Who Made It?

During Japan’s period of self-imposed isolation, it was illegal to travel beyond the borders of the country, upon pain of death. There was almost no contact with the outside world, except on a tiny island situated in the harbor of the city of Nagasaki. Its name was Deijima, and it was here that a small community of individual were allowed to trade on behalf of the Dutch colonial powers. Here, they taught practices of Western medicine, traded European goods and even kept concubines from the local population. Intrigued? Check out the spellbinding novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacbod De Zoet by David Mitchell to delve into this intriguing historical anomaly.

‘Tex-Mex' cuisine is a fusion of Mexican and American dishes primarily coming from the creation of the Tejano people living in Texas. You might be surprised to know that Tex Mex has imported flavours from other spicy cuisines, such as those from the Canary Islands.

Johnny Cash was well known for his wild escapades during the fifties and sixties. He once brought 500 baby chickens to one of his performances and set them loose in a hotel! He and his band mates also put cherry bombs in a toilet – this cause the plumbing to explode. Not surprisingly, he was arrested seven times during his life!