The Etymology of “Curry Powder”

The term “kaṟi”, referred to during the modern day as “curry”, is described within a mid 17th century Portuguese cookbook entitled the “East Indian Cookery Book” which was written by members of the British East India Company who traded with Tamil merchants along the Coromandel Coast of southeast India. Curry powder is referred to as such because one of the spice blends in the book which contains 2 or more spices is referred to as “kari podi” which has been Romanized to read as “curry powder”

The Accidental Discovery of Tea and the Agricultural Advents Developed by Chinese Emperor Jiang Shinian

Tea was discovered entirely by accident. The first emperor of ancient China, Emperor Jiang Shinian (Shen Nung or Shennong) was boiling water in his palace courtyard when a tea leaf fell from above, and into the boiling pot. Due to the pleasant scent, Jiang ingested the water as it cooled and by coincidence discovered the activity of tea consumption. The name Jiang Shinian directly translates to mean “Devine Husbandman” within Mandarin, as it is believed Jiang developed multiple Chinese agricultural advents (e.g. crop cultivation for medicinal herbs, soil managment strategies, irrigation etc.). It should be noted, this account of the discovery of tea is believed to most likely be fictitious and mythological in origin by Chinese historians during the modern day

American Cheese Manufacturer Kraft Producing Kraft Singles and Kraft Slices With Ingredients Which Are Not Cheese

The Kraft Singles and Kraft Slices product lineup Kraft is renowned for are not entirely comprised of cheese. For this reason, Kraft cannot use the term “cheese” upon the product label within North America which is why these products are typically labeled as “Kraft Singles” or “Kraft Slices”. This is also the reason why Kraft Singles and Kraft Slices often display the phrase “pasteurized prepared cheese product” which is due to the fact that cheese within the North America must contain 51% cheese to be legally considered cheese and Kraft falls short of this threshold with these particular products

The Importance of Gastrointestinal Microbes for Weight Loss

There are 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) microbes within the gastrointestinal system and scientists have learned that by transplanting microbes from one animal to another, weight gain and weight loss can be turned on and off at will. Scientists now understand that the greater diversity a person has in terms of the types of microbial life which live within their body, the less likely they are to gain weight or maintain a higher than ideal body weight, with the exact opposite effect occurring in those who have lower than average values in reference to the number of microbes living within the body. Diets rich in fiber are typically associated with higher values of microbes, so increasing fiber intake, can significantly reduce overall body weight and promote the existence and health of many different kinds of microbes. Increasing fiber content for only a few days, has a measurable and marked effect upon microbrial gastrointestinal health

The Development of Japanese Tea Gardens and Tea Houses

The Japanese tea garden is the antithesis of the Buddhist Zen garden and originated in the 9th century after tea was imported into Japan from China. Buddhist monks would drink Chinese tea to keep themselves awake during long meditation sessions. Over the subsequent centuries, tea drinking became an elaborate practice which was highly ritualized with samurai, geishas, and monks all serving tea using these same concepts. Japanese tea gardens developed during the 16th century with direct influence from the concepts of tea ceremonies, designed and constructed to surround tea houses

The Country With the Most Vegetarians Per Capita and the First Notation of Vegetarianism Within Western Literature

The country with the most vegetarians per capita is India, with 39% of the country identifying as vegetarian and/or vegan, a value which equates to 276,000,000 (276 million) people. This is primarily due to the dominant religion within India which is Hinduism, a faith which 79.8% of the country subscribes to, and to a lesser extent, Sikhism, a faith which promotes vegetarianism and is subscribed to by 1.7% of the country. Mexico trails India for the second spot internationally with 19% of the country identifying as vegetarian and Brazil takes the third spot with 14% having adopted this diet. The first time vegetarianism is mentioned within recorded western history is by the Ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras around 500 BC, however it is unclear if this is the first recorded text worldwide

U.S. Presidents Who Participated Within the Practice of Slavery

10 of the first 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves, with the only exclusions being the 2nd president John Adams and the 6th president John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams. George Washington owned an estimated 200 – 600+ slaves, Thomas Jefferson owned an estimated 200 – 600+ slaves, and Zachary Taylor owned an estimated 300 slaves. The U.S. president with the least number of slaves, not including presidents who did not own slaves, is a tie between the 8th president, Martin Van Buren and the 18th US president, Ulysses S. Grant, each owning one slave. It should be noted, 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives, however of these 12, 8 owned slaves while in office. The last U.S. president to participate within slavery whilst still in office was Zachary Taylor, and the last U.S. president to own an enslaved person at any time was Ulysses S. Grant. The last person enslaved by a U.S. president was William Andrew Johnson, who was enslaved by the 17th U.S. president, Andrew Johnson. It is believed that Johnson paid $500.00 for William Andrew Johnson’s mother, which equates to $19,348.46 as of 2023 when accounting for inflation using the base year of 1850, 10 years after Johnson’s first slave purchase and 15 years before he became president of the U.S.

Tudor Period Mining and Metal Smelting

During the Tudor period, lead was utilized to build roofs and windows because it was easily mailable and resistive to corrosion. Farmers would mine for lead during the summer months when their crops did not need tending to in order to generate additional income. Mining during the summer months could earn an extra £5.00 which equates to £25,000 as of 2012 when accounting for inflation. Entire families often worked within the mines because 50 barrels worth of ore and soil would be extracted per day to meet the quota of what was required to be profitable. Smelting involved the use of white coal which is effectively dried wood from a kiln and was always setup upon windy hilltops or mountains because the wind would cause the fire blaze with more intensity therefore reaching higher overall temperatures. The best wood to make white coal is oak. Kilns must be airtight, so gaps were filled with clay. Knowing a kiln to be airtight was easily verifiable by searching for smoke as if smoke only came out of only the front entrance, the kiln was considered airtight. Ore was smashed into small pieces to help it smelt more rapidly which yielded approximately an 80% return upon investment. Metals were then refined using a secondary kiln, and smelted to remove any ash or impurities. The first burn removes ore from the rock, and the second burn removes impurities with the main impurity being sulphur. Molds were constructed using sand and wood to create divots which allowed the ore to be molded into blocks much the same as a modern day bar of gold. The sand gives the mold an indentation which archeologists use to identify Medieval bars of smelted ore

The Reason Alcoholic Hangovers are Unpleasant

A hangover at its most basic premise is caused when the body does not have enough water to run its citric acid cycle (also referred to as “CAC”, “tricarboxylic acid cycle”, “TCA cycle”, and/or “Krebs cycle”). This is exactly the process which occurs when a person dies of thirst. Although hangovers are typically not dangerous, this is part of the reason why they feel so uncomfortable

Inventions Mesopotamia Gifted to the World Still Used During the Modern Day

The Mesopotamians invented large scale wheat production, the potters wheel which allows for the making of pottery bowls, cups, and plates, used for consumption and collection, boats which could sail all the way to India created from reeds, and the stylus which is effectively a pen created from reeds, which led to the development of the world’s first writing system. These are just a few examples gifted to the world by the first great civilization; Mesopotamia. Every written word in the western world can trace its origins back to the cuneiform of Mesopotamia and the study of mathematics also derives directly from the Mesopotamian civilization. Reeds were used for measuring distances, based upon the size of the Pharaoh Djer (pronounced “jur”), with the first standard measurement derived from Djer’s elbow crease to the tip of his middle finger, and the second standard measuring a full arm span of both arms spread as wide as the body will allow them. The Mesopotamians invented the mathematics of time keeping by using the creases of their fingers with each finger containing 3 creases therefore 12 creases for each hand. This system included the thumb and when accounting for the back of the hand, a base system was invented which was used to count between 0 – 60. This system was primarily used to tell time, as there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour, which meant that the day would be divided into 2 periods each of 12 hours