Marco Tulio, alias The Chickpea (Kikero in the original Latin) was a Roman Senator. Children should learn his speeches as I did instead of "Gender Studies", or other stupidities.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia? Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium Palati, nihil urbis vigiliae, nihil timor populi, nihil concursus bonorum omnium, nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus, nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt? Patere tua consilia non sentis, constrictam iam horum omnium scientia teneri coniurationem tuam non vides? Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris, ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, quid consilii ceperis, quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris? O tempora, o mores!
5 comments:
In English, Kikero is known as "Cicero" (I believe this is the actual Latin spelling) and is pronounced "Sisero", with a soft C. In modern Italian, a chickpea is a ceci (pronounced chay -chee)which seems to be a reversal of the Latin cice(ro).
The Yiddish word for chickpea (arbes) is from the same root as the Spanish garbanzo (the "arb" is the common portion), both from the Greek "erebinthos" The Hebrew "hummus" is from the Arab word for "sour" which also relates to the Hebrew word "chametz" (commonly associated with the leavened food not eaten on Passover, but in the ancient world where there was no packaged yeast, bread was raised with what we call "sourdough", a combination of wild yeast and lactic acid producing bacteria). Hummus (ground up chickpeas) will become sour quickly if it is left to stand without refrigeration.
Are you a fan of falafel?
How long will you abuse, Catiline, our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours?
More than garbanzo, kikero is chÃcharo. It is clear that the Romans pronounced a hard "k" instead of the soft "ch" abundant in Spanish and contemporary Italian. But look at the statue of the man, where do you find noble, intelligent faces like that today? Where have gone the ancient Romans? Sometimes I share the feeling that humanity has degenerated, although I know it is not true. It is an old man's sentiment.
Regarding falafel, I prefer the Argentine bife a caballo.
Where is the word "chicharo" used? - I see it in the dictionary, but "garbanzo" is the name on the cans in the supermarket and the only name I have ever seen.
Everyone looks noble once you sculpt them in stone or brass. Here is a noble looking visage:
http://i3.iofferphoto.com/img/item/402/772/96/1heydrichblock.jpg
unfortunately, it is that of Reinhard Heydrich, the SS butcher of Prague. Thankfully, it is a sculpture made from his death mask. The British sent Czech assassins bumbled the assassination and only lightly wounded him but fortunately Heydrich died of infection a week later.
Your preference for bife a caballo means that you are not a typical Israeli - bife a caballo is a dish for a country with large pampas on which the cattle may roam. The chicken is Israeli enough, being suitable for confinement in a small coop. Shakshooka perhaps, but not bife a caballo.
Garbanzo has displaced chicharo, which is still used for a variety (poroto chicharo, in Argentina).
Regarding preferences, they are fixed at an early age and I am fixed on Hungarian salami and Argentine meat. No shakshooka, no falafel, no hummus will ever satisfy my taste.
As far as preferences being fixed at an early age, I suppose this depends on the individual - my wife and daughter are very unadventurous eaters and most prefer bland foods - pasta, pudding, ice cream. My son takes after me and is a very adventurous eater. This I think has to do with personality (willingness to take risk).
My mother cooked mostly those dishes which were in the Eastern European Jewish style, with a few "American" dishes thrown in (spaghetti and meatballs, roast turkey) with very few spices or exotic ingredients. But I love almost all cuisines, including hot and spicey. My son is even more adventurous than I am - when he was in China recently , he ate fried scorpions and all sorts of other strange things without hesitation. He was criticizing the restaurant choices of the others in his group (who were Chinese-American) because they were not "authentic" enough for his taste.
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