Tom Harte

"A handful of couscous is better than Mecca and all its dust." So says a famous Moroccan proverb about almsgiving.

The pomegranate, that beautiful fruit with the jewel-like red seeds, has recently exploded on the culinary scene. Which is appropo for a fruit which inspired the name a hand-tossed explosive, known as the grenade.

Grenadiers, 18th century soldiers who specialized in throwing grenades, thought that the device's shrapnel pellets reminded them of those seeds. Though the pomegranate may have only recently come into its own as a trendy ingredient, it has been around for a long time.

Though it was not part of the last Olympics, olive oil wrestling is the national sport of Turkey, where an annual tournament has been held since 1346, making it the oldest continuously running, sanctioned sporting competition in the world.

Following Greco-Roman traditions, contestants slather themselves in olive oil and try to come to grips with one another, a process which, before time limits were instituted, could go on for days.

When people, especially Texans, think of the battle of the Alamo they think of Davy Crockett and his coonskin cap, Jim Bowie and his famous knife and the iconic phrase, "Remember the Alamo." But, strange as it may sound, when I think of the Alamo I think of key lime pie. It's really not quite as odd as it may seem, because the man who coined that famous phrase also invented a crucial ingredient in the pie - sweetened condensed milk. 

Betty Crocker, Mrs. Butterworth, and Chef Boyardee: there are so many culinary icons that have been invented purely for marketing purposes that you could be excused for assuming that all three of these names are fictitious.

Betty Crocker clearly is, even though at one time she was named by Fortune magazine as the second most popular woman in America after Eleanor Roosevelt. Likewise, even though she has her own Facebook page, Mrs. Butterworth is not real and for that matter, neither is her syrup, as it contains neither real butter nor real maple syrup.