Food & drink takeaways – 11 September
A curated taster menu of every day’s food & drink associations
A classic writer’s characteristically euphemistic appraisal of the fig, the African diet as discovered by an 18th century explorer and a noted musician’s vegan recipes.
Just some of the food and drink delights for which we have to thank 11 September.
Click on the links for extra helpings.
Food in writing
In his poem, Figs, forthright English novelist and poet D.H. Lawrence – born on this day in 1885 – wrote:
The fig is a very secretive fruit.
As you see it standing growing, you feel at once it is symbolic :
And it seems male.
But when you come to know it better, you agree with the Romans, it is female.
The Italians vulgarly say, it stands for the female part ; the fig-fruit :
The fissure, the yoni,
The wonderful moist conductivity towards the centre.
Involved,
Inturned,
The flowering all inward and womb-fibrilled ;
And but one orifice.
The fig, the horse-shoe, the squash-blossom.
Symbols.
There was a flower that flowered inward, womb-ward ;
Now there is a fruit like a ripe womb.
It was always a secret.
That’s how it should be, the female should always be secret.
Leftovers
Scottish surgeon and explorer of the African continent, Mungo Park – born on this day in 1771 – was the first Westerner to encounter the central portion of the Niger River. And according to the fascinating dianajuba's blog, this is what he noted about the structure of daily meals in the areas through which he travelled:
“In general the people of free condition breakfast about daybreak upon gruel made of meal and water, with a little of the fruit of the tamarind to give it an acid taste.
About two o’clock in the afternoon a sort of hasty pudding, with a little shea butter, is the common meal;
but the supper constitutes the principal repast, and is seldom ready before midnight. This consists almost universally of kouskous, with a small portion of animal food or shea butter mixed with it.”
Celebrated vegan American electronica musician and producer Moby {above} – born on this day in 1965 – is also the author of The Little Pine Cookbook: Modern Plant-Based Comfort, of which the promotion says:
"Gateway recipes like Panko-Crusted Piccata will wow even the hardest-to-please meat lovers. And veg-forward small plates like Fried Cauliflower with Kimchi Aioli and go-to pastas like Orecchiette with Braised Leeks, Asparagus & English Peas will become back-pocket staples, no matter your diet."
