Something that a lot of people in the USA might not appreciate is that there were a LOT of wars, sometimes very bloody, in South America as boundary disputes were fought over. It’s why professional armies and military governments have been so prominent in those countries. Imagine a USA in which something like the War of 1812 or the Mexican-American War had been fought every fifteen years or so for the first century after the nation’s founding.
My favorite part of the history of Chile is that an insane Frenchman convinced the indigenous people to make make him king of Patagonia and he immediately provoked a war with both Chile and Argentina.
A couple of years ago, I found out about the Paraguayan War:
Paraguay is estimated to have lost up to 69% of its population, most of them due to illness, hunger and physical exhaustion, of whom 90% were male…
OTOH, they did give us better rallying cries than boring “I regret I have but one life to give for my country,” or “On Wisconsin,” etc.
Better: “Surrender? Your grandmother [is who] should surrender, you bastard!”
B
Paraguay has a fascinating history. One quirk is that it’s the only country with an entire province (and its capital) named after a US president: Rutherford B. Hayes.
Whilst we’re on the subject of South America…
Yesterday I was chatting to a retired chef who has an enthusiasm for travel, particularly to South America. He was singing the praises of Nikkei, Japanese Peruvian cuisine, which I had never heard of. Checking out Nikkei, I also stumbled across Chifa, Chinese Peruvian cuisine. Both have their origins in diasporas to Peru.
j
You just know there is someone complaining that this isn’t like the Chinese food you get in China.
Singapore has some great Chinese food that includes elements of Indian and Arabic cuisin, we did a walking food tour in Singapore’s Little India that was amazing.
Ah, that explains Singapore noodles! My fav for sure.
One of our favorite restaurants on Long Island (NY) is Nikkei of Peru.
It turns out that there are several Nikkei restaurants in London as well. A project is evolving…
j
And now I’m wondering if the Nikkei cuisines of New York and London are the same as the Nikkei of Peru. And if they aren’t, what name should we give them?
That thought had crossed my mind as well. I think the rule has to be, if they use locally sourced (rather than Peruvian) ingredients, then yes, we do need a new name.
j
ETA: for London I’ll offer Cock-Nikkei
I’ll get my coat.
French unions have designed special barbecues with wheels that fit in tram tracks down the middle of the streets, so they can grill sausages while they march.
French unions make me long for a resurgence of fascism, where strikers would be beaten and shot until they learn they don’t have a God-given right to shut down society.
Moderating:
This is not an interesting fact. And is kinda a thread shit.
Sorry; it was just something about the idea that the French unions have institutionalized their protests that set me off.
Maybe you’d like how Japanese bus drivers strike. They stay on their routes, but everyone rides free
Actually I do like that.
On my first read-through of this, I thought you wrote “French onions.”
There’s an interesting fact I just learned.