CHRIS BENNETT encased in musings on the humble sausage.
SO, last Saturday was Heritage Day or National Braai Day; for some.
Here on this languid, lagoon festooned paradise of banana, sugar cane and nut growing enterprises, it rained. Not the superb display of a subtropical downpour, but a teasing segue of bright, if slate-grey, skies and wimpish little showers pointless enough to put out the fires and dirty the car.
In fairness I have to admit that in my small circle we had been practicing for some time.
At a previous braai I had served some of the most extraordinarily delicious bacon and chicken sausages from Mrs W’s little shop in the Shelly Centre. A friend brought along a packet of viennas.
Ja, well, no, fine.
The thing about viennas, or so I have always found on the rare occasion that I have been reduced to eating them, is that they need lots of eye-watering English mustard, otherwise they taste of nothing. But then there is no accounting for taste.
The Vienna sausage, which is German, was invented by a butcher from Frankfurt . In order to thoroughly confuse the consumer they are also called Frankfurters. This priceless gem of trivia I didn’t know until I investigated.
If you thought things could not get more trivial, I have to reveal that the sausage in this form has been around for some time.
My delving turned up the coronation of Maximillian II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1564. His lofty nomenclature was something of a pretence; in reality he was king of Germany
At this doubtless august event hot dogs were served. The portrait of His Imperial Majesty suggests he was very fond of them; his rotundity appears to be both imperial and majestic.
Curiously Wikipedia says that the hot dog dates from the 13th century and cites this coronation as the first recorded use of the food. There is a discrepancy of 300 years here somewhere. However, if you cast your mind, as some can, back to about 1250, then it is feasible that the butchers of Frankfurt (the city in which Maximillian was chosen) used dog meat in their confections. And the sausages were served hot, so …
"The best thing a man can have, in my view, is health."
So wrote the ancient Greek philosopher and playwright Epicharmos of Kos about 500 BC. Kos is an island in the Aegean, not far from Rhodes , and is one of many beautiful Greek islands.
This worthy ancient wrote between thirty five and fifty comedies, one of which was called simply The Sausage. Sadly I have been unable to uncover any substantial stuffing for this spicy piece of information.
.
His saying, quoted above, was born out by his longevity. He lived, according to the scholars, until he was over 90.
I think Heritage Day is one of our most sensible celebrations. We look to our past, both in order to appreciate what we have now and in order, possibly, to learn something.
The obverse side of the Heritage Day coin, is celebrating our national (unofficial) sport: lighting a pyre and throwing pieces of dead sheep at it; or, for some of us, writhing and fainting coils of wors. In time honoured fashion we stand with a chop in one hand and a glass of somebody’s blanc de blanc in the other.
As only South Africans can, and especially those of us in this corner, we may gaze out to the shining sea and, contemplating the horizon, debate the future.
Such are the joys of the South Coast
CB
30/9/11
600wds
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