HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL! SAnte!
In ancient Egypt bees were known to have flown into being from the tears of sungod, RA. Wax candles were used on cakes to celebrate birthdays, sending honeyed smoke back to the creator asking RA for favors (or that ‘wishes may come true.’) 1400 B.C.
Do you ever wonder which birthdays we should be celebrating for delices we enjoy without counting the years? Staples that spice up our meals; staples we toss into our market baskets without further thought? Well here are a few to whom we can all offer Big Birthday toast of Champagne. SANTE!
Bonne Anniversaire to:
Pepsi Cola, 121 years old
Dr. Pepper, 110 years old
French’s Mustard, 110 years old, born at the St. Louis World Fair, 1904
A-1 Steak Sauce, 119 years in the USA
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, 118
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 114
Hershey’s Kisses, 107
Nabisco’s Barnum Animal Crackers in that circus box, 112. They originally were created at Christmas time, and the strap at the top was to hang on the tree.
Peter Pan Peanut Butter was born in 1928 and put into cans. But metal shortages in World War II introduced the change into glass bottles.
Beaulieu Vineyards is also 100 years old: “When you know fine wine, you know B.V.” the old radio commercial ran.
Ice-cream in cones, 86 years old.
Now here are some really old-timers:
Bananas, lemons, limes and oranges, 6000 years old, born in the Indus Valley.
Cinnamon brought by Phoenician traders to the Peloponnesos, 1250 B.C.
Fois Gras brought to Greece by armies from China where fattened geese provided such a luxury, 450 B.C.
Sake produced in the Nada area of Japan by a special rice and Miyamizu or ‘holy’ water, 225 B.C.
Bread is produced and sold en masse in bakeries in Rome, 190 B.C.
Kiku-Masamune sake, 1659 A.D., Kobe, Japan.
(I am working on a next blog featuring Taketo Kano, owner, Kiku-Masamune traditional sake.)
When you see and re-taste such dear old friends, please raise a frothing Champagne glass and toast them with appreciation for the joys brought into our lives by their flavors and aromas and goodness gracious, that je nesais quoi that brightens our eyes and sparks taste buds, much as Champagne does.
Soon Imperial General Julius Caesar will stride onto these pages and tell us all about marvels that we enjoy today that were born even farther back in time and space. Soon. Just not quite yet, Caesar.
Madam Champagne,
The Night Julius Caesar Invented Champagne
20 January, 2014