Food, Food, Food!

January 10, 2005 11:16 AM

The city of Austria was saved from invasion by pretzel-making monks. The first pickles may have been pickled in India, circa 3000 BC. The hush puppy may have originally been made with deep-fried lizard. Learn all manner of food lore with the Food Timeline!
posted by unreason (9 comments total)

The city of Austria?
posted by nagrommit at 11:24 AM on January 10, 2005

The city of Austria?

Heh. Sorry, it should read "Vienna, Austria." I'm not that bad at geography! :)
posted by unreason at 11:26 AM on January 10, 2005

The same legend is told about the rise of the croissant, that the bakers of Vienna were up early and saved the city when they heard the digging. They were rewarded by being allowed to make a new kind of celebratory bread, which is when they invented the croissant, shaped like the curved swords of the invaders to remind people of the victory. Bernard Clayton among others, has published this legend.
posted by OmieWise at 11:39 AM on January 10, 2005

"Pickle...The origin of the word...is obscure..."
---A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, K.T. Achaya [Oxford University Press:Delhi] 1998 (p. 186)

In Dutch "pekel" is an older word for salt. The derivation pekel > pickle seems logical.
posted by Berend at 11:58 AM on January 10, 2005

I just find it hard to swallow that goats are placed in the timeline at 9000 BC, cattle at 6500 BC, and milk doesn't show up until 5000 BC. I'm thinking that someone tried goat milk within the first few years of having one close to home.
posted by Crackerbelly at 12:07 PM on January 10, 2005

OmieWise, thanks. I watched The Terminal last night, and the croissant thing is brought up, but never explained because "nobody cares why the croissant was invented."

...but I did ;-)
posted by odinsdream at 12:11 PM on January 10, 2005

Could be that people didn't keep producing lactase into adulthood until a significant amount of exposure with domesticated mammals had transpired, Crackerbelly.
posted by kenko at 12:35 PM on January 10, 2005

OmieWise: Legend is told about the rise of the croissant.

I have heard this story told in Vienna.
posted by syzygy at 2:52 PM on January 10, 2005

Mmmmmm.....hushpuppies.
posted by LushMojo at 5:13 PM on January 10, 2005