Food and Drink
The word "vodka" is a diminutive of the Slavic voda which means water.
Vodka can be produced from grain, potatoes, molasses, soybeans, grapes, sugar beets, with rye and wheat vodkas being considered superior.
The alcohol content in vodka usually ranges from 35 to 60 percent by volume. In 1893 the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev established that the perfect percentage was 38%, but since back then the spirits were taxed depending on their strength, the percentage was rounded up to 40 to simplify the calculation of tax. Since then the classic Russian vodka is 40%. In the European Union today, the minimum alcohol content in vodka is set at 37.5%.
Salt had a huge influence on the development of ancient civilizations because of its ability to preserve food which reduced the people's dependence on the seasonal availability of food and allowed them to travel long distances.
It was a hard-to-obtain highly valued commodity, and some historians believe that Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt. The other historians, however, find it a misconception since word salary derives from the Latin salārium, meaning money paid to the soldiers to buy salt.
The word salad is also connected to the salt: it comes from the popular ancient Roman dish herba salata, meaning "salted vegetables".
Thirst sensation is the early symptom of dehydration that arises from a lack of fluids and/or increase in the content of certain osmolites such as salt in our body.
In most people dehydration symptoms become noticeable after 2% loss of one’s normal water volume and in addition to thirst may include dry skin, abnormally dark urine, tiredness and headache. 10% to 15% loss of water may result in dim vision, muscle cramps, dizziness. Water losses that exceed 15% are usually fatal.
In adults over age of 50, the thirst sensation diminishes. In a study elderly people were withheld from drinking water for 24 hours, and when in 24 hours water was made available to them, they still did not recognize that they were thirsty.
Most of the turkey feathers produced by the poultry industry are ground up and used as filler for animal feed. Turkey dung is used as a fuel source in special electric power plants.
Brussels sprouts were brought to the US Louisiana by French settlers around 1800. Today about 80% of Brussels sprouts grown in the US goes to the frozen food market.
Parsnip is harvested through winter when the ground freezes over as it needs frost to develop its flavor.
Today, China is the world’s largest producer of potato, while Belarus is the largest consumer of this crop with estimated 180 kg per person, almost half a kilo a day.
With over 20,000 named varieties across the globe apple is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits.
According to some researches, the tree originated from Central Asia and most likely was the earliest tree to be cultivated. The thousands of years of selection helped improve its fruits and create many varieties including dessert apples (the ones for eating), apples cultivated specifically for cooking or producing cider. Allegedly, the world's biggest collection of apple cultivars is housed at the National Fruit Collection in England.
Apple holds a very high position in our culture, religion, and mythology with the apple that Eve cajoled Adam to share with her being the most famous one. However, there is a recent theory that that was not an apple Eve gave to Adam, but a green to orange fruit called Strychnos nux-vomica which seeds contain approximately 1.5% strychnine. Apple seeds, by the way, are mildly poisonous too, containing a small amount of amygdalin which is usually not enough to be dangerous to humans, but it can be harmful for birds.
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