Bear Meat: An Unusual Delicacy

Bear meat seems an unusual delicacy, considering the ferocity of the animal. That unbridled fury is one of the reasons why North American hunters would often pray to the animal spirit before taking a bear’s life. The bear was such an esteemed creature that it was common for people to carry out detailed rituals like this one before consuming bear meat. Was it out of necessity, for taste of the meat, or was something else at play?

Ancient hunters considered the bear as something of a hybrid human. Some tribes even revered the animal as godlike, straddling the line between animal and human. The ancient Greeks ate both bear and lion, although they claim that bear tasted worse than lion and required different preparations to make the meat palatable.

Bear claws are considered a delicacy in China. China’s other delicacies include birds nest and shark’s fin, all of which are considered foods that strengthen the body. The Chinese serve bear claws at expensive feasts, a tradition that stemmed from an observation. Bears once roamed China in great numbers, but restrictions on the serving of bear’s paw has forced the meat into relative obscurity, served only in historically significant situations.

There is evidence that bear was hunted throughout Anglo-Saxon England, but little evidence that bear meat was consumed by anyone other than the Norse and Icelandic peoples. The Polish had a similar practice, except they ate bear paws and bacon from bears. The fur was also highly valued, but the rest of the animal was left in the forest where it was killed.

Chicory Coffee Versus Regular Coffee

The chicory plant is a perennial with a few interesting traits. For one, the purple and blue flowers open and close at precisely the same time each day. Its leaves are used commonly in food, and the whole plant is used in North America and Europe, even though it is indigenous to North Africa and Western Asia. The Egyptians are said to have used chicory first, and the plant was grown by medieval monks throughout the 1700s.

The plant’s root is often roasted to create a substitute for coffee, a tradition that was popular in the early 1800s.

The cowboys of the old west used chicory when coffee wasn’t available, which was more common than you might think. It’s speculated that chicory came from the French influenced part of New Orleans. The region was also known for its affinity of coffee during the 1800s, and it’s likely that the blocking of the harbor in 1840 forced New Orleanians to seek out substitutes for their favorite drink. 

Chicory looks a lot like coffee when it has been roasted and ground. The scent is a bit different, more of a smoky-tobacco than a rich coffee, but you can use almost the same amount of chicory as coffee to brew a cup. The taste is also unmistakable, with a strong nuttiness to it that combines with a long after taste. Chicory was also helpful in extending one’s supply of coffee, helping to turn a daily habit affordable for families that had little discretionary income. Today, chicory still appears in Café Du Monde coffee, a New Orleans brand that traces its roots back to 1862.

Celebrity Comfort Foods

Have you ever wondered what your favorite celebrities indulge on in their off time? The answers might surprise you, especially if you’ve ever wondered how some of these people stay so fit. 

Scarlett Johansson

The star loves snacking on Buffalo wings, but no word on whether she prefers boneless or not.

Kate Bosworth

Maybe it is true that no one makes food like your grandmother. Certainly no one makes it like Kate Bosworth’s, because her favorite food is grandma’s spaghetti Bolognese.

Miranda Kerr

According to Kerr, her favorite food in the entire world is fried chicken. She loves it so much that she makes it herself.

Mariah Carey

Imagine having a favorite food you’re not allowed to eat.  Ever. That’s the life of Mariah Carey, whose favorite food probably ranks at the bottom of the healthy diet. But if she ever got the chance, she would inhale a slice of pizza.

Britney Spears

The pop singer has had some ups and downs in her career, but her favorite food has remained consistent. Chocolate anything is Spears’ favorite food, but she has specific cravings at specific times. Hungry in the states, Spears reaches for Snickers, but she is a huge fan of Twix and Hershey’s too.

Lea Michele

The Glee star recently converted to veganism, and found the desserts to be exquisite. A self-styled cheese lover, she admits the transition to vegan was difficult at first. She even ditched coffee in favor of her new obsession: Smart Water.

Early Adopters of the Shellfish Diet

If you’ve ever eaten an oyster, the prospect may have seemed odd to you at some point. After all, who collected these shellfish from the sea for the first time and thought “I’d eat that”? In all actuality, people have been eating mollusks, scallops and other shellfish since the dawn of time. 

Scallops

Food historians can confirm that the ancient Romans were enjoying scallops and that by the 17^th century people were slicing up scallops, breading them and serving them with a sauce. Aristotle observed that scallops retained their best flavors when they spawn in the spring. 

Oysters

The Chinese may have been the first group of people to cultivate oysters, but the world has enjoyed them since the days before recorded history. There was one point in the nineteenth century when one could walk to the coasts of France and pluck oysters from the sea to eat for dinner. 

Mussels

It was an Irishman with a penchant for crime that brought us the world’s first recorded instance of eating mussels. Patrick Walton found himself in a precarious situation and left Ireland in a hurry. He did so in a boat that was ill equipped for the task and ended up shipwrecked off the coast of France. There he tried to capture sea birds in a net he set up. He captured mussels instead and managed to live off the seafood.

There is evidence, however, that he was not the first. Ancient Europeans were raising mussels in 500 BC with bundles of branches they used to capture them.  

Is Pasta Really an Italian Dish?

Pasta is a dish that has become synonymous with Italian culture. Italian immigrants brought pasta with them, and practically everywhere they have gone since. The most famous pasta dishes in the world can usually trace their roots back to Italy, but the country isn’t the original spot for pasta. 

Marco Polo

The origins of pasta are somewhat debated. The most widely believed theory is that the explorer Marco Polo brought pasta home with him after reaching China. This expedition would have occurred during the Yuan Dynasty, and there is evidence that the Chinese had been consuming noodles far before that.

The trouble is that these noodles aren’t technically pasta. In addition, there is evidence pointing to pasta already being in Sicily at least two hundred years before Polo’s expedition. 

Truer Origins

It’s hard to pinpoint, but many food historians seem to agree that Libyans may have originally developed pasta. They also brought sugar cane and eggplant to the region as well. The Talmud makes reference to pasta as early as the fifth century.

In addition, the Italians learned how to hand dry the pasta they made from the Libyans. This theory is bolstered by the number of Arabic flavors found in early recipes for pasta.

Although there are some who speculate that pasta is actually Greek. True, the word pasta does translate to “dough” or “pastry cake.” There is even a story of the god Vulcan pushing dough through a machine that converts it into thin strands of edible dough.