Article content Do you ever find yourself craving a curry? Maybe mapo tofu? Linguine vongole? Or hankering for bibimbap? Several times a year, do you pick up a box of mangoes? A pineapple? Have you found yourself deliberating over exactly which type of oranges are going in your grocery cart? Broccoli, broccolini, broccoli rabe ...
eeny, meeny, miny, moe — what’s it going to be? We aren’t exactly starved for choice these days. Imagine what your life would have been like 100 years ago? Our grandparents lived on a diet that was, to say the least, regional and seasonal. If it wasn’t grown locally and wasn’t in season, it just wasn’t on the menu.
And the menu was pretty darn narrow. Selections built out from a foundation of bread, potatoes, grains, and cabbage, cabbage, cabbage! Oranges showed up only in your Christmas stocking, and, even in the 1920s, people were discouraged from eating raw fruit. In a slightly earlier era, even milk consumption was considered perilous.
From contamination to perishability, there have always been all sorts of issues associated with milk. Back before the 1930s, however, there were even darker concerns. A glass of milk had the potential to kill you.
The problem started in the pasture. It was known as “milk sickness” or the “trembles” and almost everyone knew someone who had succumbed to it. The scary thing is, the problem still exists today .
.. and there’s still no cure.
Now that I’ve made you give your morning latte a sidewa.
