Hello, friends. A couple of days ago, I saw a car driving very slowly around the car park of Portsmouth Olympic Harbour in Kingston. This isn't unusual. The harbour is always busy with runners, walkers, picnickers, coffee-drinkers, dog-walkers, cyclists, and all manner of casual idlers. The thing that caught my eye was the small dog trotting along beside the car. Yes, the dog's owner was "walking" … [Read more...]
A coffee and “two thin”
Hello, friends. At the grocery store recently, I was overwhelmed by the idea of how much energy goes into producing and packaging the food I eat. I bought a bunch of cilantro that was grown in California, with all the ground preparation, seeding, watering, weeding, and pest-deterring that farming entails. It was picked (hopefully by legal labour, not migrant children), washed, roots lopped off … [Read more...]
“How the Mid-Victorians Worked, Ate, and Died”
Hello, friends. Today, I want to point you towards a super-interesting public-health article that analyzes (in broad strokes, obviously) the rural working-class Victorian diet. I don't know about you but when I think of Victorian cuisine, my first thoughts are of Mrs. Beeton, or else of Victorian celebrity chefs likes Alexis Soyer and Charles Elmé Francatelli. The food is elaborate, involved, … [Read more...]