Aug 14th, 2009
Myth: Food will save you.
Ok, I didn’t read the book Julie and Julia. And I shouldn’t be surprised that the Nora Ephron movie based on same sells a sunny, idealized empowerment narrative. And yes, Meryl Streep’s performance as Julia Child is truly amazing and a delight to watch. And maybe (likely) I’m just bitter because [...]
Jul 15th, 2009
Ah, the microwave oven. Machine of housewives’ and bachelors’ dreams, or receptacle of domestic fears? According to this fun roundup of microwave myths from The Daily Green, it’s both. I love the fact that most of the myths are actually facts, and vice versa. Growing up in rural Maine, my family’s attitude toward microwaves mirrored [...]
Jun 22nd, 2009
Let no one say the Mythographer is unwilling to correct herself. In a previous post, MM declared categorically that baby carrots “are a myth.” Then what should arrive at my door, delivered by a friend who purchased them at our local farmer’s market, but ACTUAL “baby carrots.”
May 13th, 2009
Recently a friend told me an origin myth about Charles Shaw, the cult favorite extra-cheap Trader Joe’s wine known as Two-Buck Chuck. It was founded, he’d heard, by a California woman who, after being taken for everything in a divorce settlement with a pretentious wine snob named Charles Shaw, set out to make her ex-husband’s [...]
Apr 11th, 2009
So the Mythographer arrived too late on the Passover scene to really ham it up, but thankfully other smarter heads than I have been busy unpacking beloved Biblical stories…and in a way which perfectly illustrates the mission of MM. First comes Bruce Feiler, author of Walking the Bible, an earnestly noncommittal (and bestselling) account of [...]
Apr 10th, 2009
File this under “inconsequential,” but have you ever noticed how many myths have grown up around the lowly lobster? First and foremost: “you can hear a lobster scream when you drop it in a pot of boiling water.” This is demonstrably untrue. Lobsters have no vocal cords. The sound you might hear when you boil [...]