Gastronomic Trivia

Here’s a bit of food trivia I recently dredged up via the omniscient Internet which, I believe, should whet your omnivorous appetite and make dining a delight. Before 1066 C.E. the English (Anglo-Saxons) did not distinguish nor attempt to separate an animal from its flesh they ate. One simply dined on cow, or pig or sheep not beef or pork or mutton. That to the French (then Normans) and emerging gourmands, seemed a faux pas and unrefined, not how Frenchmen dined. And so, with a gastronomic joie de nourriture*, a barbaric barnyard menu – pig, cow, or sheep – changed to pork, mutton, and beef – the now adopted preference on all English menus and to every Frenchman a “bienvenu.” *Joy of food