FURTHERMORE
By Gerry Moran
Savour Kilkenny Food Festival, which is getting bigger and better with each passing year, is upon us and I heartily compliment all involved in its planning and presentations. Thank you. The festival really brings the Parade alive and creates a vibrant, colourful, almost carnival-like ambience in our medieval city. With the festival in mind this week’s column is about food, not least some food related phrases which we know well but not, perhaps, their origins.
The apple of his/her eye
In Biblical rimes the pupil of the eye was known as the ‘apple of the eye’ because it was believed to be a solid sphere, like an apple. The phrase occurs in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy in the reference to God’s care of Jacob – “He kept him as the apple of his eye”.
To give someone the cold shoulder
This referred to a bland cold shoulder of mutton which was served to a guest who had outstayed their welcome. On arrival the guest would have been treated to a hot roast of beef, the cold shoulder was a subtle sign to leave. The meaning has well extended beyond the realm of hospitality and now means that we want little do with an individual.
Barbecue
We can thank Christopher Columbus for the barbecue. On his first expedition to the Caribbean in 1492 he encountered many new practices of cooking. One of these was the method of cooking meat and fish on a framework of sticks and posts above a fire. The local word for this type of cooking was barbacoa which that expedition brought back to Europe. By the 17th century barbecue had entered the English language and the rest, as they say, is history.
Cafeteria & coffee
The first cafeteria opened on September 4, 1885 on New Street in New York. Called the Exchange Buffet, it was a self-service restaurant which led to the development of what were to become ‘fast-food’ restaurants of every description. The name is derived from cafeteria, Spanish for a ‘maker or seller’ of coffee. Coffee first arrived in Europe from southern Arabia, via Turkey, so understandably its name in various European languages reflects its point of origin. Coffee, ‘café’ in French and ‘caffé’ in Italian come from the Turkish kahveh which came from the Arabic for coffee, qahwah.
To earn your salt
In Ancient Rome soldiers were paid an allowance to buy salt which was known as ‘salarium’ (sal being the Latin for salt) This is the origin of salary and anyone who ‘earns their salt’ therefore earns their ‘salary’.
The big cheese
Although cheese, as in the ‘big cheese’, uses the same spelling as the food that’s as close as the two meanings come. A ‘big cheese’ as in an important person is derived from the Hindu word chiz, meaning the ‘correct thing’. The English derivative is probably a reference to the manner in which an important person should be treated.
To egg on
The egg referred to here is an old Norse word for the sharp side of a blade. This makes sense of ‘to egg on’, meaning to urge and encourage and is easier to understand. Anyone encouraged by the sharp edge of a blade or sword or dagger is more than likely to comply with what is requested.
Gone to pot
In earlier times it was common to keep a pot over the fire into which leftovers were put to be served up as a mish-mash. Pieces of meat and vegetables that could not be used in any other dish ended up in the pot and this practise gave rise to ‘gone to pot’ meaning ruined or no longer of use.
Ham-fisted
To be ham-fisted is to be clumsy. The expression refers to large hands which are shaped like hams and are less than ideal for dextrous manual tasks.
