In the Kitchen - Did you know

Those with money had pewter plates. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to soak into the food.  This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes - for over 400 hundred years.

Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers – a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and so worms got into the wood.  After eating from wormy trenchers they would get ‘trench mouth’.

Bread was divided according to status.  Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle and guests got the top or ‘the upper crust’.

In English pubs, ale was ordered in pints and quarts.  When customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their pints and quarts and settle down.  It maybe where the saying ‘mind your P’s and Q’s’ came from.

Many years ago in England, pub customers had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their cups.  When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get service. ‘Wet your whistle’ would certainly come from this practice.

Chairman of the Board – head of the house had a chair and normally no table only a board to eat