A Harte Appetite

You don't have to be from Africa to appreciate couscous. The late Craig Claiborne, for example, called it one of the dozen greatest dishes in the world.

Most observers say Boston's Parker House Hotel -- where they still bake nearly 200 of them each week invented the version of Boston Cream Pie we know today.

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.

What do award-winning cookbook author Rick Bayless, Food Network Iron Chef Bobby Flay, nationally acclaimed pastry chef Gale Gand, and Chloe, my granddaughter, have in common? They all began their culinary education by slaving over a hot light bulb.

The Romans believed cinnamon was sacred and every Roman emperor stocked cinnamon in his treasury. The Romans weren’t the only ones who valued cinnamon. The ancient Egyptians used it for witchcraft and embalming.

Ever been in a sticky situation? We all have. But probably none as sticky as the Great Molasses Flood, sometimes called the Molasses Massacre, which hit Boston in 1919.

A cobbler, after all, in the words of Nicole Weston on her Baking Bites blog, is just a pie for lazy people. As she explains, it gives you the all the character of a pie but without the hassle.

In Scotland, their oatmeal, or porridge, is a hallowed dish, celebrated every year at the World Porridge Making Championship in the village of Carrbridge.

“Beer is proof God loves us,” Ben Franklin supposedly said. If so, God must have a special fondness for the people of the Czech Republic. Beer is the most heavily consumed alcoholic beverage in the world, and the Czechs are doing their part to keep it that way. They rank #1 in world beer consumption.

History is full of famous duos -- Romulus and Remus, Gilbert and Sullivan, Batman and Robin. But of all the prominent pairs over the ages perhaps my favorite is Ben and Jerry.