Happy burger day!

Today is apparently National Burger Day. For those of us more interested in words than in food (who am I kidding?), here’s the etymology of burger (and of hamburger), courtesy of the Online Etymology Dictionary. burger (n.) 1939, American English, shortened from hamburger (q.v.). hamburger (n.) 1610s, “native of Hamburg;” the meat product so called …

Grapes, lentils, black bun and first foots

One of the nice things about being married to someone from another country (Vito, my husband, is from Puglia, in Italy) is that you get to share each other’s national traditions. That goes for New Year’s Eve too (Hogmanay, here in Scotland). Our Italian tradition is to eat lentils and grapes (not together!) as midnight strikes, as they …