Ketchup (was: linguistic "flavours" (was Re: Missing W ords)

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Mills
Subject: Re: Ketchup (was: linguistic "flavours" (was Re: Missing Words)

|   >Then, one fateful day, an American added tomatoes.
| I'm not at all sure we can blame the US for adding tomatoes,
| although it seems that, of non-Mediterranean peoples, we
| americanos were among the few who early on considered  the
| tomato to be edible.

   Yes. In much of Europe, "everyone knew" that tomatoes were poisonous and
hot peppers (chilis) were bad for you. They were very popular as ornamental
plants, peppers more so since birds and catepillars will destroy tomato
plants and tomatoes. (Yes, birds and bugs eat peppers. I've grown both.
Cherry tomatoes are difficult to keep safe.)
   It is believed that tomatoes gained the repuatation of toxicity because
they are acidic. In many European countries, plates and silverware were
often made of pewter, which contains lead. Pewter pots were also good for
cooking, since they stay hot for a long time. Food cooked in pewter also has
a slight sweet taste from the traces of lead.
   Well, lead is reactive with the acids in tomatoes, and the juice will
leach lead out of pewter. So, the sauces cooked in pewter pots would make
the pots look nasty, and would make people sick over time.
   Chilis were thought to be bad because the good ones will make your head
spin and you will see pretty colors and have tunnel vision. They will also
make you hurt badly for a long time, and then again the next day (or
sooner). That inference is rather obvious.

|  > Since then, American's put it on EVERYTHING.
| Perhaps Mr. K. is too young to remember the famous
| Nixonian lunch of cottage cheese with Ketchup.
|  Aargh. No wonder...........
| Come to think of it, however, my family loves/d
| cottage cheese with _freshly made_ strawberry jam.
| The color, if not the taste, is similar.

   Ket..... on... EEEWWWWWWWW!!!! Yack!!!!
   Ok, I've eaten uni (sea urchin intestines, yes, it's nasty) and ground
meal worm meatballs, and even *I* think that's nasty!
   I've heard of jam on cottage cheese, and fruit is common.

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