Friday Food - Who Would Eat That?

I often wonder who was the first to try to eat something.

A friend of mine was recently asking about Escargot, and I was happy to tell her that - although they're a little chewy - they're usually buttery and garlicky and really tasty. But, really, who in the world was the first person to see a snail and think "I bet that's good eating"?

I feel that way about a lot of food. Not that the way things looked before being cooked typically makes me not eat them. But I always want to know who took the first bite, thought "Okay, I'm not dead, so I guess it was good" and then decided to serve it for dinner.

Think about it. I mean, some fruits and vegetables are pretty obvious, but not all of them.

An Apple looks like it is there for the picking. So does an Orange. But if the person who was used to biting through the apple skin tried to bite into the orange. That probably would have turned me off oranges at the outset.

And who decided that juicing the orange would be a good idea? Who decided that little tiny Key Limes should be made into desserts that require the average person to juice a gross of them just to get a pie?

Who first decided to try an Artichoke? Or dug up a Potato and thought "It looks like a dirty rock, let's eat it"? Who looked at Milk that had gone bad and thought "I bet that would become Cheese and it will go great on Pizza"?

I've read that Conch is a delicacy, but who saw all the little legs sticking out of a spiky shell and thought "I bet there's a meaty body in there that would go great in a fritter"?

I guess it's a good thing that I'm not living a few thousand years back (or planning to be dropped on a deserted island - or in many reality TV shows - any time soon), because I don't think I'm adventurous enough to have gone first in a lot of these situations.

But after the first taster doesn't die, the curds and whey are separated, and the fritters are fried, then feel free to call me for dinner.