good as a well-made American apple pie.
Annals of Cola
Today in 1985, the original formula of Coca-Cola returned to the market as Coke Classic after being replaced briefly and to much public derision by New Coke. However, New Coke has conquered the rest of the world. It's only in America and Canada that Coke Classic is the standard.
The Saints
It is the feast day of St. Lawrence, who managed the Church's meager funds when it was still being persecuted by Rome. He is the patron saint of brewers, cooks, confectioners, and restaurateurs.
Food Namesakes
William Henry Fry was born today in 1815. He was a composer who has been called the father of American opera. His most famous work was Leonora. . . Actor Noah Beery, who was on The Rockford Files among other things, was born today in 1913. . . Pepsi Nunes, who writes about environmental issues and history, was born today in 1952. . . Leonard Lickorish, an authority on the business of tourism, was born today in 1921. . . Jay Cooke, a financier who raised a great deal of the money needed for the Union to prosecute the Civil War, was born today in 1821.
Words to Eat By
"Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first." — Josh Billings, American humorist of the late 1800s.
Words to Drink By
potable, n. — Suitable for drinking. Water is said to be potable; indeed, some declare it our natural beverage, although even they find it palatable only when suffering from the recurrent disorder known as thirst, for which it is a medicine. Upon nothing has so great and diligent ingenuity been brought to bear in all ages and in all countries, except the most uncivilized, as upon the invention of substitutes for water. To hold that this general aversion to that liquid has no basis in the preservative instinct of the race is to be unscientific — and without science we are as the snakes and toads." — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.