Ice Water

On the Rocks or On the Stove: Cultural Preferences for Water Temperature

In research on rats, the critters invariably prefer to drink warm water. In fact, rats will drink more water if the water is warm. Another study focused on rats drinking cool water concludes, “that experience, rather than any innate tendency, is the basis for the usual preference of rats for cooler water.” Perhaps all creatures naturally prefer warm water, but can learn to enjoy cold water as well. Americans must just be taught to like iced water! But humans aren’t rats. 

Read More »
Slaves cutting sugar cane on Antigua

New England, Rum, and the Slave Trade

In the correspondence regarding these cargoes, the owner literally measures a human’s worth in gallons of rum: “toutching first upon the Windward Coast, where I would have you dispose of your Cargo if PoSsible. & purchase your Slaves, even sopose you give One Hundred + fifty Gallons Per head [sic]” The letters even use the word “to slave” meaning to fill the ship’s hold with a cargo of humans.

Read More »
Eating Yeast

The Heyday of Yeast: World War I

During the war, the burgeoning international trade of the late 19th and early 20th century dissipated to the point that many nations had to look internally for their basic needs. Yeast, an all important ingredient in the bread and beer that western civilization relies on, was a focal point of this supply chain disruption. The story of yeast in World War I was everywhere a story of culinary ingenuity and homegrown innovation.

Read More »
Etymology of Agave

Speaking of Tequila: The Etymology of Agave

Yet for something so uniquely American, the native succulent has been given a very Greek name. Agave was the mother of the king of Thebes who famously killed her own son, King Pentheus. In her defense, she only killed her son because she was blinded by a divine madness brought upon by the worship of the god of wine, Dionysos. That means your tequila is made from a plant named after a woman who got a little too crazy off the god of wine. So how did this Greek name end up on a Mexican bottle? 

Read More »
Acatenango Volcano in Guatemala

Fire Water on a Volcano

We pass the bottle around the fire, swigging happily and reveling in the burning sensation that the liquor gives the throat. Soon, we are laughing at the wind and our bodies warm up to the idea of sleeping on the side of this volcano. We look from the fiery peak of Fuego to the clear bottle glimmering red in our campfire.

Read More »