Eat This Newsletter 188: Tasting Menu
Hello
Things seem to be picking up again after the (northern) summer lull. A bumper crop these past couple of weeks, even after some judicious weeding, so I’m going to go light on the interpretation.
Roman Herb Resurrected
Silphion (which I’ve always called silphium) was a plant prized by ancient Greeks and Romans. It was eaten to extinction, the last stalk allegedly by the Emperor Nero. But what, actually, was it? A glorious article in National Geographic documents the best yet investigation and, even better, finds a small population in Turkey that thrilled Roman recipe reconstructors. You can understand why it went (commercially) extinct too, as it is very slow growing. Which probably means it will never be widely available again.
Eating and Politics
In the US, putting your foot in your mouth is not nearly as dangerous as an unhusked tamale, but why? Does any other country give a fig for what politicians eat in public?
Helen Rosner
The New Yorker has a great roster of people who write about food, among whom Helen Rosner is the most prolific. Navneet Alang interviewed her and the result is a really thoughtful read. It is also, for typography nerds, gorgeous; and with good reason.
Boffins to the Rescue. Again
First it was insects. Now it’s seaweed. Feed algae on fish waste and you ”boost … growth by 25% a day, amp up its nutritional value, and make algae more attractive to the food industry”. So, that’s alright then.
Alternatively, Waste Not Want Not
Yes, time to point the finger once again at food waste. This time, rather than blaming poor household management, a report points out that the EU wastes more food than it imports. About 20% of the food produced is abandoned each year, three times more on farms than in households.
Not the Paleo Diet
We all know Neanderthals did not follow the paleo diet, so what did they eat? History Hit purports to give us the low-down, but I found it a let down. Too much hunting, not enough porridge.
What Did They Learn?
Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast recently explored the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, conducted by Ancel Keys towards the end of World War 2. Keys had already invented the K-ration and was yet to ”discover” the Mediterranean diet. At the time, doctors knew little about the effects of prolonged malnutrition, and the Starvation Experiment was designed to find out and also how best to reverse starvation. It was a great and moving episode, with wonderful archive tape from the young men who volunteered. And Gladwell made it clear that such an experiment could not possibly be carried out today. All good stuff.
But what, actually, did Keys learn? How do you best reverse starvation? Not a word on that. Which leaves me wondering, what was the point? Of the podcast, not the experiment.
No Longer an Idiot
‘I was told I was a complete idiot’ about organic farming, Charles said day before becoming king.
He said in an interview in 2018 that he would stop speaking out on topics he felt strongly about when he became king.
I guess that’s the last we’ve heard from King Charles III on anything of more than passing interest.
Food Wars? What Food Wars?
I’m linking to Kenneth Rosen’s Italy will win the food wars at UnHerd simply because I really have no idea what to make of it. Is it a lame attack on the fight between Nutri-Score and Nutriform? Or praise for the uncompromising starred restaurant that “cooks the mountain” and refuses to accommodate any objections? Or something profound about rich food eaten by rich people who stay thin, while poor people get fat? I honestly don’t know.
Take care.
Jeremy