A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual, and physical needs
Bone app the teeth (it’s a meme, I know how to spell bon appetit) readers! Welcome to Volume 115 of Dovi’s Digest.
There are multiple constants in the world (aside from gravity and the like). If you listen to Ben Franklin, you may think it’s death and taxes. Heraclitus said that change is the only constant in life. Stephen Covey, the bestselling author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People adds choice and principles to Heraclitus’ adage. The poet laureate of our generation Taylor Swift said that haters gonna hate.
One thing is criminally overlooked though, the one thing that has been ever-present, a constant companion to all of us over the years. I am of course talking about food fads. Far from this being a modern phenomenon, food fads have been around for millennia. The Romans had a period of gorging themselves on fattened snails and dormice. When a particular athlete won many events at the original Olympics, the Greeks replicated his meat-only-for-a-year-before-competition diet. More recently the French have eaten ortolan (a songbird drowned in Armagnac, roasted and then eaten whole 🤢). In the last few years, the trends have been slightly more mundane. In the 90s, sundried tomatoes were all the rage, thrown into everything and anything. Cupcakes of every manner and description abounded in the 2000s (I assume some with sundried tomatoes in them). The last decade or so hasn’t been immune. There were the smoothie bars popping up on every corner, cronuts (basically doughnuts made from croissant dough) being made in every patisserie, kale, and matcha being added to all of the above. Most of these have come and gone in a matter of years, with some things surviving the purge.
There is one thing that reared its head in the 80-90s though that has kept up with all these changes. Found at both high-end gala dinners and humble petrol stations and in restaurants of all types. It’s something that has had internal fads too, from being fried, deconstructed, done with meat, eaten off naked people platters, it has ridden all these serenely, coming out unscathed on the other side. I am of course talking about that now staple – sushi. Coming in so many different types and configurations, its appeal is universal, which has of course contributed to its longevity, as well as earning a place in the pantheon of go-to food for an event.
But where did sushi come from? And if you answer Japan, you deserve a little flick around the ear (and would be wrong). How did it get to our western shores? And more interestingly, how did our palates take to it after years of more basic staples like pasta, burgers, and cereal?
This week’s headline article tells just that story, how sushi grew so quickly, and more surprisingly, its inextricable links to a religious cult.
Do you enjoy the Digest? Would you like it to get better? Then please consider sharing it, as the more articles I’m sent, the better it is. It only takes a few seconds, and all you need to do is click here 👇. Thank you!
There were THREE correct answers to last week’s brainteasers. Well done to Ariel Subotzky, Josh Hazan, and Kevin Levy. The answers and this week’s riddle are below.
Origin stories of foods aside, there are many other great articles to peruse. You can see the images that won the British ecology wildlife photography competition, read about therapeutic hypothermia, the secret room at the top of the Eiffel Tower that was sort of built out of spite, a call back to an early edition about micronations, and why Australia has so many of them, skyscrapers that are being sustainably built out of wood, and a seemingly real-life Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde situation. Enjoy!
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
Have a great week,
Dovi
And now, the articles:
The Untold Story of Sushi in America
In the beginning, God did not create a sushi company. The sushi came later.
16 Stunning Images Reveal the Beauty of Nature
These images will take your breath away.
Chasing Ghosts: Unlocking the Mysteries of Human Hibernation
A multiyear search attempts to explain one of the most extreme, and baffling, cases of human survival.
Gustave Eiffel's Secret Apartment
High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.
The Country That Became A “Micronation Capital”
A micronation isn't a real country by definition, yet sometimes these mock states take on a life of their own and come surprisingly close.
Transforming Trees Into Skyscrapers
In Scandinavia, ecologically minded architects are building towers with pillars of pine and spruce.
A Crime Beyond Belief
A Harvard-trained lawyer was convicted of committing bizarre home invasions. Psychosis may have compelled him to do it. But in a case that became a public sensation, he wasn’t the only one who seemed to lose touch with reality.
Quote of the Week:
“A military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.” – Sun Tzu
Facts of the Week:
1930s post boxes doubled as stamp vending machines.
In 1972, Bhutan issued a set of talking stamps.
“Philately” is from the Greek, for the “love of exemption from taxation”.
In Mexico, artists can pay their taxes by donating their work.
The US tax code has increased in length from 400 pages in 1913 to 70,000 pages today.
Denmark taxes new cars at 150%.
Until 1999, tax-deductible items in Germany included bribes.
Germany's Rheinsberg nuclear plant was decommissioned in 1990, but still has over 100 employees.
Cartoon of the Week:
Tweet of the Week:
Headline of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Below are incomplete words. Place three letters in each bracket so that you can complete the word on the left and begin the word on the right.
i (_ _ _) lar
lat (_ _ _) ror
phan (_ _ _) ato
indica (_ _ _) toise
sc (_ _ _) na
thr (_ _ _) egal
Last Week’s Brainteaser and Answer:
Place 13 chairs along the walls of a rectangular room such that each wall has the same number of chairs as the wall it faces.
Answer:
As was pointed out by one astute anonymous reader, there are no fewer than four possible correct permutations, all of which are below. (A chair placed in the corner is considered to be against both walls.)