Have you ever found yourself wondering why you ate a certain food?
Why, Doug!? Why’d you eat the liver and onions!?
This is a food blog. I know, not another one, but hear me out. The point of the blog is not to review restaurants or preach/force my ideas on others, but to do an anthropological survey of food with as little opinion as possible. Purely research and information. Not an all-encompassing history of food and drink, but to once or twice a week pick out a dish (macaroni and cheese), ingredient (cinnamon or hot sauce), or holiday (Thanksgiving) and do some research.
I want to find out where those foods originated, their history, their use, mythological roots, use in the media, religious significance, symbolic significance, how to use them, how not to use them, and WHY people eat/use them. The who, what, when, where, why, and how’s of food. I have a lot of questions.
Maybe there’s something in your culture you eat and you’d like to know why. For example, the foods we eat on certain holidays or at certain celebrations. A holiday example for you: why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving? How did turkey get to the United States? What’s it’s origin? Does it really make you fall asleep? (Side note, it doesn’t. The amount of turkey you’d have to eat to get enough tryptophan to get tired is ridonkulous. It’s the sheer gluttony of the occasion. Wasn’t that interesting?).
This baby turkey is soooo sleepy cause he’s filled with tryptophan. I just made that up.
I plan to look at all cultures and all religions. I very much encourage people to contact me with their own food questions or ideas. I’ll look into it for you. It’s one big search for knowledge. Let’s share it!
It’s a daunting task.
But I’m excited.
Are you?
Keep eating and asking, my friends.
Esther
P.S.
This is my favorite painting. Market Woman with Fruit, Vegetables and Poultry by Joachim Beuckelaer, 1564.
