According to the Time-Life cookbook series.

No, no, Old Git, don't even think about that answer - English is not one of them.

And if you all can name all four, I'll tell you a surprising fact about two of them.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 26, 2000

Answers

French, Italian, Chinese, and BBQ :-)

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), August 26, 2000.

Kritter, you got three right, and your fourth choice, BBQ, is an entirely excusable mistake. The fourth one is the hardest.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 26, 2000.

ummmmmm, is it Middle eastern?

-- (sis@home.zzz), August 26, 2000.

Sis, I'm afraid not.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 26, 2000.

TEX-MEX!!!!!!!!! :-)

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), August 26, 2000.

Gayla, I thought of that too..heh.

Could it be Japanese? Szechawan? Indian (dots..not feathers)

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), August 26, 2000.

the fourth is Greek!

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), August 26, 2000.

Well, kritter, you came thru. It's Indian.

And now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story.

Because it turns out that two of these cuisines are derived from Swedish cooking. Impossible, you say? Well then, just consider the Swedish meatball.

What is the basis of Italian cusine. The meatball, of course.

And the basis of French cuisine is their sauces. Consider the sauce on a Swedish meatball. Where do you suppose the French got the idea.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 26, 2000.

From Catherine De Medidci.

-- flora (***@__._), August 27, 2000.

Flora, I just don't know about you and your grasp of history. You're telling me that the French took their guidance on food (and the French have always been crazy over the pleasures of the table) from perhaps the most awful woman who has ever lived, poisoner and inciter of mass religious murder. As against the cheerful wholesome Swedes? I don't think so.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 27, 2000.

You mean Cafun ain't one of 'em????

Now's a fine time to tell me; just whem I was fixin' to serve up a plate of crawfish and gator balls to a gatherin' of dignitaries.

An' just WHAT am I gonna do with all this dirty rice and gumbo?

BTW, flora, I'm with you. One of my favorite old cookbooks is an ancient tome titled "Cookin' with Cathy D." Lots a good recipes for mushrooms and hemlock. ;-)

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-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 27, 2000.

And Pete, I always heard that Marco Polo brought back spaggetti noodles from China, and that tomatoes came from S. America.

I'm gonna go right down to Mario's Swedish-Szechawan-Bolivian Italian Eaterie and tell them what frauds they are!

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-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 27, 2000.

Gadzooks, how come y'all didn't correct my spelling?!

Ok Pete-ster, read it & weep:

"French cooking is considered by many to be the standard against which all other cuisines are measured (it is also referred to as haute cuisine). This standard was introduced into the French courts by Catherine de Medici in the 1500s, and later perfected by Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), who is considered the Father of French Cooking."

http://www.sallys-place.com/food/ethnic_cusine/france.htm

-- flora (***@__._), August 27, 2000.

Lon,

{Is that piece of gator ball you got stuck in your tooth?}

You were in the right territory with Marco Polo, Venice was quite a trading capital at the time. During Renaissance in Florence, gator risotto recipes reached gastronomical heights heretofore never imagined.

The Frogs leaped with joy when Cathy brought her cooks along.

And that's the truth...

-- flora (***@__._), August 27, 2000.

Speaking of Catherine de Medici as we are, I have a question for old movie buffs.

Decades ago I saw a movie which starred Lana Turner as the heroine, who had a frightening encounter with the young Catherine, who explained to Lana how easily she could be poisoned.

Now the young Catherine was played by an Italian actress whom I always thought was pretty neat, but I can't remember her name. Does anyone know who I'm talking about? (She may have been Pier Angele's (sp?) sister.)

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 27, 2000.

Catherine De Medici was played by Marisa Pavan in the 1956 Lana Turner movie called "Diane". The movie also had a young Roger Moore playing Prince Henri.

(I'm embarressed at how much I know about movies...when I can't remember what my phone number is half the time)

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), August 27, 2000.

That's it, Marisa Pavan. Thanks, kritter. I swear, I haven't thought of that name for over thirty years.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 27, 2000.

Peter...plus an FYI for what it's worth. She was indeed Pier Angeli's sister...her twin as a matter of fact. Pier was the one who was married to Vic Damone, but earlier than that I think she dated James Dean for awhile. Died of a drug overdose. I think Marisa is still alive and well.

I am a huge fan of old movies, and I love Lana! I'm thankful for Cable TV channels like American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies, because I can usually find something wonderful on them every evening. Love seeing old movies I've never seen before too. Always watching for a few classics I've missed. That, my friend, is when movies WERE movies! :-) (sigh..born in the wrong generation?)

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), August 27, 2000.

ur all on crak

-- tinker (nobody doesnt like sara Lee@hotmail.com), November 14, 2000.

Italian,French,Chinese,Turkish

-- RW (hydrowolf_99@yahoo.com), November 15, 2000.

Got it!

Hamburger, hot dogs, french fries, and coffee.

And you guys thought I didn't like good food......

Hah!

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 16, 2000.

In Robert's answer, I think I see the influence of "The Official Couch Potato's Handbook".

This truly fine publication covers all aspects of the couch potato way of life - what to wear, what to say to a spouse who wants you to get up and get something, etc. etc.

It gives the five basic food groups which should concern the couch potato - starch, sugar, salt, grease, and alcohol.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), November 16, 2000.

Ah - But kind sir.... I may not be operating the couch properly.....

I generally use a couch sideways, feet on the other end, pillow behind and a book in front .....But only the upstairs couch, the soft one with the reading light conveniently behind my sholder and a nice softly padded end piece.....

Of course, the TV is firmly isolated downstairs,and, if running at all, is running behind closed doors and the sound turned down.

Can finish a Tom Clancy novel in 4-5 hours that way. (A long one - like Red Storm Rising, took 6 hours. A simple Star Wars novel (we've got over 40 of them) in 3-4 hours. Discover magazine in 45 minutes. Popular Science or Newsweek in 15-30 minutes... "But only for the pictures..."

See, it's actually more fun to read a mystery novel or space adventure novel from somewhere in the middle to the end, then go back to the front and read the beginning to the middle.

That way you get to figure who all the characters are, why they are doing what they are doing, and what they are going to with whatever happened in the part of the book you haven't read .... while trying to also figure out how and why it will end whatever way it will end.

Then you go back to the beginning and see if you were right.....

Sort of like getting twice the entertainment in half the time....cause you already know how it ends.

Besides.....

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 16, 2000.

Robert, true couch potatos do not recognize you as one of their own. Your true couch potato basically confines his reading to TV Guide.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), November 16, 2000.

I (inadvertently) applied Robert's approach to reading sci-fi to watching Rio Bravo on VCD recently. I watched the second disk first, and the first disk after that. I found I enjoyed both the action and the plot build-up more that way.

-- Jack Brabham (jcb@hkstar.com), January 11, 2003.

Ah.....

The influeneza's we have on people.

(And he was so young, so previous innnocent. Can the world forgive me for corrupting the innocent? For ever anon, he will be driven to read books inside out, flippin' CD's in reverse order and watching the TV only in dire emergencies.)

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (cook.r@backwards.chapters), January 12, 2003.