What Caesar Did

You may vaguely know that the Earl of Sandwich invented the sandwich, but you probably don’t know why. You might think the Scots invented porridge – but not a bit of it. Or you might think the ploughman’s lunch harks back to the days when the ploughman pulled up his horses and tucked into his bread and cheese. Well, you’d be wrong.

Jack has had a thoroughly enjoyable time researching the history of food, and found some wonderful stories. Cornish pasties, for instance, were more than an all-in-one packed lunch, with meat at one end, sweet at the other. They were a lifesaver for Cornish tin miners, who held their pie by the thick crimped crust, which they threw away to appease the spirits of the mines — avoiding eating the deadly arsenic in the mines.

The phrase ‘bangers and mash’ derives from the First World War, when rationing meant that sausage manufacturers used to pad out their produce with scraps and water, so that they exploded when cooked.

The sandwich was invented by the Earl of Sandwich (the 4th Earl). A keen gambler, one night he ordered the waiters to bring him some meat — but asked for it between two slices of bread to prevent his fingers getting greasy.

Porridge dates from the time of Buddha; it is said to have helped him on the road to enlightenment, as a bowl of porridge brought him round from a faint.

And the ploughman’s lunch? Rather prosaically, it was invented in the 1960s by the English Country Cheese Council to encourage people to eat more cheese. So now you know.

Read and digest this book and you will never be stuck for dinner-table conversation.