Footnotes to a Conversation, March 10, 2025
“Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.” – Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
An African History of Africa From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence
I’ve just finished reading An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi. It hit a bit too close to home to see one tribe or country conquering another, generation after generation, but I was also impressed by how advanced the early African civilizations had been and how much history was hidden or erased by white colonialists. Badawi closes the book by saying, “Young Africans are inventing the present and the future for the continent. This book, I hope, has shown them, and the world, that they should do so with their heads held high and their hearts full of pride in their magnificent past.” [book review, The Guardian]
Dutch Comfort Food
More than 14 million kilograms of hageslag, a sugary vermicelli sprinkle, are consumed annually in the Netherlands. The Dutch are convinced the hageslag sandwich lifts the national mood, and new varieties are introduced each season, from little bunnies at Easter to orange hageslag for the King’s birthday. A former Canadian recalls a scene from her office cafeteria: "Every lunch hour, I would see these tables of men in suits that were eating what I could only describe as the lunch of a four-year-old … They were all with cartons of milk and having their bread with hagelslag. To me, it was such a bizarre sight." [BBC]
Ancient Egyptian Cuisine
An Egyptian archaeologist is analysing cooking pots and rubbish heaps to determine what the ancient Egyptians used to eat. It was hard physical labour building pyramids in ancient Egypt so the workers enjoyed a lot of protein in the form of cow and pig feet. They probably ate lentil stew as well. The supervisors feasted on higher-quality food: better cuts of meat and larger fish. Bread and beer were used as wages as well as offerings to the gods. [Atlas Obscura]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.