Why One Island Grows 80% of the World’s Vanilla

By and large, Americans seem to like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate. The International Ice Cream Association, which should know, puts vanilla at the top of the charts as first choice of 29 percent of ice-cream eaters, feebly followed by chocolate (8.9 percent), butter pecan (5.3 percent), and strawberry (5.3 percent).

Given our passion for vanilla, it seems peculiar that “plain vanilla” is the going synonym for anything basic, bland, or blah. A plain-vanilla wardrobe lacks pizzazz; plain-vanilla technologies lack bells and whistles; plain-vanilla automobiles miss out on chrome, fins, and flashy hood ornaments; and plain-vanilla music is the sort of soulless drone that afflicts us in elevators. The truth is, though, that plain vanilla is anything but dull.

Nor is it easy to make. In fact, if not for one 12 year old child,vanilla may still be the elite item that was added a dash at a time to it the Aztecs' Drink of the Gods, chocolate.

This week, a look at why one island grows 80% of the world’s vanilla.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "We are born charming, fresh and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society." - Judith Martin (better known by the pen name Miss Manners, an American journalist, author, and etiquette authority, 1938 - ) 
   Why One Island Grows 80% of the World’s Vanilla by fredwine on Scribd

The Warlike Origins of 'Going Dutch'

"Going Dutch" (sometimes written with lower-case dutch) is a term that indicates that each person participating in a paid activity covers their own expenses, rather than any one person in the group defraying the cost for the entire group. The term stems from restaurant dining etiquette in the Western world where each person pays for their meal. It is also called Dutch date, Dutch treat (the oldest form, a pejorative) and doing Dutch.

But where did the phrase come from? One suggestion is that the phrase "going Dutch" originates from the concept of a Dutch door, with an upper and lower half that can be opened independently. The Oxford English Dictionary connects "go Dutch" and "Dutch treat" to other phrases which have "an opprobrious or derisive application, largely due to the rivalry and enmity between the English and Dutch in the 17th century", the period of the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

This week, a look at what makes "Going Dutch" fighting words.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust (French novelist, 1871 - 1922)  

   The Warlike Origins of 'Going Dutch' by fredwine on Scribd