What About Dessert?

Maple Glazed Bacon Apple DonutIn a recent blog post, Dan Jurafsky, a San Franciscan who writes The Language of Food, speaks eloquently and intelligently of sweetness, pork products, and cultural differences. It is worth a read taste. Here are a few bites:

…the nearby hipster donut shop, Dynamo, whose most popular item is the Maple Glazed Bacon Apple donut…

…reserving sweet dishes for the end of a meal is thus a recent development. In the Middle Ages, a main course in England or France might include a dish like rabbits or beef tongue in gravy covered in sugar…

…as French cuisine develops from the 14th and to the 18th century, main courses become more and more savory rather than sweet, and sweet dishes slowly shift toward the end of the meal…

…Chinese dates with “snow frog”, 雪蛤. Snow frog is the poetic name given to frog fallopian tubes…

—flavor elements for sour tend to be rice vinegars in China, tamarind in south-east Asia, lemon juice or grain vinegar in the United States, sour orange or key lime in Central America, and wine vinegars in France (hence the name vin-aigre, ‘sour wine’). The Yiddish souring element is crystals of citric acid called “sour salt”.

I encourage you to consume Jurafsky’s entire meal.

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