Today, I am thankful for those small inventions that keep our lives from falling apart.
When I was 4 years old, my parents took my older brother and me to visit my mom’s family in the southern part of Greece, in a town outside of Kalamata (where all those delicious olives comes from). At that time, in 1972, the road from Athens to Kalamata was somewhat treacherous and mountainous. What would normally have been a 90 minute drive with a modern-day highway became a 4-hour ordeal. So, naturally, our travels were interrupted for lunch just outside of the town of Corinth, where the narrow land bridge connected the Greek mainland with the Peloponnese peninsula. That moment was, in my recollection, my first experience with a souvlaki. The popular Greek food known as the souvlaki is nothing more than small pieces of meat (usually lamb, chicken, or beef) connected on a small wooden stick, or skewer. A I rapidly learned from my father that day, the proper approach to eating a souvlaki (or kalamaki, if you are a true Greek connoisseur), is to use your mouth as your implement of choice, essentially sliding one of the delicious delicacies straight off the skewer and directly into one’s mouth. Utensils, condiments, and proper eating etiquette are not only not needed but essentially frowned upon.
As I grew older, I was surprised (and somewhat disappointed) to learn that the Greeks had not invented the skewer. My ancestral inventors of democracy, philosophy, and medicine were really second to this invention. Yes, the Greek Minoans uncovered skewers at the Akrotiri site in Santorini from the 17th Century BC, but archaeologists have uncovered skewers as far back as the Lower Paleolithic Age (over 300,000 years ago) in a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany.
However, a good idea like the skewer is not something that can be owned outright by the Germans or Greeks. Over time, all civilizations have adapted the practice of food on a stick. In addition to Greek souvlaki (and Middle Eastern kebabs), you can find satay (in Indonesia), churrasco (in Brazil), anticucho (in Peru), kkochi (in Korea), espetada (in Portugal), and chuan (in China). I think you get my point.
Even here in the United States, our children partake of corndogs on wooden sticks (preferably with a side of tater tots) in their elementary school cafeterias. Even in the summer, we roast marsh mellows on an open fire, and we devour Firecracker popsicles at a backyard picnic. Yes, a good invention like a small wooden stick should never go to waste.
No wonder the US has pronounced this weekend (Mar 28 & 29) as National Something on a Stick Days. May you partake of something mouthwatering and scrumptious on this most festive of days. But, my advice is to enjoy in moderation. I hate to be the buzzkill, but you should know that we also happen to celebrate National Triglycerides Day over this same weekend.
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