Entertaining folk legends about our familiar foods. Food in myths and legends Myths and legends about food

When you eat an orange or a pineapple, chances are you don't think about how the fruit ended up on this earth. But it turns out that people have been thinking about this for centuries, and many of the origin stories for various fruits are rather arcane. We're not sure what kind of people first associated severed heads, testicles, death, starvation, and cannibalism with some of our favorite fruits, but we're pretty sure we could never look at fruit salad the same way.

10. Coconuts and Severed Heads

There are many myths about how the coconut got here, and like the most interesting myths, they all involve violence. If you look at it right, you can see the features of the coconut that will terrify you - its human form with two eyes and a mouth. So, clearly, he grew out of a severed head and there are so many stories that talk about it that one might wonder if there is any truth in them? In New Britain, a severed head was left from a boy who was completely eaten by a shark - the head was buried (buried) in the ground and sprouted into the first coconut tree.

The Arapesh myth tells that the head belonged to a man who killed a woman for walking in front of her husband; the man was then, in turn, killed and executed by the children. A myth from the Admiralty Islands tells of two brothers who stole a canoe from the devil to go fishing. The devil pursued them, and they restrained him for some time by throwing the fish they had caught into the water; eventually the fish ran out and the younger brother began to cut into pieces his older brother and made it to shore with only his head.

In Burma, the head donor is a man beheaded by a king who was tired of his jokes, and in New Guinea, the head was donated voluntarily by a fisherwoman who gave her head to let the fish swim in it and then couldn't find it.

9. Apples and Hera's wedding

According to Greek mythology, the first apple trees were created by Gaia (also Ge), the Earth, as a wedding gift for Hera. The first apples were golden, and the tree was placed under the care of three minor goddesses called the Hesperides and a hundred-headed dragon named Ladon. The story of the 12 exploits of Hercules, one of which was to steal golden apples, is quite well known. He did this, of course, by killing Ladon.

Perhaps less well known is what the golden apples did. Stored in an orchard in the West, golden apples were said to cast their radiant glow across the sky as the Sun dipped below the horizon, creating beautiful sunset colors.

8. Mulberry and Blood

According to the legend of the Babylonian lovers Piramus and Thisbe, mulberries were originally white, but turned red when they were stained with blood. A tragic love affair begins when the couple is forbidden from marrying by their parents. Violating the prohibition of their parents, the lovers decide to leave their homes through a crack in the wall between their houses and meet in a field under a mulberry tree.

When Thisbe saw a bloody lion drinking from a nearby pond, she dropped her handkerchief and ran away in fright. Her lover, found her handkerchief and saw a bloodied lion, feared the worst and committed suicide. His blood spattered the white mulberries, and when Thisbe returned, she found him dead and killed herself too. A moment before her death, she saw red mulberries and said that they would forever remain evidence of their tragedy and love. Since then, mulberries have turned reddish-purple.

7. Elderberry and Death Men

The Tsimshan are a group of Native Americans who lived on the Pacific coast of Canada. Their elder bush myth explains why humans live such short lives, and how our lifespans have actually been determined. According to legend, the Stone and the Elder Bush were arguing over who should bear children first. The stone offered a deal: If he gives birth first, then people will have a long life. But if the Elder Bush gives birth first, people's lives will be shorter.

The contractions of both began at the same time, but the wise Giant intervened. He went to the Elder Bush, touched her, and told her to give birth quickly and not wait for the Stone. This is why people only live so little, and why we often see elderberry bushes growing on graves and in cemeteries.

6. Breadfruit, Hunger and Testicles

According to Hawaiian folklore, there are several different ways in which breadfruit, as they said, appeared. In one version, a devastating famine takes over the island of Wayakea and takes the life of a man named Ulu. When Ulu dies, the priests tell his family that they should bury him near the stream. A tree grows from his grave in one night, and in the morning his family sees him bearing fruit. The fruit, in turn, feeds those who survived and helps overcome hunger.

The alternate story is about a man who sacrificed himself for his family; after he was dead, a tree grew from his testicles. The gods - all 44,000 of them - tasted the fruit and came to the conclusion that it was not only edible, it was delicious. After they learned what the tree had grown from, they plucked out the fruits and seeds, spreading them throughout the islands.

5. Figs for Hospitality

After her daughter was kidnapped by Hades, Greek goddess Demeter wandered the earth in search of her. During her travels, she stayed at a man's house in Attica in southern Greece. He invited her to his house and received her very kindly, and she thanked him for his hospitality by giving him the first fig tree.

Fig trees flourished in the fertile lands around Attica and Athens; here, Dionysus also had a strong association with the fig. His name means "patron of the fig" and it's not an innocent reference. The fact that figs look like testicles, of course, did not go unnoticed by the Greeks, and in fact the words "figs" and "testicles" were the same. The program of the annual festival dedicated to Dionysus includes carving a giant phallus from fig wood and carrying it around the city.

4. Strawberries and Heaven's Gate

The strawberry was originally thought to be a fruit associated with the Norse goddess Friga. And this was not strange until the advent of Christianity. And, like any pagan thing, strawberries were quickly absorbed by Christian myths as the fruits of the Virgin. She was obviously a bit jealous, and when it came to strawberries, it was said that she demanded that all the strawberries be left for her. This rule was so strict that it was added that whoever approached the Gate of Heaven with traces of strawberry juice on his lips would be denied entry to heaven because of the consumption of this new holy fruit.

Strange as it may seem, there is another explanation for this myth. When the child died, it was said that he ascended to heaven, disguised from potential darkness like a strawberry. Thus, anyone who ate strawberries could be considered to have eaten a child - so everyone tried to stay away from these fruits.

3. Coffee for Evening Prayer

Ethiopian legend identifies a boy named Kaldi with the discovery of the coffee berry. Kaldi was a shepherd, and one day while watching goats, he saw how they eat berries from a tree. After eating the berries, the goats became energetic and refused to sleep at night. Kaldi took some berries to the monks at the local monastery.

The monks quickly tasted the berries themselves, and found that after them it became much easier for them to stay awake during their evening prayers. The monks shared their knowledge with each other, and soon everyone began to eat berries to stay awake in the church. From there, coffee spread to the Arabian Peninsula, and just like that, one shepherd changed everything so that it would be easier for us to stay awake.

2. Poison and Immortal life with Mango

A legend that is known throughout the tropics tells how a magpie flew to heaven and brought with it a mango seed to its king. After the tree bore fruit, the king ordered the old man to eat the first piece of fruit. It was the only fruit that was poisoned by the snake's venom that dripped on the tree while the eagle was carrying it over the tree, and the old man died.

Terrified, the king killed the magpie. Much later, the old woman vowed to commit suicide after a lifetime of abusing eating mangoes that weren't poisoned and giving her youth. The king was never able to bring himself to eat the mango, but he was filled with guilt over the killing of the bird that had given him such a gift.

1. Pineapples, Sloth and Vanity

The story of where the pineapple came from is folk tale about a beautiful but lazy little girl named Pina. According to legend, the little girl was so selfish that every time someone asked to borrow any of her things, she said she couldn't find it. If someone asked her to do any housework, she said that she could not find the necessary kitchen utensils or detergents. When her parents and her sisters were sick, she yelled and cursed at them until they made her breakfast and went to work in the fields, accusing them of being lazy and useless.

When her sick mother asked Pina to cook some rice for her, she told her mother that, as usual, she couldn't find anything. Her mother lamented that if Pina had a hundred eyes, she could find everything she needed. Outraged, the girl dragged a sack of rice, the product of her father's hard work in the fields, opened it and found she could not move. Pina disappeared and no one could find her. Her mother, months after her recovery, found a strange fruit in the garden. Peeling it from the skin, she saw that he looked like a hundred eyes and realized that her desire had come true.

How many glasses of milk have been drunk under the pretext that it contains calcium, which means that it strengthens bones! You will grow up strong and healthy and finally be able to beat everyone who made you drink milk! You were deceived!

The Swedish University of Uppsala recently published the results of a study that involved 43,000 women and 61,000 men. After observing their eating habits and diet for 11 years, the scientists concluded that among those who regularly consumed milk, mortality is higher in both sexes, and for women this is also fraught with an increase in the frequency of fractures. True, this applies only to those who drink more than three glasses of milk a day.

Carl Michelsson, leader of the research team, said that this may be due to the fact that milk contains lactose and galactose, which accelerate the aging process of the body. What is typical if there is yogurt and others dairy products, the risk of fractures does not increase. Scientists explain this by the fact that fermentation reduces the lactose content.

Scientists from Harvard University went even further and that regular consumption of milk can lead to prostate and testicular cancer. Lactose is suspected to be carcinogenic. According to another theory, cancer is caused by hormones contained in milk, namely estrogen (it is found in cow's milk in large numbers, as cows are almost constantly pregnant).

Energy drinks give you energy

Despite their name, energy drinks don't give you any energy. The main components of most of them are sugar, caffeine and the amino acid taurine. Some also contain guaranine (Brazilian coconut), which is essentially a form of caffeine. Some drinks contain ginseng extract or vitamins, but usually not in such quantities as to have a more or less noticeable effect on the body.

Sugar gives a short-term burst of energy, which is usually followed by a decline. In addition, increased consumption of sugar leads to obesity. In a study published by Susan Roberts, Professor of Nutrition and Director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the Ministry of Health Research Center Agriculture USA, in the journal "Scientific Pediatrics", it is said that people who consume 2-3 energy drinks per day exceed their daily intake of sugar by 4-6 times.

Caffeine increases the effect of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and also blocks adenosine receptors in the brain, preventing the feeling of sleepiness. This is a sure way to insomnia, which means heart problems.

Thus, the consequence of the use of energy drinks is not energy, like Superman running away from Batman, but obesity and insomnia.

Wooden cutting boards are dangerous

A common misconception is that a wooden cutting board is home to hordes of dangerous germs (E. coli and salmonella) just waiting to move onto what you cut and then straight into your stomach! The USDA has even recommended that wooden cutting boards be phased out.

Biologist Dean O. Cleaver conducted a study and proved that the porous surface of wood is indeed an excellent absorbent material. But the bacteria from it do not pass to the products, but penetrate deeper and deeper into the tree, where they subsequently die.

Cleaver conducted an experiment: he scratched the surfaces of wooden and plastic boards with a sharp knife, and then compared the number of bacteria. It turned out that there are more of them on plastic boards. But don't rush to throw them away. In defense of plastic boards, we can say that, unlike wood, they are cleaned in the dishwasher.

Swallowed gum is not digested

You probably remember that in no case should you swallow gum, because it is not digested, but lies there and lies. Scientific Americans published a long-awaited refutation of this fact. Chewing gum it will indeed take longer to digest than regular food, about a week. Which, of course, is a lot, but not fatal.

And the fact that it is poorly digested does not mean at all that it causes irreparable harm to the stomach. People often ingest more inedible items as well. The only thing that swallowing gum is fraught with is constipation.

You must drink 8 glasses of water a day

The idea that you need to drink 2 liters of water per day is another widespread legend. In 1945, the National Research Council in the United States prescribed that a person needs 2.5 liters of fluid per day. True, with the note that he already receives most of the liquid from food. So, how much water to drink per day, you have to decide for yourself. Focus on your weight, the climate you live in, and physical activity.

Excessive drinking of water can cause dizziness, muscle cramps and other unpleasant syndromes. So drink just enough to not feel thirsty.

By the way, one of latest research showed that drinking carbonated water is harmful to tooth enamel. But not any, but only flavored, for example with citrus flavor. The carbonic acid found in mineral water, combined with flavorings and citric acid, changes the pH level in the mouth, contributing to the destruction of enamel.

Chocolate is harmful

The news that will change the life of your girlfriend (and therefore yours). Chocolate is not harmful, scientists say. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that cocoa products lowered blood pressure.

The study involved 21,000 Britons, and those who ate two chocolate bars a day were 11% less likely to have a heart attack or stroke than those who ate no chocolate at all. Chocolate lovers are also 25% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease. Interestingly, most of the people who took part in the experiment preferred milk chocolate to the healthier bittersweet.

Dark chocolate, by the way, helps to lose weight. At the Institute of Copenhagen, scientists came to the conclusion that it is enough to eat a small piece of such chocolate to dull the feeling of hunger. Scientists from the University of L'Aquila in Italy noticed that people who ate a piece of dark chocolate for 15 days reduced their sugar intake by almost 50%.

All carbs are bad

You've probably heard that in order to lose weight, you need to cut down on carbs. And this means - goodbye, bread and rolls, cookies and pasta!

If a person looks good, then, most likely, he eats more or less correctly. And when the complexion is grayish, the skin with pimples, and even excess weight noticeable, it is necessary to pay the most careful attention to the way of life. And most importantly - what products form the basis of the diet. Among them, you can always choose those that are pleasant for you and at the same time do not harm your health.

Since we started the conversation with appearance, the following question naturally arises:

Can Diet Get Rid of Acne?

The answer is: no diet is a cure for acne, but it can create conditions in the body when the cause of their occurrence will gradually come to naught. This happens due to the mitigation of hormonal imbalance, which is expressed in the form of acne and rashes. Changes in nutrition are expressed in the complete exclusion from the number of favorite products of sweet soda and alcoholic beverages, this is the very first thing to do. In addition, you need to increase the number of vegetables in your menu in any form, fresh is best, and also enrich your diet with products that have a low glycemic index. Examples include brown rice, oatmeal, and whole grain bread. And if you combine this bread with strawberries, then, in addition to excellent taste sensations, you will get a double benefit.

Iron, which is found in high concentration in bread, helps to overcome fatigue. In order for it to be quickly absorbed by the body, vitamin C is needed - and strawberries just supply it.

So, if you saturate your diet with vegetables and low-glycemic foods, then the production of insulin in the body will enter the right track, as a result of which the concentration of glucose in the blood will return to normal and the level of other hormones will also normalize.

Are gluten products harmful?

If your body does not react negatively to gluten, then it is not a contraindication for you. That is, going on a gluten-free diet is not only unnecessary, but also impractical.

Another thing is if your reaction to gluten is expressed as allergic, and you do not tolerate it. Then - yes, eat only fresh fruits and vegetables, take meat and dairy products from the market, since factory-processed products, as well as semi-finished products, acquire it in a hidden form. You will have to boil or heat the milk, it is even tastier, and cook meat dishes only from fresh meat that has not experienced frost.

Gluten is actually the protein that makes up gluten and is found in grains. Therefore, bread and cereals made from wheat, barley, rye and oats will have to be replaced with buckwheat and oatmeal, wheat and rye flour - with starch, rice, buckwheat and soy, and so on.

But, if you are okay with gluten perception, then just do not abuse soft, freshly baked white flour bread, do not buy cheap dairy products with an infinite shelf life. Remember that gluten is used in Food Industry as a cheap preservative, and when purchasing products, do not choose the one with the lowest price.

If you consume too much gluten, then it settles on the walls of the intestine, becoming an additional source of problems from the gastrointestinal tract.

How coffee affects the skin and overall health of the body

The main thing here is not to abuse it. Drinking coffee is useful to whom, and to whom it is harmful, the question is purely individual. Doctors say that a couple of cups a day should not hurt, but most likely useful. This is if you drink no more than 300 mg of coffee per day. If you drink it immeasurably, then, in addition to tachycardia and worsening sleep, you can even get irritable bowel syndrome. This, of course, will not bring pleasure, as well as the migraines that have appeared and the deterioration of reflexes.

Of course, it depends what kind of coffee you drink - natural in beans, grinding it before brewing, or using cheap instant coffee. Natural coffee contains a lot of polyphenols, and this is why it is useful. Especially good if you switch to green coffee. It has now become fashionable, and for good reason: it is made from unroasted grains, and it has a high percentage of chlorogenic acid, which actively breaks down fats. But you need to get used to it, because it cannot boast of the aroma to which we are accustomed, it contains less caffeine, therefore the invigorating effect is small. Besides, the taste green coffee there is a herbal note that is uncharacteristic of ordinary black coffee.

How useful green tea?

In green tea, as in coffee, there are polyphenols, in fact, it consists of 30-40% of them. These are antioxidants, which are known to significantly activate metabolism, in other words, they serve as good helpers in losing weight. At the same time, green tea has an advantage over black tea, in which the percentage of polyphenols is only 3-10%.

Green tea is believed to have other benefits as well. For example, it reduces the likelihood of cancer, strengthens the immune system, and protects against common diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Recently, scientists have stated that it also has a positive effect on memory retention.

Especially good to drink green tea with fresh lemon, you can just squeeze the juice from a lemon into a cup of tea.

The fact is that vitamin C, which is abundant in lemon, enhances the effect of tea kahetin, a substance that can accelerate the breakdown of fats.

Can you get fat from alcohol?

It turns out you can. It itself has a lot of calories, and along the way, it affects the walls of the stomach, causing increased secretion of gastric juice. This is the reason that when drinking, the appetite wakes up, and much more food is eaten. On the other hand, alcohol interferes with the normal functioning of the liver to break down carbohydrates and convert them into glucose. This, again, causes an increase in appetite due to the fact that blood sugar levels are lowered.

In the queue for food processing, alcohol pushes the rest of the products and becomes the first, violating the correct order of the digestive tract. Therefore, if you regularly drink vodka or fortified wine before meals, you will get fat. Cocktails are especially harmful in this regard, they are the main enemies of a good figure and complexion.

For example, 200 ml of strawberry daiquiri contains 260 kcal, and 200 ml of mojito contains 200 kcal. A glass of white wine in 150 ml contains 130 kcal, and a glass of vodka in 50 g contains 55 kcal.

It is better to drink red wine, although it contains a certain amount of kcal (125 in 150 ml), it has a lot of antioxidants. In addition, the effect of lowering the level of homocysteine ​​in the blood, the presence of which causes various heart diseases, is known. So drinking red wine is good, doctors recommend. But no more than 1 glass per day.

Is it true that spicy foods help you lose weight?

Yes, many spices contain substances that promote weight loss. For example, if you use cayenne pepper in cooking, then your appetite will decrease and fats will be burned more actively. This is due to the capsaicin contained in cayenne pepper.

Black pepper also seems to work, it contains piperine, an alkaloid that speeds up metabolism and improves the digestive process. Hence the weight loss.

Spicy mustard also helps to lose weight, its ability to speed up metabolism is significant: just 1 teaspoon of spicy mustard can speed up the process by 25%.

It is especially useful to combine mustard or wasabi with broccoli. In broccoli there is a substance that protects against cancer - sulforaphane. And in order to release it and make it available to the body, the enzyme myrosinase, which is found in mustard or wasabi, is required.

Of the other spices that accelerate the breakdown of fats and normalize metabolism, it should be noted turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, ginger and cardamom.

It remains to say the last thing: everything that we talked about products, you will feel on yourself if you cook food from them at home, yourself. If, for example, in search of healthy spicy food, you go to a restaurant, Mexican or Indian, which are known for their wide use of hot spices, then you risk getting the opposite effect in terms of weight loss.

Firstly, the food may be too fatty, and instead of burning fat, you will get their accumulation. And besides, there may be substances in the dishes that you do not want to eat at all, for example, GMO products, preservatives, and others E.

So cook at home, so you can better control the composition and quantity of products.

Enjoying this or that culinary masterpiece, we sometimes do not even think that each dish has its own story. Some dishes are named after their creators, some are named after high-ranking and famous eaters, some names are fraught with additional hints and subtexts, and others are completely curious. Here are the most interesting culinary legends and curious names of dishes that have become part of our diet.

Buns with raisins. A textbook story that characterizes the chef's resourcefulness. Everyone who has read the amazing book by V. Gilyarovsky "Moscow and Muscovites" knows it very well, but it is not a sin to retell it briefly. The most famous baker in Moscow at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries was Ivan Filippov, who kept his own bakery at Tverskaya, 10. Filippov's products were also supplied to the Moscow Governor-General Zakrevsky, a very swaggering and capricious subject. Once Zakrevsky dug out a cockroach from a Filippov bun and immediately called the baker to him. However, Filippov, without blinking an eye, began to assure the mayor that it was not a cockroach, but a raisin - and he himself ate an insect that accidentally got into the bread. And then he ran to the kitchen, poured raisins into the dough and set to work. When Zakrevsky went for a walk, freshly baked buns with raisins were already being sold on every corner - so Filippov escaped punishment.

Fire cutlets. That prince Pozharsky, who, together with the zemstvo headman Minin, liberated Russia from the Polish interventionists, no chicken cutlets with a crispy bread crust, never fried and never even tried it. They were prepared by Daria Nikolaevna Pozharskaya, the owner of a tavern in the city of Torzhok. Pushkin also had a chance to dine with Pozharskaya, who told the world about these delicious and light cutlets. Indeed, Pushkin is our everything.

Beef stroganoff. In the century before last in Odessa, rich nobles often arranged "open tables" - the prototypes of modern charitable dinners for the poor, but cultured, educated and decently dressed citizens. One of the most famous and generous Odessa philanthropists was Count Alexander Grigoryevich Stroganov, a military general and member of the State Council. At such dinners, meat was often served, cut into pieces and stewed in sour cream with onions and mushrooms - the dish was hearty, easy to prepare, easily and quickly laid out on plates. Visitors to the "open table" liked the tender stew very much - they did not get tired of praising the count's cook, a Russified Frenchman named Andre Dupont. But still, the dish, beloved by the inhabitants of Odessa, began to be called not in honor of a talented culinary specialist, but in honor of his owner. There is another version - Count Stroganov, who lived to the age of 95, lost all his teeth at the end of his life and could only chew soft food, which the cook Dupont prepared for him, showing miracles of ingenuity.

Guryevskaya porridge. Count Dmitry Alexandrovich Guryev, Minister of Finance under Alexander I, came from an impoverished provincial family and was accustomed from childhood to native Russian products. Having become a dignitary close to the emperor, he was forced to be content with the high French cuisine assigned to him by status, although in his heart he dreamed of cabbage soup and cereals. Once he was invited to dinner by an old friend, Major Yurisovsky, whose cook, a simple peasant Zakhar Kuzmin, served an unusually tasty and beautifully decorated semolina with jam and nuts. The count liked the porridge so much that he became emotional and kissed the dumbfounded cook. And then he bought it from the major. As in the case of beef stroganoff, the magical domestic dessert was named not in honor of the cook-inventor, but in honor of the master, who, however, did not offend his serf cook, but cherished and cherished.

Hot Dog. Another example of fast food. In fact, sausage with a bun and mustard first appeared in the late Middle Ages in Vienna, Austria, but the cook was from German Frankfurt am Main. Hence the worldwide accepted official name dishes - frankfurter. The Austrians categorically disagree with this name and call the dish "Viennese sausage", and nothing else. Later, a certain sausage maker jokingly nicknamed the long sausage Dachshund, which means "dachshund". In the 19th century, German emigrants brought a popular dish of their native cuisine to America. In order not to scare away English-speaking consumers with the dreaded German word Dachshund, sausage vendors began to call them simply “dogs” (dog). And the adjective hot ("hot") indicated that the sausage had just been cooked.

The inhabitants of the New World are so fond of delicious sausages from Europe that every year on July 18 they celebrate Hot Dog Day, during which competitions are held to eat "hot dogs". The spectacle, to put it mildly, is unaesthetic, but nutritionists generally convulse with anger and impotence. But the Americans do not care at all - hot dogs in huge quantities are consumed there by the unemployed, and managers, and millionaires, and presidents. And one more thing: a hot dog is the only dish of world cuisine, which, not only due to circumstances, but even according to etiquette, is supposed to be eaten while standing. The exception is sporting events, where a hot dog is an essential attribute, like popcorn in movie theaters.

Ketchup. Hot dogs are good not only with mustard, but also with ketchup. The current lovers of spicy tomato sauce and have no idea what the 16th-century ketchup was. It was a sauce of Asian origin, consisting of anchovies, walnuts, mushrooms and beans. And no tomatoes, they have not yet been brought from the other hemisphere of the Earth. Once the sauce was delivered by sea from Asia to England for too long, everything rotted and rotten on the way, and the resulting mass was called "cat's soup" by dissatisfied London buyers, and speaking in Russian - "burda". To this day, the word catsup (distorted English cat soup) is used on a par with the more euphonious ketchup.

Napoleon cake". The great commander and emperor has nothing to do with the dessert named after him. Rather, on the contrary. In 1912, the centenary of the victory over the French was widely celebrated in Russia. The then merchants did not yet know such concepts as "brand" and "merchandising", but with might and main they traded goods on the topic Patriotic War. Moscow confectioners specially for the significant date made a large puff pastry in the shape of a Napoleonic cocked hat. It could be eaten in pieces, or it was possible to break off layer by layer - each eater decided for himself how it would be more convenient for him to deal with the "insidious Bonaparte".

Suvorov meat. The illustrious Generalissimo Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, although he spent most of his life on military campaigns and did not disdain simple soldier's cooking, hastily cooked on a fire, never ate lightly fried beef tenderloin with blood - if only because he was a vegetarian. An attractive "male" name in the 50s of the twentieth century first appeared on the menu of one of the Moscow restaurants, which was located on Suvorovsky Boulevard.

Caesar salad". And even more so, a simple appetizer of eggs, lettuce, olive oil, parmesan cheese and croutons has nothing to do with the ancient Roman ruler Gaius Julius Caesar. The popular salad was first bungled by the Italian chef Cesare (Caesar) Cardini, the owner of the restaurant "Ceasar's Place", which was located in Mexico near the border with America. At that time, "dry law" was in effect in the United States, and many Americans went on alcohol tours to neighboring Mexico, so Cardini's establishment was not empty. One day he almost ran out of food. In order to keep and calm the respectable audience, already fairly "pumped up" and demanding food, the cunning restaurateur quickly chopped and chopped everything he had left, and served the guests the resulting mash as an allegedly new signature dish from the chef, cooked according to classic recipes Greek (?) cuisine.

As our unforgettable pop singer Bogdan Titomir used to say, "people hawala". Well, Signor Cardini still needs to be given his due - the salad he invented turned out to be tasty, unusual and even quite dietary. And later they began to add boiled-smoked chicken breasts or shrimp, and is now on the menu of most Mexican-American restaurants.

Fondue. The main and, it seems, the only dish of Swiss cuisine known outside the country appeared seven hundred years ago. Going to the distant alpine meadows, the shepherds took with them bread, cheese and wine. On a long march, the bread and cheese became stale, and the shepherds warmed up the wine in a pot, melted the cheese in it, and then dipped the bread into the resulting brew. Hence the name: fondue - in French "melted", "melted". For making fondue, it is better to use white wine or olive oil, spices (garlic, nutmeg), Gruyère and Emmental cheese. You can dip bread toast, meat, fish, olives and gherkins.

For example, in the concept of the Earth as a mother that gives life to everything, and as an explanation for agricultural innovation.

In the culture of countries and peoples, we see that the growth of plants, their maturation and death resemble the cycle of human life - the rebirth of the Universe. The opposition of life and death, fertility and barrenness, order and chaos are intertwined with the ideas of salvation and rebirth, in which a woman is a symbol and embodiment of beginning and fertility. For example, the Aztecs believed that the earth was a woman and called her the fertility goddess Tlazolteotl, Mother Earth. Also in other nationalities: the Celtic goddesses Aine and Anu (Dana, Dana), the Greek Demeter, the Hindu goddess Devi, the deity of the Australian aborigines Kunapipi, who was called Mother.

In Egyptian myths about the eternal forces of nature, the center is the male deity Osiris. His death at the hands of his brother Seth and resurrection with the help of his wife Isis and sister Nephthys are very reminiscent of the vegetation cycle of plants and cereals: after harvesting, they remain, but as if dead, but with the advent of spring after sowing, they regenerate. The snake goddess Renenet helps guard the harvest during harvest and storage.

AT ancient mythology everything that a person has is a generous gift from the gods, even the knowledge necessary to improve the technology of growing food. Examples appear in various cultures: the Sumerian god Enlil makes a hoe and gives it to a man so he can work the land; The Chinese teach how the Divine Farmer cultivated the land - the Chinese Emperor Shen-nung, who was the first to plow the land and sow the grain that fell from the sky or was brought by the phoenix bird. Hindus who sincerely worship the goddess Devi are rewarded with rice from the divine abode - Mount Annapurna; Indian bees make honey thanks to the divine intervention of the Ashvin twin brothers; The Greek goddess Athena creates an olive tree from the depths of the barren land of Attica. A short poem in honor of Ninkasi, the goddess responsible for spirits and beer in Mesopotamia, relates that it was Ninkasi who made the dough rise after adding leaven, and that it was she who inspired bakers to add sesame seeds and herbs to bread.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the goddess Ishtar asks her father, the god Anu, whether to use the heavenly bull to punish Gilgamesh. When Anu replies that the bull will not leave a single grain of wheat on the ground for people, the goddess assures him that the grain reserves stored in the bins of Uruk are enough for both people and cattle to survive for seven consecutive years during a crop failure.

Favorite Food of the Gods

The union of people and gods endows food with sacred qualities. Mystically, man is inseparable from plants and animals. When people consume consecrated food, they are convinced that in some way they are consuming part of the divine nature. Food sacrifice is a common practice in mythology. So, in order to prevent the wrath of the gods, the priests were required to get food for the shrines.

Each deity had a preference for a particular food. For example, lettuce was the favorite vegetable of the Egyptian god Seth. In Hindu mythology, the god Dharma Thakur only took food. white color(rice, milk, poultry), while the demonic and semi-divine Dakini was made stronger by raw meat. As a child, Krishna, coming to peasant houses, took away the oil from them, because he loved him very much. Hindus sacrifice to their mystical ancestors living in other world, boiled rice mixed with sesame seed, ghee and honey.

Before making any decision or performing any action, the Greeks enlisted the support of the gods by performing sacrifices. If a person could not afford to buy a sacrificial animal, he baked a cake in the form of an ox, a cow or a sheep. Such offerings could be accepted by the gods if cities were under siege or if meat was in short supply.

- a product most often mentioned in the mythology of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Scandinavia. The mythology of Mesopotamia in particular is replete with episodes with this alcoholic drink. The goddess Inanna made the god Enki drunk with beer in order to steal heavenly secrets from him. In turn, in Greek mythology, wine plays the most important role. On a holiday celebrated in December, when young wine was placed in storage, the Greeks killed a goat and watered the vine roots with its blood. Alcoholic drinks, it was believed, could even make being in the afterlife more enjoyable. For example, in the Welsh underworld there is a spring from which wine flows.

After an exhausting journey in search of the herb of life, Gilgamesh falls into a deep sleep that lasts seven days. The owner of this place, Utnapishtim, tells his wife: “Start baking bread, and every day put one loaf next to his head. Make a sign on the wall so you know how many times you've baked." Ritual food in praise of the aboriginal deity Jangavula consisted solely of fresh bread made from sago. Using it, the participants of the holiday tied themselves with the sacred bonds of friendship.

In Greek mythology, ambrosia is the food that gives the Olympian gods eternal youth and beauty. Unlike nectar, which is a drink, ambrosia appears to be a dish. It was believed that even a common person become immortal by using it. The Indian variants of ambrosia amrita, a nectar found at the bottom of the ocean, and soma, a heavenly elixir that grants immortality on earth. Australian aborigines talked about elixirs of immortality, however, this elixir has no name.

Tea and coffee in mythology

In Chinese and Japanese cultures, it is a frequent subject of legends. This plant was created from the eyelids of a Buddhist monk, or sage, who, wanting to punish himself for sleeping while meditating, would cut them off and discard them with contempt. From each century, one tea bush was obtained. According to the Japanese version of this legend, the eyelids belong to Bodhidharma, who cuts them off as a preventive measure, as he does not want to be able to close his eyes ever.

The discovery of coffee is sometimes attributed to goats. Coptic monks, who are forced to follow a strict religious order and pray all night, noticed that goats that ate the leaves and fruits of wild coffee bushes became very agitated and could not sleep at night. So the monks followed the example of the goats, and although they did not really like the taste of the leaves and beans, they were pleased with the unusual effect of their use. Another, more poetic, legend has Arabic roots: The first cup of this drink was served to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. The drink had an amazing effect. Muhammad immediately mounted his stallion, defeated forty knights in a tournament, and also allowed forty Arab ladies to taste the sweetness of love.

As you can see, many foodstuffs have a rich, interesting and very ancient history which is worth getting to know in order to better understand the culture and traditions different countries and peoples.