Search -
Lang's Compendium of Culinary Nonsense & Trivia
Lang's Compendium of Culinary Nonsense Trivia Author:George Lang DID YOU KNOW THAT... — In China it is considered ill-mannered not to slurp your soup when it's delicious? — Caesar's Salad was originally called Aviator's Salad? — Roman chefs whose dishes proved unsatisfactory were publicly spanked? — Ladies in the court of Louis XI subsisted solely on broths because they thought chewing would create ug... more »ly facial muscles?
In Egypt priests sworn to celibacy were forbidden to even look at lentil beans?
These are just a few of the facts, fancies, truths, trivia, and nonsense collected in this delightful little book by inter-nationally known raconteur and restaurateur George Lang. Lang, who creates restaurants from Manhattan to Manila as president of his own consulting firm, has been collecting amusing stories about food for the last thirty years, and included here are some of the very best.
There are stories, for example, about great chefs and gourmets like Escoffier, Diamond Jim Brady, and eccentric Alexis Soyer of the Reform Club in London; how famous dishes like Chicken a la King and Baba au Rhum got their names; crazy aphrodisiac foods, from ginger souffles to couscous; foods used in folk medicine (like Hungarian Queen's Water, with its miraculous curative powers, and a legendary Chinese soup called Buddha Jumped over the Fence); where such expressions as "drunk as a lord" and "eating humble pie" originated; strange delicacies savored in ancient times (stuffed dormouse anyone?); and wacky experiments with food, like the United States government's attempt to develop a featherless chicken, and the thirty-nine-mile manicotti designed by an artist to circle the island of Manhattan.
From the absurd to the ridiculous, it's all here, enhanced by Milton Glaser's whimsical illustrations and witty commentary.