Fun Fact Friday: Cinco de Mayo

On May 5, 1862, the Mexican army defeated the French in the Battle of Puebla.  Besides being an unlikely victory, this battle also marked the last time any European power ever invaded a country in the Americas.  In the United States, we (incorrectly) celebrate the day as Mexican Independence Day when our southern neighbor's Independence Day is actually September 16th.  Of course, that doesn't matter as Cinco de Mayo has become another excuse for debauchery and drinking.  Any holiday that combines tequila and tacos is okay by me though.

So how should you celebrate this special day?  Grab some spicy guacamole, your favorite tortillas, and keep the margaritas coming!

(Not so) Fun Fact Friday: Hunger's Never Far

I live in New York City where restaurants don't even blink at charging over $30 for a hamburger.  In all honesty, I can't remember the last time I bought food and my bill was under $10 -- and that''s just for a no-frills sandwich.  While there are plenty of reminders all around that times are tough, it's easy to forget how real hunger is.

• 15.7 million children (21.6%) in America live in poverty.  That's more than 1 out of every 5 children.
• In 2010, illnesses linked to hunger and malnourishment cost Americans $130.5 billion.  To get a better image of it, that's $130,500,000,000 -- or well more than everyone I have ever met will make in their entire lives, combined.  And that's just one year.

Where's this all coming from?

My mother taught me something this winter that stuck with me.  We were talking about Halal and Kosher foods when I mentioned that the closest Christians came to a food tradition was giving up meat on Fridays during Lent.  "Do you know why we do that?" my mom asked.  To be honest, I had never questioned it.  I just accepted it as a quirk of the religion.  The answer, as it turns out, is really beautiful.

Instead of buying meat on Fridays, Christians would donate the money they would have spent on themselves to the poor.  Such a simple answer.  To go without for one day so that other people can live.   Not starving yourself, you can still eat, just doing with a little less.  That's something I can get behind.

So I did some digging and found so many great charities set up in New York City (and around the country) that are working to end hunger.  

I'm proud to report that on April 28, "Dinner's in the Details" will be donating cookies to the Great American Bake Sale, benefitting Share Our Strength, a non-profit formed to end childhood hunger by 2015.  If you're going to be in the NYC area that Saturday, stop by, buy a baked good, and do something good for the country.

If you're interested in other charities, please see the list below:

New York City
City Harvest
NYC Coalition Against Hunger

International
FEED
Slow Food USA

Source: Share Our Strength, Zagat, American Progress

Fun Fact Friday: Peanuts

The peanut is not a nut.

Okay, you've heard that before.  It's a legume.  But what is a legume?

In French légume refers to all vegetables, but English focuses more on specific simple, dry fruits.

Let's get Botanical!

Plants grow fruits so they can reproduce.  (Don't think of it as eating babies.  It's more like sex in your mouth.)  Legumes are a type of simple, dry fruit that typically go through dehiscence: the fruit splits in half to expel its seeds and reproduce.  A pea pod, for example, splits along its seam to release the peas inside.  Peanuts, however, are indehiscent.  The fruit must be eaten or decay in order for the seeds to be released.

Well, what's a nut?

To botanists, a true nut is "a simple dry fruit with one seed (rarely two) in which the ovary wall becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity, and where the seed remains attached or fused with the ovary wall."*  Examples of true nuts would be hazelnuts, chestnuts, and acorns.  The edible seed is attached to the shell.  Now, think back to the peanut.  Once you pop open that figure-eight pod, the seeds are free of the shell.  No prying required!

The peanut has more in common with the pea than the nut, making it a legume!

A (Very Brief) History of the Peanut

Peanuts, also called Groundnuts, are native to South America, but have been cultivated in China as early as the 17th century, most likely having been brought over by Portugese sailors.  Currently, the top three producers of peanuts in the world are China, India, and the US. (We're #3!  We're #3!)

The alternate name [groundnut] illustrates how the fruit grows.  The peanut's flowers grow in clusters on a pedicel.  Once these flowers self-pollinate and wilt, the pedicel elongates and digs itself into the ground, where the fruit develops.  The entire plant is removed for cultivation.

Arachis hypogaea: all of the peanuts, none of the allergies!

*From: Wikipedia
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
                     Wikimedia
For more info check out Bill Casselman's site and the Peanut Wiki!