Eclipses and food
Let me admit up front, I don’t know a thing about what food is eaten at the time of an eclipse, in any country, at any period in history. I needed help, because there’s a total lunar eclipse this Tuesday. It looks as if I might be having a picnic dinner specifically to watch the Moon being eaten and it seemed quite wrong that I didn’t know a thing. I asked Lara, the astronomer friend who alerted me to the total lunar eclipse:
“Are there any food history links with eclipses that you know of? And if there aren’t, what does your group of astronomers eat during a total eclipse of the moon?”
This is Lara’s answer:
Hmmmm, I don’t know if this is of any use at all, but the main associations I have with eclipses is drinking (usually the non-alcoholic variety, believe it or not). So, cool beverages (usually water) if it is hot outside and hot beverages (usually hot chocolate or coffee) if it is cool outside. We did have pizza delivered once during a lunar eclipse that was in January and I was hosting a big open house on the roof of the astronomy building. My only other association with lunar eclipses is that Boston Red Sox finally winning the baseball World Series after 86 years and I was stuck at work because there was a total lunar eclipse that night.
Hmmmm, I wonder if there were any associations with feasts or something after an eclipse happened in ancient times? Some cultures were able to predict them, but some weren’t… you can imagine how scary it would be to have the sun disappear or the moon turn red all of a sudden!
Now, you could get totally silly (not something you EVER do, I’m sure!
) and go with ‘astronomically’ named foods. We did something like this for a department monthly birthday party once. Moon pies (I have no idea if you have those down under) in particular if I recall. Mars bars too. Which would be appropriate given the fact that Mars isn’t going to be as large as the full moon that night.
Thanks, Lara! For the record, we don’t have moon pies in Australia. I tasted them when I was on my book tour and I can see why we don’t have them. I can still remember the taste and peculiar texture and I still can’t quite work out why I don’t want any more, ever.
food history, astronomy, lunar eclipse, eclipses, moon pies, mars bars
August 25th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Pop Rocks?
I wouldn’t put it past people offering goats, cattle, and sheep to please the gods and goddesses in the 4th and 5th century.
August 26th, 2007 at 5:52 am
I have never got over the ‘moon pie’ scene in The film of The Green Mile. Electric chair scene - fine. Moon Pie scene - do not go there!
How about Stargazy pie for the main course - no? I wouldn’t either. Never been partial to fish heads.
Would various folks of a herbal and medicinal bent in the past have been excitedly rushing about with their sickles, culling various plants during a lunar eclipse?
August 26th, 2007 at 6:20 am
I have eaten Moon Pies - I will not even go near a Stargazy Pie (though this may be due to my rather extreme fish allergy, of course).
I’m thinking back to my Medieval herbal knowledge and I don’t think eclipses are times that are suitable for cutting things. That’s just off the top of my head, though. I’ll check it out sometime.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:32 am
BTW, on the moon pies… when we had them at the party I ate a quarter of one to jog my memory of them from my childhood. It jogged it enough to remind me why I ate other desserts instead.
Oh, and I’ll be eating cereal during this eclipse because I’ll be getting ready for work!
August 26th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
A full moon is best for the harvesting of medicinal herbs and plants (think Getafix the Druid) so I’m guessing that during an eclipse would be not so good (quite apart from the possibility of injury due to using sharp implements in the dark…).