Kopi Domba and More

The Irish fed the coffee berries to sheep and rabbits instead of civets (for more information look at the 2^nd article in my post Roasted Rat and More)!

In 1718 the Irish Parliament banned coffee farmers from feeding sheep coffee berries and then using the undigested seeds that came out in the sheep’s droppings to make coffee. The Irish were also using rabbits. By the way if you were wondering what Kopi Domba means, it means 'sheep coffee' when translated into English from the Bahasa Indonesian language.

 

The Peacock Throne contained 108 rubies!

The Peacock Throne was a throne that Shah Jahan had built for himself to sit on in court. The whole Peacock Throne was made of solid gold and had pillars (that were made of solid gold too) that held a canopy on top. The throne was set with precious gems everywhere like rubies, diamonds, and emeralds. Here we have the exact number of the gems given by a French jeweler, Jean Baptiste Tavernier who visited the Mughal court. Jean Baptiste has mentioned that there were 108 rubies, 116 emeralds and several diamonds that included the Kohinoor too. The peacocks on the throne were made of solid gold and had sapphires and rubies set in their breasts with a large pearl drop. The splendor of this throne ended when Nadir Shah sacked Delhi in 1739 and carried of all the royal treasury, the Peacock Throne, and the Kohinoor. After Nadir Shah took the Peacock Throne it was never seen again.

 

Pasta isn’t an Italian dish!

Pasta is a dish made of unleavened dough made of wheat, eggs and water and is cooked by boiling or baking. It is eaten with meat, seafood or vegetables. But did you know that pasta is actually a Greek dish?! The Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi who lived in Sicily, Italy in the reign of King Roger II wrote a book called Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq (‘A Diversion for the Man Longing to Travel to Far-Off Places). In his book he has written he has made the first mention of pasta in Italy. In his book he has described a coastal town called Trabia. He has quoted:

West of Termini there is a delightful settlement called Trabia. Its ever-flowing streams propel a number of mills. Here they there are huge buildings in the countryside where they make vast quantities of itriyya, which is exported everywhere: to Calabria, to Muslim and Christian countries. Very many shiploads are sent.

You may have noticed that he has mentioned the word itriyya which he has described as long noodle like strips of dried dough which were cooked by boiling. It is actually a transliteration by the Arabs of a Greek word for a pasta-like dish. This may have also been the first kind of spaghetti. I found this information in Ian Crofton's book, A Curious History of Food and Drink.