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A Menu Lost in Translation

971 bytes added, 02:06, 20 March 2022
[[File:Avocado & egg.jpg|thumb|left|An egg and an avocado are basically the same thing.]]
Let's start with that last claim. Is it true? Of course – just as true as the fact that the Polish word for "eggs" is ''"jajka"'', which literally also refers to testicles. Or that fruits with a hard shell around an edible kernel are called "nuts", because that's the English word for testicles, which these fruits bear an uncanny resemblance to. So yeah, it's true, but only in reverse. In fact, ''"āhuacatl"'' is the word for avocado in Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) and possibly also a Nahuatl slang term for balls. <ref>{{Cyt | tytuł = Nahuatl Studies | nazwisko r = Hansen | imię r = Magnus Pharao | rozdział = No Snopes.com, the word guacamole does not come from the Nahuatl word for "ground testicles or avocados" | adres rozdziału = http://nahuatlstudies.blogspot.com/2016/02/no-snopescom-word-guacamole-does-not.html | data = 10 February 2016 }}</ref>
As for Dutch settlers in Brazil, they actually have a pretty long history. In the first half of the 17th century, the north-east coast of Brazil was a Dutch colony known, quite unimaginatively, as New Holland. Its capital city was Mauritsstad, or Recife, now the capital of the state of Pernambuco. Even after the Portuguese recaptured Recife in 1654, Dutch settlement in Brazil continued well into the 20th century.
What made Pernambuco attractive to both the Dutch and the Portuguese were its extensive sugar cane plantations (worked by African slaves). Sugar and rum – both made from sugar cane – a two of the three ingredients of ''advocaat''. But what about the third? If what some sources, such as ''The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets'', say is true, then avocado was the original third ingredient, which lent ''advocaat'' its name. This Mexican fruit was introduced to Brazil in the early 19th century and has been grown there ever since. <ref>{{Cyt | nazwisko = Schaffer | imię = Bruce A. | nazwisko2= Wolstenholme | imię2 = B. Nigel | nazwisko3= Whiley | imię3 = Antony William | tytuł = The Avocado: Botany, Production and Uses | url = https://books.google.pl/books?id=r0hpRJca3zEC&lpg=PR1&pg=PA18 | wydawca = CAB International | rok = 2013 | strony = 18 }}</ref> And so, someone in Brazil combined avocado pulp, rum and sugar into a thick, sweet alcoholic drink that would find favour with the Dutch Brazilians and later, with the Dutch in the Netherlands. Attempts at recreating the drink in Europe led some Dutchperson to replace the avocado (which doesn't grow in Europe) with yolk. <ref>{{Cyt | nazwisko = Goldstein | imię = Darra | tytuł = The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets | url = | wydawca = Oxford University Press | rok = 2015 | strony = 236 }}</ref> The colour was different, but the texture may have been similar. Now, is it true? I don't know; it's not entirely implausible, but seems like a bit of stretch to me.
But hey, it's April Fool's, so yeah, 100% confirmed!