MOTnews 27 (07/12/2001)

EVEN MORE BREAD AT MOT

As you will have read in MOT News 26 (to refresh your memory, visit www.mot.be and go to the MOT News section), we are actively seeking information about bread-baking in other cultures. And when we say "actively", we mean it. The clay is still sticking to the fingers of the author of this issue of MOT News, because we started building an authentic Moroccan oven, as used at special occasions in Southern Morocco, and in particular in the Ourzazate region. Obviously, we are not doing this on our own: for this project, MOT is working with MIKST, a cultural and social centre for immigrants in Vilvoorde, which has "lent" us one of its employees to give us a hand.

We will keep readers informed of what happens. Don't forget: if you think you can provide us with interesting information about the technical aspects of oven construction and bread-baking in other parts of the world, be sure to drop us a line at info@mot.be.

TRUE or FALSE

The marking of cattle with a branding-iron is a typical practice of the American cowboys. You can read the answer in the next copy of MOT News.

ANSWER to TRUE or FALSE in MOT News (09/11/2001)

In Belgium too, ketchup is a very popular sauce to put on chips and all sorts of other dishes, but it is a typical American product invented by a certain Mr Heinz, whom we still know from the famous ketchup brand.

FALSE

Ketchup originates from the practice of pickling foods so that they could be preserved for longer. Because the taste of pickled food was not always very pleasant, people got into the habit of spicing such food very heavily.

Ketchup or "catsup" originally comes from the Far East. It was actually a very spicy sauce used for fish preparations based on pickled seafood and herbs. In the early 18th century, it was discovered by English seafarers and brought back to England. The original ingredients were so hard to find in the West, however, that all kinds of variants on the sauce were invented. Ultimately, tomatoes were introduced. It was only in the late 19th century that one Heinz started mass-producing the variant with tomatoes. The rest of the story everyone knows.

SAY WHAT?

In this MOT-news item we try to explain proverbs and sayings that have their roots in our technical history. Similar proverbs are found in different languages, but each language has it's own typical sayings. Therefore we do not translate this item in English.

KIDS' News: something to tell your children this evening On refrigerators and iceboxes Refrigerators or fridges are sometimes still referred to as "iceboxes" in American English. The explanation can be found by going back in time...

The refrigerators that we have in our homes nowadays work with electricity, and a thermostat ensures that the temperature inside remains nice and low, so that food keeps for longer. In the old days, people also used cooling as a means of preserving food. The difference is that this was done using large ice-blocks. Refrigerators at that time really were "iceboxes", in which a large block of ice would be placed which kept the temperature low throughout the box. Of course, this ice had to come from somewhere, and also had to be changed regularly because it melted. For this reason, there was a fully-fledged trade in ice-blocks, with ice for the refrigerator being delivered to people's homes.