Tuesday, December 3, 2019

How about some porridge

Just finished reading Agatha Christie’s Crime Collection. In the book she mentions Scotland Yard, and it made me wonder, how does Scotland Yard make its home in London. When you think about it, it’s just as bizarre as having New Zealand Yard in Canberra. Or Canada Yard in Washington. How did it happen?

It probably began back in the days when Scotland had its royalty just as England did. And presumably, from time to time Scottish royalty met up with English royalty in London for various talks etc. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the Scots – heroic both in fiction and the real world – wouldn’t have claimed the right to a little bit of home by naming the place where they stayed, Scotland Yard.

After all, these are the people that more than four hundred years after they first came into existence, still comfortably wear their tartan kilts

These are the people who also make no apology for the food they eat. England can have its kippers for breakfast. France can have its croissant. Other countries might have their bacon and egg. But the Scotsman eats his oats and flourishes.


‘Oats are a slow-release carbohydrate, keeping you feeling fuller between meals as they stabilize blood sugar levels. Oats are also part of a heart-healthy diet—research shows they are useful for lowering cholesterol. So you can always be assured no matter which oats you choose you will be having a hearty, healthy breakfast which will see you through the morning and keep you full until lunchtime.’

It was Johnson – that all-knowing Englishman – who defined oats in his dictionary, ‘eaten by people in Scotland, but fit only for horses in England’.

Scotsman's reply to this is, ‘That's why England has such good horses, and Scotland has such fine men!

In researching for my book, ‘Cool Food for Hot Lovers’, I found that there’s evidence that the term ‘sow your wild oats’ has roots in health science, and that oats may be among the most potent and least expensive edible libido enhancers.



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