Whaddya Think, Doctor Fink?

Let’s face it. There are a lot of nuts in the world. Whether politicians, your next-door neighbor, or the family member that gets everyone angry at holiday dinners, there’s no shortage. The real nuts – the ones we eat – tell a similar story. Statistica forecasts a growing nut (and seed) market of nearly $2 billion. That’s a lot of crunch. It began with prehistoric humans. How Stuff Works described a “recent archeological excavation in Israel [where] they found remnants

  It happened in 1826. Every Christmas, cadets at the West Point Military Academy held an annual drunken egg nog party. Then the grim Superintendent, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, imposed monastic discipline. That meant no alcohol. A cadet could be expelled for breaking the rule.   West Point in the 1800s: Wikimedia Commons   What’s egg nog without a touch of rum, whiskey, or bourbon? It began with posset, a Medieval British hot drink made of milk curdled in wine or

To eat it, not eat it, or re-gift it. That is the question. Johnny Carson, comedian and original TV host of The Tonight Show, once said, “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep passing it around.” Mmmm. When was the last time you ate fruitcake? Or received it as a gift and . . . The truth is that fruitcakes last a long time. Maybe not as long as the fruitcake baked by Fidelia Ford

  Gingerbread. It goes back thousands of years, traveled The Silk Road, baked in images of royalty, and celebrated in Medieval feasts. What is gingerbread? Wikipedia describes it as a “broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses.” Gingerbread is global. Try Nonnettes in France, Pão de mel in Brazil, or Maejakgwa in Korea. Eat snaps, cakes, and cookies. You can even soothe the aches in your tummy.

What are sufganiyot? They’re deep-fried yeast donuts usually with sweet fillings and toppings. Some call them jelly donuts. However, there’s a lot more to the story than what meets the belly. An old Israeli folktale claimed that when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, G-d tried to cheer them up by giving them jelly donuts. Emelyn Rule reports in Time, “pretty much all scholars agree that the tale has zero basis . . . but

  Latkes and Hanukah. They go together like coffee and cake or peanut butter and jelly. Latkes are popularly known as “potato pancakes.” Cuisines around the world have their own versions, like the Irish boxty, Korean gamja-jeon, and Mexico’s tortas de patatas. Let’s be real. Who can resist crispy fried potatoes with seasonings that range from salt, garlic and onion to sauerkraut and cinnamon? Try eating just one. Impossible. Latkes are more than just another potato pancake. They’re both delicious

  Most of us call it stuffing. It’s got a lot of different names and has been around for a very long time. Probably long before any written records. No one knows for sure. Look at is this way. You have meat, fish, or another animal ready to roast. No insides. Only an empty cavity crying for something. Why not add vegetables, fruits, spelt (wheat-like grain), nuts, spices – anything that makes it tastier? The first printed record of stuffing

  The Ice Age Glaciers gave us a gift. Ten thousand years ago, glaciers receded from what is now New England. They left bogs filled with sand, clay, and organic matter. Perfect for cranberries. What’s a cranberry bog? It’s soft, marshy ground with acidic soil. Low-lying cranberry vines thrive in that environment. The Native American tribe, Wampanoag Nation (“People of the First Light”) knew the value of the small, tart berries. They called them sasumauneaash or obimi, literally “sour berries”

Instant or gourmet? Tokyo or Cup O’ Noodles? Vegan or chicken? Ramen has taken over the world. Where did this yummy dish come from? Basically, ramen is noodles and broth. According to Stastista the World loves “Oodles of Noodles” to the tune of over 106 billion servings a year. That’s quite a mouthful. It all began in . . . China? Take a walk down Ramen Street, a subterranean mall nestled beneath Tokyo Train Station. You’ll find some of Japan’s

Is it a typo? No. It’s a plant. The scientific name is althaea officinalis. It grows wild in Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, along river banks, salt marshes, and swamps. Althaea Officinalis likes damp. The six-foot tall flowering plant was used over two thousand years ago by ancient Egyptians, Arabs, Greeks, and Romans. Technically, it’s the marsh variety of the mallow family. Get it? Marsh-mallow?     The ancient Greeks drained the marsh-mallow sap and used it as medicine