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Mardi Gras History and Traditions

Mardi Gras History and Traditions

The history of Mardi Gras dates back to thousands of years (as early as 1699 in the US) when the Roman Catholic religion was on the peak of its power in Europe. Mardi Gras translates to “Fat Tuesday” which simply means the last days of eating richer foods as the lent season comes in and the fasting starts. This is a celebratory event that allows people to let go of inhibitions and conventions as the Shrive or confession time is drawing near. Carnival Venetian mask isolated on white background with clipping path. There are Mardi Gras celebrations all over the world. The key cities of this celebration are Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, Sinaloa in Mexico, Quebec, Barranquilla in Colombia, and Venice. There are also “Fat Tuesday” celebrations in Germany particularly in the German cities of Cologne and Mainz. Sweden, Belgium, and Netherlands also have their “versions” of the celebration and like in other places, rooted to the same traditions and religious beliefs. What are the celebrations like? What are the included traditions? The Carnival (another name for Mardi Gras in some cultures) in Rio de Janeiro is one of the biggest and well known events in the country that even foreigners flock to the city to witness this annual celebration. It is wild with lots of dancing, costumes and masks. Masks are a major attribute of Mardi Gras and so are street dancing, loud music, and consuming lots of food. In the United Kingdom the food of choice during Mardi Gras are pancakes and other fried pastries that are known to be decadent and reflect dietary excesses as the 40-day fast draws near. Other food that is associated with Mardi Gras is Semlor (Sweden). A popular food custom of the Mardi Gras is the preparation of King Cakes typically seen in many establishments in the French-influenced areas in the US like in the state of Louisiana specifically in New Orleans. The timing of Mardi Gras varies a lot but the most accepted date of the beginning of the celebrations is January 6 as reflected in the start of Carnival Season. The Carnival season ends on an Easter Sunday. Mardi Gras is the day before Ash Wednesday and is an event where moral codes are observed loosely. This is the reason why nudity and provocative costumes are all part of the celebration. Mardi Gras in the US is not a nationally observed event but in New Orleans, the [...]

By |2019-03-24T22:55:23+00:00February 15th, 2014|Mardi Gras, Carnivals, Louisiana, New Orleans|0 Comments
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Eating on the Wild Side

We have been breeding the nutrition out of our food for a long time. Corn in the super market is ultra sweet. Most of our food is ultra sweet. This is why we have a nation of 80% pre diabetics or diabetics. We have taken the phytonutrients out of our food. Some foods in the store have 10 to twenty times more nutrients then others. Purple, red blue or black foods have a lot of nutrients. Red berries, blueberries, purple carrots, purple potatoes are better for us have and are rich in anthocyanins. Anthocyanins, can help control and get rid of a lot of our modern diseases. The artichoke is one of the most nutritious foods in the supermarket. It is very rich in antioxidants. The shallot is one of most nutritious foods. Garlic is a potent cancer fighting vegetables. You need to crush the garlic or chop it and let it set for ten minutes so the two ingredients can combine to make allicin, a potent cancer fighting compound. Tomatoes become much richer in lycopene the longer you cook it. You should eat three to four servings from the cabbage (horseradish, or kale) family a week. They can reduce cancer significantly. There are a lot of great tips about eating nutritiously in this book Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson. Carrots were originally, purple, red or sometimes yellow. Four hundred years ago a red carrot was crossed with a yellow carrot to come up with orange carrots. We now know the original purple carrots have sixteen times more nutrients then the orange carrots in the store. Purple carrots can be found in a seed catalog now. Baby carrots - the orange ones were made to save the big orange carrots leftovers. The outer skin of the carrot is the most nutritious, don't peel your carrots. The carrot is less nutritious towards the center of the carrot. Food vendors concessionaires should take a look at this book. Every year there is a wealth of new "foods" at the county and state fairs. It also seems like there is a race to develop good tasting nutrition less foods to sell. Here is a challenge to you food vendors. Can you make a good tasting food that is high in nutrition? The public is becoming more and more aware of nutrition. Listen to this podcast on Science Friday from the author of Eating on the Wild Side nEating on the Wild Side, author Jo Robinson reveals how [...]

By |2017-07-03T01:32:21+00:00February 9th, 2014|Fair Food, Food, Fruit|0 Comments
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Types of Domestic Sheep

Sheep are small ruminants closely related to the goat that are raised mainly for their wool as well as for food. Worldwide, there are over a thousand breeds of sheep according to the Food & Agriculture Organization. In the USA, the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) has identified 47 unique breeds of domestic sheep. The ASI has further categorized these domestic breeds into six types, namely the ‘meat breeds,’ the ‘fine wool breeds,’ the ‘long wool breeds,’ the ‘dual purpose breeds,’ the ‘hair breeds,’ and the ‘minor breeds.’ Most sheep and lambs in American farms and ranches are of the meat breed variety which are raised primarily for the production of meat, or of the dual-purpose kind which are kept for both meat and wool production. There are 11 meat breeds of sheep under the ASI classification, namely the Cheviot, the Dorset, the Hampshire, the Montadale, the North Country Cheviot, the Oxford, the Shropshire, the Southdown, the Suffolk, the Texel and the Tunis. On the other hand there are 8 dual purpose breeds, namely the American Miniature Brecknock, the Columbia, the Corriedale, the East Friesian, the Finnsheep, the Panama, the Polypay, and the Targhee. Sheep meat is either ‘mutton,’ if it comes from mature sheep, or ‘lamb,’ if it is from sheep not older than one year. Sheep grow both hair and wool fibers although hair breeds have more hair fibers than woolly fibers. They also tend to shed their coats annually and usually do not require shearing, crutching, or docking. There are 7 hair breeds and they are the Barbados Blackbelly and American Blackbelly, the California Reds, the Dorper, the Katahdin, the Romanov, the Royal White Sheep, and the St. Croix. There are two general types of hair sheep in the United State: "improved" and "unimproved". The unimproved breeds tend to be indigenous sheep breeds that have adapted well to the local environment in which they evolved like the Barbados Blackbelly and the St. Croix.  The improved hair breeds on the other hand are crosses between regular hair breeds and wooled meat breeds. Examples include the Dorper, the Katahdin and the Royal White Sheep. Fine wool sheep produce wool fibers with a very small fiber diameter, usually 20 microns or less. There are 5 fine wool breeds in the USA, namely the American Cormo, the Booroola Merino, the Debouillet, the Delaine-Merino, and the Rambouillet. In comparison, long wool sheep produce long-stapled wool with a large fiber diameter, usually greater than 30 microns. There are 7 long wool breeds [...]

By |2017-07-03T02:09:51+00:00February 7th, 2014|Sheep, Wool|1 Comment
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Valentine’s Day History and Traditions

On February 14, the USA like most other countries in the world will celebrate Valentine’s Day. Traditionally, it is a day marked by the celebration of romantic love and is typically symbolized by representations of hearts, red roses, doves and Cupid. Americans commemorate the occasion in a variety of ways, including offering each other small tokens of affection like flowers and sweets and sending greeting cards specially themed for the day. Although now observed as a secular holiday, Valentine’s Day was originally a church-sanctioned holy day of obligation dedicated to Saint Valentine. Unfortunately, whose Saint Valentine’s Day it was is not clear as there were more than one Saint Valentines who were martyred during ancient Roman times. According to historical accounts, one Saint Valentine was imprisoned and executed for performing weddings for soldiers who were prohibited from marrying while in military service. Another Saint Valentine was put to death for helping Christians escape from prison, and who while awaiting his execution, healed the blind daughter of his jailer. Supposedly, this Saint Valentine, before his death, sent her a love note signed “from your Valentine,” an expression that we still like to use until today. In any event, around 498 A.D., Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as St. Valentine's Day. There are others though who maintain that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in order to "Christianize" the pagan feast of Lupercalia which was celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, and was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to Romulus and Remus, the supposed founders of Rome. On the other hand, there are also others who believe that February 14 was chosen by the church for the special day because it was when the mating season for birds generally begin, and this further added to the notion that Valentine's Day should be a day for romance.  Whatever the reason of the church for marking February 14 as Saint Valentine’s feast day, it was during the Medieval period when the holiday started becoming popular as a celebration of romantic love. From that point, people started sending and exchanging handwritten love notes and greeting cards. According to History.com, Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. in the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America, made with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap." Today, according to the Greeting Card [...]

By |2017-07-03T02:31:31+00:00January 31st, 2014|Valentine Day|0 Comments
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Garlic: History and Uses

"Shallots are for babies, onions are for men, but garlic is for heroes!" With a history of human use of over 7,000 years, garlic is an herb that grows in Asia, Africa and Europe, used for mainly food flavoring purposes. In Syria, Egypt garlic has been a medicine that is known to cure many diseases like cough, fever and other infections for a thousand years. Garlic comes in many shapes and sizes each with its own unique characteristics and taste. The various types of garlic include Red Garlic of Nubia, Wild Garlic, meadow Garlic and Crow Garlic of North America, and Field Garlic of Britain. One of the most famous garlics is the Elephant Garlic and not to forgot the Pearl garlic or Single Clove Garlic or China. “My final, considered judgment is that the hardy bulb [garlic] blesses and ennobles everything it touches - with the possible exception of ice cream and pie.” - Angelo Pellegrini In the kitchen, garlic is of utmost importance. It is the key to a delicious dish that everyone can enjoy. Ever heard of a pizza made without garlic? Or a pasta being made so marvelous without the addition of garlic? Well, there is your answer. Clearly no dish can become exquisite without the addition of garlic. And don’t take my word on it. You’ll meet a number of great cooks who will tell you the exact same thing if you were to ask around. No one can deny the unique taste the simple addition of garlic bring in any dish. Garlic cloves have a spicy flavor to themselves that make any dish they are being added to, superb in taste. They can be added with oil or simply added as a spice in meat breads. Either way there is little to nothing you can to without the addition of garlic to make your food taste absolutely great. Just a little bit of addition of garlic can increase the standard of your dish to a great degree. "Oh, that miracle clove! Not only does garlic taste good, it cures baldness and tennis elbow, too." - Laurie Burrows Garlic not only provides culinary uses but also medical provisions. Scientific researches show that garlic can heal athlete's foot, baldness, tennis elbow, fever, cough, and other small infections without the need of any kind of strict medical attention. A 2012 meta-analysis of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials looking at the effects of garlic on serum lipid profiles, found garlic was superior to placebo in reducing [...]

By |2017-07-03T02:45:26+00:00January 22nd, 2014|Food, Garlic, Medicinal|0 Comments
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Raising Rabbits

Rabbits are small mammals that belong to an order called lagomorphs. They are are very intelligent, curious and sociable animals that are instinctively most active during dawn and dusk. They are prolific breeders, and probably for this reason, are often used as a symbol of fertility (think Easter bunny), and playful sexuality (think Playboy bunny). Out in the wilds, rabbits are prey animals and because of this have evolved to become constantly aware of their surroundings. For instance, they have developed a remarkably wide field of vision and very powerful sense of hearing. A male rabbit is called a buck, a female is a doe, and a young rabbit is a kitten or a kit. Their normal life expectancy is about 9-12 years. There are many species of rabbits but the only type to be widely domesticated as  a pet and for food and fur is the European rabbit. The American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) currently recognizes 47 unique breeds of domesticated rabbit with such names as the American fuzzy lop, Belgian hare, checkered giant, English Angora, Florida white, lilac, mini satin, Rhinelander, silver marten, tan, cinnamon, and harlequin. Since the early days, rabbits have been bred and raised for their meat, fur and wool. More recently, they have also been used for laboratory experiments and medical testing. Commercial rabbit meat, which is high in protein, tastes like chicken meat and is similarly classified as either Fryer, Roaster or giblets. Rabbit wool, called Angora, is said to be 5 times warmer than sheep's wool. Rabbit fur made into pelts go into the manufacture of clothing and accessories like hats, belts and scarves. And at the laboratory, rabbits are used in the production of antibodies for vaccines as well as for research, especially in regard to the male reproductive system. Aside from their commercial use, domesticated rabbits have also been raised as household pets. They are less expensive to maintain than dogs and they can be easily litter-box trained. Pet rabbits can be kept outdoors or indoors. Accommodations can range from an outdoor hutch to an indoor cage or pen to the free run of the home. Of course, if kept indoors, you must rabbit-proof your home as they love to chew on electrical cords, plants, telephone cords, wires, your furniture. As for feeding them, a pet rabbit's diet typically consists of unlimited hay, a small amount of pellets, and lots of fresh vegetables. They should also have unrestricted access to fresh clean water. Take note that rabbits have [...]

By |2017-06-21T22:52:49+00:00January 20th, 2014|American Rabbit Breeders Assoc., Rabbits|0 Comments
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New Year traditions to bring good luck to your home

For most of us, the New Year means hope for a new beginning, another chance to make a positive difference not only in our own lives but also to those around us. It signifies another opportunity for us to become a better, healthier, more beautiful, and more successful version of who we currently are. Typically, we’d make a list, literally or figuratively, of our New Year’s resolutions. Typically too, we’d invoke or evoke good luck to come our way to help us bring to completion what we resolve to do and/or be in the coming 12 months. Superstitious or not, we cling to certain traditional practices for inviting good luck into our homes and into our lives on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. If they work, that’s well and good. If not, there’s no harm done in having tried. Of course, the actual practices for invoking or evoking or summoning good fortune varies depending on which cultural milieu you came from. If your roots are Latin American, chances are you’d be wearing bright red or yellow underpants on your way to welcoming the New Year. If you’re from Italy or Portugal, you’d probably be eating 12 grapes from a bunch at the stroke of midnight. If you’re from the Philippines, you’d likely be in polka dots and munching on as many assorted round fruits as possible as you clink away at the coins which fill up your pockets. Among people belonging to a common nationality or culture, there are certain beliefs they usually share that doing certain things on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day will somehow affect how the coming days and months ahead will turn out eventually. Most like the Chinese employ public ceremonial dancing and fireworks displays to ward off evil spirits and bad luck. The Dutch set their Christmas trees on fire and build bonfires on the street as they light fireworks and parade about and around the town. Panamanians on the other hand prefer to burn effigies of their politicians and other well-known personalities. The Scots hold parades of men who swing fireballs attached to poles around and over their heads. The Danes throw plates and glasses against the doors of their friends and relatives while Colombians walk around their neighborhoods carrying empty suitcases. And South Africans throw old appliances and other heavy things out their windows, just as the Japanese visit their temples to hear the bells chime 108 times. For many Americans, well, their New Year’s Day [...]

By |2019-03-25T22:46:57+00:00December 27th, 2013|New Year|0 Comments
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I feel for the Missouri State Fair

Okay I am sure a lot of your saw this post this morning on Yahoo Missouri Fair clown draws criticism for Obama mask. Well, if this clown was looking for attention he certainly got some. This mask and act had absolutely no business at one of our big state fairs. Yes, this was disrespectful. I am somewhat of a public person too and have been for years. Once a wise mayor said this to me as I was trying to run a large public event, "If you are going to be in the public eye, there are people that are going to love you, people that are going to hate you and people in between". Think about it, that is a very very wise statement. Being President is hard hard work. I would not want the job. The President has the responsibility of making everyone happy. Hey, folks that is not going to happen. Nor is the world going to be a perfect place in the next five seconds either. So, if you "think" you could do a better job you should run for President.

By |2023-01-08T01:19:02+00:00August 12th, 2013|Missouri, Missouri State Fair, State Fair|0 Comments
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