To distinguish it from taut which is pronounced the exact same way. :)

3 inches is ~7.6 cm and a foot is ~30 cm.

It is a common phenomenon that many things apparently inhibit pathogens in culture but are ineffective or harmful in an intact organism.

It brings to mind this XKCD.

A number of places serve instant grits which are just horrendous. If that was one’s first experience I could see how it is a turn off. Sometimes it is from places you don’t expect. I remember ordering cheese grits as a side at one BBQ joint in North Carolina and they were instant grits with a pinch of shredded cheese dropped on top.

Pecan pie. Easily my favorite American dessert.

I love a well done pecan pie but I find myself avoiding it because you never know when some Karo jelly with a few pecans thrown on top horror is going to be what is served you.

I found Malort to be not all that bad. Not something I’d choose as my liquor of choice but not the concentrated hell I expected from descriptions and reactions.

I bought a small (20 g) jar at an international store on a whim. I followed the advice I’d seen of lots of butter and just a tiny bit of Vegemite and I have to say it was pretty tasty. I then had the intrusive thought to really slather it on and… yeah, if that had been my first experience I’d be convinced it was the most vile substance known to man.

My wife spent 18 months in Bulgaria. When she talks about the food banitsa invariably comes up as something she desperately misses.

Interesting. I’ve had fårikål but that sounds more interesting to me. Probably on account of the use of cured meat, particularly smoked, likely giving a more complex flavor to the lamb.

We always camped on some mostly permafrost supported island in the middle of a wetland when we hunted so we avoided open fires. I’ve got lots of memories of that place. Spiders pelting me as they were knocked off the tall grass by our airboats we rode in, the one black bear my father shot that had been eating so many blueberries that the smell hit you in the face when we cleaned it, or my cousin and I being chewed out for sinking part of ‘our’ island when we attempted to build a log cabin. That’s why I think nostalgia is playing a big part in why I miss the dishes so much.

I grew up in interior Alaska. The hometown food I miss the most is saltine crusted Northern Pike. Very bony but so tasty. Though to be honest a lot of that may be nostalgia as it was something we’d eat camping as an extended family when the fishers in the group had a good haul. Pan fried moose heart and tongue is a simular situation.

If we do the United States instead of my home state I’d say key lime pie for sweet and shrimp and grits for savory.

His standard for being labeled a Nazi is one Hitler fails prior to 1939. They might as well have a sign with bold print proclaiming, “I’m not to be taken seriously.”

This brings back memories of my sedimentology field trip when I was at IUPUI.

You thought correctly. The locality is named after oolotic limestone not vice versa.

If I stumbled upon mastic flavored lokum I’d have to give it a try.

One of my personal favorites is seeing salt advertised as being non-GMO.

My wife and I pick a country each year and plan our Christmas Eve dinner to make of food from that country. This year we picked The Gambia so it is going to be domoda (peanut stew) and thiakry (millet couscous pudding).

We always cut down a tree in the forest - the forest manager makes a map of which parts of the public forest they want the firs and spruce thinned out, so it’s like free forest management. After Christmas we put the tree out by our chickens, who enjoy sitting on and under it.

Man that brings back some memories. While my family grew up with an artificial tree but my Aunt and Uncle always went out and chopped down a spruce for Christmas and it being Alaska there was no shortage to be found. They were the host for the Christmas Eve get together.

I often prepare newer-ish dishes but always filling that template that I mentioned above.

We (wife and I) love trying new dishes and that is part of why we do a new country every year. Often the result is “Huh…” and we enjoy the experience even if the dish isn’t a new favorite but every once in a while we stumble across something that ends up joining our repertoire.

This year I’m going to tweak Ur’s palace cake to serve it as dessert alongside the tiramisù, my sister loves those cheese-based sweets.

That sounds interesting. If you are a fan of historical recipes (and this isn’t just a one off) I can’t recommend Tasting History enough.

Everyone gets together to make lussekatter the first day off from school.

Those look neat. As a baker at heart I often look for some cake, bread, cookie, or other baked treat I can make for the contribution for our Christmas Eve meal (I always work Christmas Eve so being able to either bake something the day before or get a dough ready and let it stall in the fridge helps ease things). I may have to try a country’s version if they end up on the list in the future.