标题: Clarence Birdseye [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 7-9-2012 11:51 标题: Clarence Birdseye Abigail Meisel, In From the Cold; The story of Clarence Birdseye, frozen food pioneer. New York Times, July 8, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/0 ... mark-kurlansky.html
(book review on Mark Kurlansky, Birdseye; The adventures of a curious man. Doubleday, 2012)
Note:
(a) Clarence Birdseye http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Birdseye
(1886-1956; born in Brooklyn; considered the founder of modern day frozen food; briefly a student at Amherst College, dropping out sometime about 1908, before moving west for the United States Agriculture Department)
Quote: "His next field assignment [with USDA], off and on from 1912 to 1915, was in Labrador in the Dominion of Newfoundland (now part of Canada), where he became further interested in food preservation by freezing, especially fast freezing. He was taught by the Inuit, how to ice fish under very thick ice. In -40°C weather, he discovered, that the fish he caught froze almost instantly, and when thawed, tasted fresh. He recognized immediately, that the frozen seafood sold in New York was of lower quality than the frozen fish of Labrador, and saw that applying this knowledge would be lucrative. His journals from this period, which record these observations, are held in the Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College.
* Regarding the English surname Clarence.
"Clarence was the name of a dukedom created in 1362 for Lionel, third son of [King] Edward III, whose wife was the heiress of Clare in Suffolk. How the name came to be adopted as a surname is uncertain, but it is recorded in 1453; its use as a personal [or given] name is not attested until the late 19th century."
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press
* Clare, Suffolk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare,_Suffolk
(a town; The name first appears in the Domesday Book as 'Clara'. It possibly derives from the "clear" nature of the Chilton Stream as it flows through the town, but from a Latin word rather than a Celtic one as was previously thought)
* Clara http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Clara
(Latin clara, feminine of clarus, "bright, shining, clear")
(b) The review title ("In From the Cold") is adopted from
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy_Who_Came_in_from_the_Cold
(a 1963 fiction by British author John le Carré; Control asks Leamas to stay "in the cold" for one last mission: to turn (defect) and provide false information to the East German Communists)
(c) The review says, "For the first time, June sweet peas and summer blueberries could be savored, in close-to-fresh form, in the dead of winter."
The review merely means peas that are sweet.
Sweet pea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_pea
(Lathyrus odoratus; Unlike the edible pea, there is evidence that seeds of members of the genus Lathyrus, including sweet pea, are toxic if ingested in quantity)
is an annual climbing plant, breeded by Henry Eckford (1823–1905; Scot), known for "sweetly scented flower" ("They are often grown by gardeners for their [cultivars'] bright colours and the sweet fragrance[, both of flowers,] that gives them their name"). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_pea
In other words, pea (Pisum sativum) and sweet pea are two distinct species.
(d) The review talks about "Gloucester, Mass, America’s oldest commercial fishing port."
Gloucester, Massachusetts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester,_Massachusetts
(in the table to the right--Motto: "America's Oldest Seaport"; section 1.1 Early Gloucester)
Please take notice Spanish surname Castro (meaning castle) is also from the same Latin word,
Castra. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castra
(The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum)
(e) The review comments, "Waterman created the capillary-feeding fountain pen, Daimler introduced the gas-powered motorcycle."
* Waterman pens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterman_pens
("Established in 1884 in New York City by Lewis Edson Waterman, it is one of the few remaining first-generation fountain pen companies, as Waterman SA. It is currently owned by Newell Rubbermaid")
* motorcycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle
("The first internal combustion, petroleum fueled motorcycle was the Petroleum Reitwagen [the latter being German for "riding wagon"]. It was designed and built by the German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Bad Cannstatt, Germany in 1885")
(f) The review describes a young Birdseye "lit out for Arizona, New Mexico and Montana."
light (vi):
"1: dismount
2: SETTLE, ALIGHT <a bird lit on the lawn>"
Its etymology is different from that of another verb "light" as in "light a fire, a cigarette."
(i) The surname Reno is altered spelling of French Renaud, Renault, or Renouf.
Renault is a variant of Renaud (both French surname): from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements ragin ‘counsel’ + wald ‘rule’ (equivalent to English Reynold).
(j) The review remarks teh book "can be downed in a sitting or two, an ideal entertainment for a summer afternoon in a hammock.
down (vt):
"1: to cause to go or come down: as
a : BRING DOWN <downed the enemy helicopter>
b : CONSUME <downing slices of pizza>"