Category: A

Andirons are metal supports that sit on the floor of a fireplace and hold the logs in place so that they tumble neither forward nor backward while they burn; at one time, pairs of andirons were also used to support a spit, so that meat could be roasted above the fire. Although andirons have always…

The word anchovy was introduced to English in 1596 by Shakespeare, who made the tiny fish a favourite of his most corpulent character, Falstaff. The word anchovy comes from Basque, a language spoken in parts of Spain and France but related to no other language in the world. The Basque source of anchovy—anchoa, meaning dry—was…

Life was much simpler for the gods of ancient Greece, who had to worry about a mere two food groups, ambrosia and nectar, when trying to satisfy their daily recommended dietary allowance. These two divine substances were not only exceedingly yummy (Ibycus, an ancient Greek poet, wrote that ambrosia was nine times sweeter than honey),…

Ambergris is a waxy substance, grey in colour,xsecreted in the intestines of sperm whales and skimmed from the surface of the ocean where it floats after being discharged. The fact that medieval cooks used this substance as a spice in ragouts, custards, and jams says much about their sense of adventure, if not their sense…

Most people do not pronounce the / in almond and they are right not to do so because the I should not really be there. In Latin, the word was originally spelt amygdala, which in Late Latin became amandula. This Late Latin word slowly worked its way into Romance languages like French, Italian, and Spanish,…

Allspice acquired its name in the early seventeenth century when someone noticed that its flavour and scent resemble a mixture of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon—obviously these three do not encompass all 250 spices in existence, but close enough. Another plant whose name derives in part from the word all is allbone, an herb whose spiny,…

In botany, the Latin word allium refers to a genus of plants that includes garlic, onions, and leeks. Alliaceous—pronounced alley ay shus—is the adjective formed from this Latin word and it can be applied to anything, including food or breath, that smells of garlic or onions. In the Middle Ages in southern Europe, food tended…

The word ale, which emerged in English more than a thousand years ago, might be distantly related to aluminum: both words possibly derive from the Indo-European alu, meaning bitter. Bitterness pertains to ale because it’s a bitter beverage, especially in comparison with another ancient drink, mead, which is made from honey. Bitterness pertains to aluminum…