« How Everyone Contributes | Main | IUG Sessions on Funds - Funds (Huh!): What are they good for! »
March 07, 2008
The 'True' Story of the Caper Fairy
NOTE: This was inspired about a discussion of olive-sized capers (Roland Wild Caperberries) that was given to me by the 'Caper Fairy.' It inspired this....
Its all coming back...in 18th Century Lithuania, kids would lose teeth and put them under their pillow for the Caper Fairy. The good children would get the Wild Caperberries and be able to make, for their parents, gigantic Salad Nicoise. This was a plan put into place by misguided parents who thought they could gain wonderful meals by hinging the acquisitions of some of the ingredients to a right of passage that all children go through. This complemented the tradition among Lithuanian children who do well in Middle School to get tuna steaks for each "A."
Sadly, the desired outcome was not in the cards for these Lithuanian parents. Students revolted by doing poorly in school (thus not 'earning' tuna). They also developed a clandestine dental education program to extract baby teeth at school so the parents never knew that the Caper Fairy had to visit. The two outcomes of this still leave an imprint on world culture and cuisine. The small group of parents who conceived this idea were banished and settled in Paris. This is why Salad Nicoise is considered a 'French' dish. Second, almost every dentist in the world can trace their lineage back to Lithuania.
It must be true - I found this on the Wikipedia.
Posted by cseeman at March 7, 2008 06:29 AM