OK, I love stories about marketing history. Because in the universe of today’s highly polished and high budget brand creation, it’s good to know something, somewhere, has a history. My personal favorite in food land is candy – no kidding. And this combination of interests led me to create this pop quiz. You ready? OK - what’s the oldest candy company in the country? New England Confectionary Company – AKA Necco? Hershey’s? Or Reeses?
And the Winner Is!
I don't get cooking. Trust me, I do plenty of it most nights, every morning, and sometimes at lunch. I do it because I MUST - if I don't who will? And every time I cook, I complain. But I have before me a small stack of cookbooks which remind me that, even if I don't recognize it when I'm in the act, I'm taking part in culture, history, and a sort of science.
That's why my favorite part of any cookbook is the section about the foods - not how to make them. For example, in "The Complete Book of Indian Cooking" you get, essentially, a crash course in the history of Indian. Apparently, India has 2000 ethnic groups. I say apparently, because when I interviewed the author, Suneeta Vaswani, she said no one knows how many ethnic groups are in India...the book did say 2000, though. Tomatoes, meanwhile, a staple of Indian food, made a presence first in the 16th century with European explorers and more assertively under the British rule in the late 1800's. Granted, this may not seem riveting - but it does prove that many a mouthful is about invasion, occupation, recovery, and, in some cases demise.
Other cool facts - these from the cool facts laden book "The Take-Out Menu Cookbook" by Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds:
- The French eat approximately 500 million snails a year and 45 pounds of cheese per person.
- Americans (in 2002) ate 7.2 pounds of beans each
- Frankfurter sausages came to Germany via the Chinese and to the states via Germany in the 19th century (yes, there is NO purely American food)
- There are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice
- For half the world's population rice is a staple
If these facts aren't fascinating, maybe this one is: garlic is ten times more powerful when crushed in a garlic press. On the show, Snyder recommended cutting it for a subtler, better flavor. On my dreaded cooking excursion last night, I tried that but must admit - I like the strong, garlicy flavor better.
The food show will broadcast in early January on www.thegreatervoice.com.
