FOOD AND DRINK
Umble pie - Umble pie was a popular medieval dish made from the "umbles" of
deer, that is, the heart, liver, tongue, feet, brains, and ears. The umbles
were mixed with stewing beef, bacon, oysters, and rabbit or hare. On top of
the meats was a layer of dried fruit. The whole mixture was put into a pastry
case and baked. This pie, however, was not for the lords and ladies, who ate
only the best part of the deer, the flesh. The leftovers went to make the
"umble" pie and were only considered suitable for the huntsmen and the
servants. That is why the phrase "to eat humble pie" means that someone who
has come down in life is forced to give way to those in higher positions, and
be made humble, or humiliated.

Christmas Pudding - Has its origins in a dish enjoyed in the Middle Ages by
both rich and poor; a spicy porridge called frumenty. Boil wheat in water
until it turns into a soft porridge or gruel, add milk, currants and other
dried fruit, then add egg yolks and spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon.
Finally, cook the frumenty mixture into a kind of stiff pudding. In some
Scandinavian countries porridge is still part of a traditional Christmas
meal.

Plum Pudding - In the nineteenth century, instead of fresh plums it contained
prunes which are dried plums. Gradually the prunes gave way to other dried
fruit, especially currants, sultanas and raisins. According to a very old
tradition, everyone in the family has to stir the Christmas pudding mixture.
This brings good health and luck to each member of the family in the coming
year. The day reserved for the stirring was "Stir-Up Sunday", the fifth
Sunday before Christmas, the reason being that in the prayer book for this
Sunday of the year, it says, "Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the will of
they faithful people."

Little Jack Horner - Jack Horner was chief steward to the abbot of
Glastonbury in the early sixteenth century. The abbot, worried that Henry
VIII was going to pull down the abbey, tried to bribe the king with the gift
of some lands. The abbot ordered a great pie to be baked and in it he put the
deeds to twelve of the manors of Glastonbury. Jack Horner was sent off to the
king with the pie, but when the king received his gift there were only eleven
deeds inside. Jack Horner had indeed pulled out a nice "plum."

The Charmed Pudding - Tradition says that silver charms and new coins are put
into the Christmas pudding mixture, and whoever finds the charm in their
piece of pudding will have good luck in the year to come. This tradition
dates back to ancient Rome and the Saturnalia feast when it was the custom to
place a dried bean inside a cake. The tradition continued with the Twelfth
Night cake, when whoever found the bean was declared "King of the Bean" and
was put in charge of the whole party.

Christmas Pie - A favorite Twelfth Night joke was a surprise pie. A very
large amount of pastry was prepared and baked as an empty pie case. Holes
were cut in the bottom and live birds and frogs were put inside the pie.
Then, as the old nursery rhyme says, "When the pie was opened, the birds
began to sing."

Wassail - A strong drink consisting of ale, nutmeg, honey and ginger. The
host would pick up the wassail bowl and greet his companions with "waes
hael", the Old English words for "be well." The guest replied with "drinc
hael," meaning "drink and be well." Then the bowl would be passed around the
table. On top of the punch, pieces of toasted bread were floated. The first
person to be offered the wassail bowl would take out the first piece of toast
and wish everyone good health. From this we get our expression, "to raise or
make a toast." It was traditional on Twelfth Night for farmers to "wassail"
their orchards, pouring a little of the punch or cider onto the roots of
their trees, hoping for a good harvest in the coming year.

Turkey - The first European settlers in North America found plenty of wild
turkeys. The turkey was introduced to Europe in about 1520, causing a
sensation. Because they were easy to raise and quickly put on weight, the
birds became very popular. Turkeys were initially raised only for their
feathers. In the nineteenth century, both in America and Britain, only the
white breast meat was considered good enough for guests. The dark meat of the
legs would only have been eaten by the family on the days after Christmas. Or
it would have been given to the servants.

Mince Pies - These became popular in the Victorian age, but their history is
a long one. In the twelfth century, knights returning from the Crusades in
the Holy Land introduced to Europe many Middle Eastern ways of cooking, which
mixed sweet tastes with savoury, and recipes of meat cooked with fruit and
sweet spices were popular. In Elizabethan times, mince pies were still a
mixture of meat and fruit and were called "shrid" pies because they contained
shredded meat and suet. The meat and suet were mixed with dried fruit such as
raisins and currants, and it was traditional to add three spices - cinnamon,
cloves and nutmeg - which stood for the three gifts given to Jesus by the
Wise Men. The mixture was baked in an oblong pastry case to represent Jesus'
crib. A little pastry baby often decorated the lid. It was thought lucky to
eat a mince pie on each of the twelve days of Christmas. Each pie would be
eaten in a different house in order to bring good luck to the household and
the eater for the next twelve months.

Did you know Benjamin Franklin preferred the turkey over the Bald Eagle for our national symbol? In the movie The Wind and The Lion, Teddy Roosevelt, played by the late Brian Keith, says the grizzly bear should be our symbol, calling the eagle a "dandified vulture". I think I'd choose the bear over the turkey! gobblegobblegobble! tjoeb};>