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Title

• What Caesar Did For My Salad

Author

• Albert Jack

Publisher

• Penguin Group

What Caesar Did For My Salad

The Curious Stories Behind Our Favorite Foods

Overview

From the publisher

Did you know . . .

• the term “hot dog” is believed to have been coined during a baseball game between the Yankees and the Giants in 1901?
• calzones get their name from their less-than-glamorous looks: calzone means “trouser leg” or “drooping sack” in Italian?
• the word “salary” comes from Roman soldiers being paid their wages in salt?
• shrimp cocktail became popular in the 1920s as a safe way of “having a cocktail” during Prohibition?
• the Cobb salad was invented by Robert H. Cobb — founder of the Brown Derby restaurant chains — who threw the salad together for Sidney Grauman — owner of the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood — as a midnight snack based on ingredients in his refrigerator?

In What Caesar Did For My Salad, historian Albert Jack offers a fascinating look at the unexpected stories, creators, and bizarre origins behind the world’s most beloved dishes.

Who was Margherita, for instance, and why was the world’s most famous pizza named after her? Why do we call our favorite kinds of coffee espresso or cappuccino? Did medieval Turkish soldiers really invent the kebab by threading bits of meat on to their swords and balancing them on top of their campfires? What exactly does horseradish sauce have to do with our equine friends?

From your morning eggs to America’s favorite pies, fries, and martinis, after reading Jack, you’ll never look at your kitchen pantry or refrigerator in the same way again.