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Food History

Maya and Aztec Chocolate History and Antecedents

By Patrick Hunt – Chocolate is perhaps one of the most intriguing foods in history, prized for thousands of years and now a global passion. Possibly originating in the understory Amazon rain forest, the small tree sought out by monkeys and other animals has produced a substance that has become […]

Art

Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow, 1565

By Patrick  Hunt  – One of the most beautiful paintings in the world, Bruegel’s 1565 Hunters in the Snow (117 x 162 cm) has received much attention for the return of the trudging “weary hunters with drooping shoulders…turning their backs to the observer…characterizing the season” [1] at top left and the harmonious […]

Paleobotany

The Exotic History of Citrus

By Patrick Hunt – People have known for millennia some of the healthy benefits of citrus fruit.  Citrus medica, for example, more commonly called the citron, has been extolled for its associations with Buddhism, as seen in the above nephrite jade Buddha’s hand citron, albeit fairly modern, since it literally […]

Art

Ancient Egyptian Tilapia Fish Story

By Patrick Hunt – A “fish story” is often perceived as a tall tale, a narrative with “fishy” circumstances. If not an outright result of something incredible like “Jonah and the Whale”, a dubious stretching of the truth may be amusing but modern ichthyological science has somewhat tarnished the Egyptian […]