1.
Wafer (electronics)
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Finally the individual microcircuits are separated and packaged. By 1960, silicon wafers were being manufactured in the U. S. by companies such as MEMC/SunEdison. In 1965, American engineers Eric O. Ernst, Donald J. Hurd, Wafers are formed of highly pure, nearly defect-free single crystalline material. One process for forming crystalline wafers is known as Czochralski growth invented by the Polish chemist Jan Czochralski. In this process, an ingot of high purity mono crystalline semiconductor, such as silicon or germanium. The boule is then sliced with a saw and polished to form wafers. The size of wafers for photovoltaics is 100–200 mm square and the thickness is 200–300 μm, in the future,160 μm will be the standard. Electronics use wafer sizes from 100–450 mm diameter, Wafers are cleaned with weak acids to remove unwanted particles, or repair damage caused during the sawing process. When used for cells, the wafers are textured to create a rough surface to increase their efficiency. The generated PSG is removed from the edge of the wafer in the etching, silicon wafers are available in a variety of diameters from 25.4 mm to 300 mm. Semiconductor fabrication plants are defined by the diameter of wafers that they are tooled to produce, Wafers grown using materials other than silicon will have different thicknesses than a silicon wafer of the same diameter. Wafer thickness is determined by the strength of the material used. This was the cost basis for increasing wafer size, conversion to 300 mm wafers from 200 mm wafers began in earnest in 2000, and reduced the price per die about 30-40%. However, this was not without significant problems for the industry, there is considerable resistance to the 450 mm transition despite the possible productivity improvement, because of concern about insufficient return on investment. Higher cost semiconductor fabrication equipment for larger wafers increases the cost of 450 mm fabs, converting to larger 450 mm wafers would reduce price per die only for process operations such as etch where cost is related to wafer count, not wafer area. Cost for processes such as lithography is proportional to wafer area, nikon plans to deliver 450-mm lithography equipment in 2015, with volume production in 2017. In November 2013 ASML paused development of 450-mm lithography equipment, citing uncertain timing of chipmaker demand, the time-line for 450 mm has not been fixed. Mark Durcan, CEO of Micron Technology, said in February 2014 that he expects 450 mm adoption to be delayed indefinitely or discontinued, “I am not convinced that 450mm will ever happen but, to the extent that it does, it’s a long way out in the future
2.
Gastronomy
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One who is well versed in gastronomy is called a gastronome, while a gastronomist is one who unites theory and practice in the study of gastronomy. Gastronomy can be subdivided into four areas, which are practical gastronomy, theoretical gastronomy, technical gastronomy. Practical gastronomy is associated with the practice and study of the preparation, production and it is related with a system and process approach, focused on recipes and cookery books. Food gastronomy is connected with food and beverages and their genesis, technical gastronomy underpins practical gastronomy, introducing a rigorous approach to evaluation of gastronomic topics. Etymologically, the gastronomy is derived from Ancient Greek γαστήρ, gastér, stomach, and νόμος, nómos laws that govern. Gastronomy involves discovering, tasting, experiencing, researching, understanding and writing about food preparation and it also studies how nutrition interfaces with the broader culture. Later on, the application of biological and chemical knowledge to cooking has become known as molecular gastronomy, yet covers an much broader. The culinary term appears for the first time in a title in a poem by Joseph Berchoux in 1801 entitled Gastronomie, the derivative gourmet has come into use since the publication of the book by Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste. According to Brillat-Savarin, Gastronomy is the knowledge and understanding of all that relates to man as he eats and its purpose is to ensure the conservation of men, using the best food possible. There have been many writings on gastronomy throughout the world that capture the thoughts, in some cases, these works continue to define or influence the contemporary gastronomic thought and cuisine of their respective cultures. Apicius, A 5th century collection of Roman recipes by the gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius, contains instructions for preparing dishes enjoyed by the elite of the time. The Physiology of Taste, A 19th century book by Chef Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin that defined classic French cuisine, the work contains a large collection of flamboyant recipes from the time, but goes into the theory on preparation of French dishes and hospitality. Food Science Cultural food studies Culture, Food, and Human development Food manufacturing Health and nutrition Food writing / blogging Food portal Addison, Gastronomy at BU,6 June 2011. The Physiology of Taste, by Brillat-Savarin, what the Hell Is Gastronomy, Anyway. Traité de la Gastronomie, Patrimoine et Culture, Sang de la Terre publishing,2012 Montagné, larousse gastronomique, The New American Edition of the Worlds Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia. These Molecular Gastronomy Dishes Look Weirdly Delicious - and Theyre Selling out in DC, Molecular Gastronomy – The Food Science. Apicius English translation Suiyuan Shidan English translation The Physiology of Taste English Translation
3.
Biscuit
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Biscuit is a term used for a diverse variety of baked, commonly flour-based food products. The term is applied to two products in North America and the Commonwealth of Nations and Europe. The North American biscuit is typically a soft, leavened quick bread and this article covers the other type of biscuit, which is typically hard, flat and unleavened. In Commonwealth English and Hiberno-English, a biscuit is a baked product that would be called either a cookie or a cracker in the United States. Biscuits in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Ireland are hard and may be savoury or sweet, such as biscuits, digestives, hobnobs, ginger nuts, rich tea, bourbons. In the Commonwealth Nations and Ireland, the term typically refers to only one type of biscuit, however. In the United States and some parts of English Canada, a biscuit is a bread, somewhat similar to a scone. Leavening is achieved through the use of baking powder or when using buttermilk baking soda, biscuits are usually referred to as either baking powder biscuits or buttermilk biscuits if buttermilk is used rather than milk as a liquid. A Southern regional variation using the term beaten biscuit is closer to hardtack than soft dough biscuits, the Old French word bescuit is derived from the Latin words bis and coquere, coctus, and, hence, means twice-cooked. This is because biscuits were originally cooked in a process, first baked. This term was adapted into English in the 14th century during the Middle Ages, in the Middle English word bisquite, to represent a hard. The Dutch language from around 1703 had adopted the word koekje to have a meaning for a similar hard. When continental Europeans began to emigrate to colonial North America, the two words and their same but different meanings began to clash, the words cookie or cracker became the words of choice to mean a hard, baked product. Further confusion has been added by the adoption of the word biscuit for a small leavened bread popular in the United States, according to the American English dictionary Merriam-Webster, a cookie is a small flat or slightly raised cake. In modern Italian usage, the term biscotto is used to refer to any type of hard twice-baked biscuit, and not only to the cantuccini as in the past. The need for nutritious, easy-to-store, easy-to-carry, and long-lasting foods on long journeys, however, this took up additional space on what were either horse-powered treks or small ships, reducing the time of travel before additional food was required. This resulted in early armies adopting the style of hunter-foraging, the introduction of the baking of processed cereals including the creation of flour provided a more reliable source of food. Egyptian sailors carried a flat, brittle loaf of bread called dhourra cake while the Romans had a biscuit called buccellum
4.
Ice cream
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Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It is usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream and it is typically sweetened with sugar or sugar substitutes. Typically, flavourings and colourings are added in addition to stabilizers, the mixture is stirred to incorporate air spaces and cooled below the freezing point of water to prevent detectable ice crystals from forming. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at low temperatures. It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases, the meaning of the phrase ice cream varies from one country to another. Phrases such as frozen custard, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato, products that do not meet the criteria to be called ice cream are labelled frozen dairy dessert instead. In other countries, such as Italy and Argentina, one word is used for all variants, analogues made from dairy alternatives, such as goats or sheeps milk, or milk substitutes, are available for those who are lactose intolerant, allergic to dairy protein, or vegan. Ice cream may be served in dishes, for eating with a spoon, or in cones, Ice cream may be served with other desserts, such as apple pie. Ice cream is used to other desserts, including ice cream floats, sundaes, milkshakes, ice cream cakes and even baked items. During the 5th century BC, ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey, the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, encouraged his Ancient Greek patients to eat ice as it livens the life-juices and increases the well-being. In 400 BC, the Persians invented a special chilled food, made of water and vermicelli. The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavours, a frozen mixture of milk and rice was used in China around 200 BC. The Roman Emperor Nero had ice brought from the mountains and combined it with fruit toppings to create chilled delicacies, in the sixteenth century, the Mughal emperors used relays of horsemen to bring ice from the Hindu Kush to Delhi, where it was used in fruit sorbets. When Italian duchess Catherine de Medici married the Duke of Orléans in 1533, there is no historical evidence to support these legends, which first appeared during the 19th century. The first recipe in French for flavoured ices appears in 1674, recipes for sorbetti saw publication in the 1694 edition of Antonio Latinis Lo Scalco alla Moderna. Recipes for flavoured ices begin to appear in François Massialots Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits, Massialots recipes result in a coarse, pebbly texture. Latini claims that the results of his recipes should have the consistency of sugar. Ice cream recipes first appeared in England in the 18th century, the recipe for ice cream was published in Mrs. Mary Ealess Receipts in London in 1718
5.
Garnish (food)
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A garnish is an item or substance used as a decoration or embellishment accompanying a prepared food dish or drink. In many cases, it may give added or contrasting flavor, some garnishes are selected mainly to augment the visual impact of the plate, while others are selected specifically for the flavor they may impart. This is in contrast to a condiment, a sauce added to another food item primarily for its flavor. A food item which is served with garnish may be described as being garni, many garnishes are not intended to be eaten, though for some it is fine to do so. Parsley is an example of a garnish, this pungent green herb has small distinctly shaped leaves, firm stems. A garnish makes food or drink items more visually appealing and they may, for example, enhance their color, such as when paprika is sprinkled on a salmon salad. They may give a color contrast, for example when chives are sprinkled on potatoes. They may make a more visually appealing, such as when a cocktail umbrella is added to an exotic drink. Sushi may be garnished with baran, a type of grass or leaf. A garnish may be so identified with a specific dish that the dish may appear incomplete without the garnish. Examples include a banana split sundae with cherries on top or buffalo wings served with celery stick garnish and blue cheese dressing
6.
Waffle
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Pandan waffles or as referred to in Vietnamese, bánh kẹp lá dứa, are flavored with pandan and include coconut milk in the batter. They also characterized by their green color and browning when cooked. In Vietnam, pandan waffles sell for around 2000 Vietnamese đồngs each so are popular among children, in Vietnam, they are a popular street food made in either cast iron molds heated with charcoal or in electric waffle irons. Egg waffle List of Vietnamese dishes
7.
Kit Kat
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The standard bars consist of two or four fingers composed of three layers of wafer, separated and covered by an outer layer of chocolate. Each finger can be snapped from the bar separately, there are many different flavours of Kit Kat. Use of the name Kit Kat or Kit Cat for a type of food back to the 18th century. The origins of what is now known as the Kit Kat brand go back to 1911, when Rowntrees, although the terms were not immediately used, the first conception of the Kit Kat appeared in the 1920s, when Rowntree launched a brand of boxed chocolates entitled Kit Cat. This continued into the 1930s, when Rowntrees shifted focus and production onto its Black Magic, with the promotion of alternative products the Kit Cat brand decreased and was eventually discontinued. The original four-finger bar was developed after a worker at Rowntrees York Factory put a suggestion in a box for a snack that a man could take to work in his pack. The bar launched on 29 August 1935, under the title of Rowntrees Chocolate Crisp, the products official title of Rowntrees Chocolate Crisp was renamed Kit Kat Chocolate Crisp in 1937, the same year that Kit Kat began to incorporate Break into its recognisable advertising strategy. The colour scheme and first flavour variation to the brand came in 1942, owing to World War II, the flavour of Kit Kat was changed to dark chocolate, the packaging abandoned its Chocolate Crisp title, and was adorned in blue. After the war the title was altered to Kit Kat and resumed its original milk recipe, following on from its success in the United Kingdom, in the 1940s Kit Kat was exported to Canada, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1958, Donald Gilles, the executive at JWT Orland, created the advertising line Have a Break. In June 1988 Nestlé acquired Kit Kat through the purchase of Rowntrees, the Hershey Company has a licence to produce Kit Kat bars in the United States which dates from 1970, when Hershey executed a licensing agreement with Rowntree. As Kit Kat is one of Hersheys top five brands in the US market, variants in the traditional chocolate bar first appeared in 1996 when Kit Kat Orange, the first flavour variant, was introduced in the United Kingdom. Its success was followed by several varieties including mint and caramel, variations on the traditional Kit Kat have continued to develop throughout the 2000s. In 2000, Nestlé acquired Fujiyas share of the brand in Japan, and also expanded its marketplace in Japan, Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela, in addition to markets in Eastern and Central Europe. Throughout the decade Kit Kat has introduced dozens of flavours and line extensions within specific consumer markets, the traditional bar has four fingers which each measure approximately 1 centimetre by 9 centimetres. A two-finger bar was launched in the 1930s, and has remained the companys best-selling biscuit brand ever since, the 1999 Kit Kat Chunky has one large finger approximately 2.5 centimetres wide. Kit Kat bars are sold individually and in bags, boxes, in Ireland, France, the UK and America Nestlé also produces a Kit Kat ice cream, and in Australia and Malaysia, Kit Kat Drumsticks. In 2010, a new £5 million manufacturing line was opened by Nestlé in York and this will produce more than a billion Kit Kat bars each year
8.
Coffee Crisp
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Coffee Crisp is a chocolate bar made in Canada. It consists of alternating layers of wafer and a foamed coffee-flavoured soft candy. The bar originated in the UK in the 1930s as a bar named Rowntrees Wafer Crisp. This was later renamed Chocolate Crisp, the bar was later introduced to Canadians as Biscrisp. In 1938, a variation was added to the line of flavoured Biscrisps. Rowntrees takeover by Nestle in the 1980s included the Canadian operations of Rowntrees, as of 2014 the product is marketed by Nestlé Canada. In 2001, the first variation of the Coffee Crisp brand was introduced, a limited amount of the orange flavour was reissued in 2002. That same year, a limited edition Coffee Crisp Raspberry flavour was released, Coffee Crisp Café Caramel was sold in the summer of 2004 and again in the summer of 2006. A limited edition Coffee Crisp White was launched in the autumn same year. A limited edition maple flavoured bar was available from April to September 2005, for much of the 2000s, Coffee Crisp was available in French Vanilla and Triple Mocha flavours. In 2005, the coffee bean shaped Coffee Crisp Beans were introduced, the most recent bar form was Coffee Crisp Yogurt. In January 2007, all variations of Coffee Crisp bars other than the original were discontinued, Coffee Crisp 70% dark chocolate was introduced in 2009. Some time between 2008 and 2010, French Vanilla and Chocolate Crunch variations were made available, in 2014, Coffee Crisp Latte was released, in celebration of Coffee Crisps 75th anniversary. A Coffee Crisp-flavoured ice cream bar and ice cream flavour are also available, Canadian expatriates have long lamented the bars relative unavailability outside of Canada. There was a petition at coffeecrisp. org asking Nestlé to market the Coffee Crisp in all U. S. cities, according to the site, the petition succeeded, and Nestlé began marketing the Coffee Crisp nationwide in late July 2006. In April 2009, the marketing of the Coffee Crisp bar into the U. S. was discontinued by Nestlé Canada, in May 2009 Coffee Crisp was being exported into the U. S. market by British Wholesale Imports
9.
Sacramental bread
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Sacramental bread, sometimes called altar bread, Communion bread, the Lamb or simply the host, is the bread which is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. The word hostia is Latin for sacrificial animal, the sacrifice of Jesus according to Christian theology puts an end to the need for animal sacrifice as had been practiced in the Jerusalem Temple and all blood sacrifice once-for-all. The word was retained to describe the bread of Eucharist as a representation of the Christs sacrifice. The Orthodox Church and Eastern-rite Roman Catholic churches use leavened bread for the Eucharist, thus, the sacramental bread symbolizes the Resurrected Christ. The hostia or sacramental bread, known as prosphorá or a πρόσφορον may be out of only four ingredients, fine wheat flour, pure water, yeast. Sometimes holy water will be sprinkled into the dough or on the kneading trough at the beginning of the process. The baking may only be performed by a believing Orthodox Christian in good standing—having preferably been recently to Confession, before baking, each loaf is formed by placing two disks of dough, one on top of the other, and stamping it with a special liturgical seal. The prosphora should be fresh and not stale or moldy when presented at the altar for use in the Divine Liturgy, often several prosphora will be baked and offered by the faithful, and the priest chooses the best one for the Lamb that will be consecrated. The remaining loaves are blessed and offered back to the congregation after the end of the Divine Liturgy, a Hostia is a portion of bread used for Holy Communion in many Christian churches. In Western Christianity the host is often a thin, round unleavened wafer, the word host is derived from the Latin hostia, which means sacrificial victim. The term can be used to describe the bread both before and after consecration, though it is correct to use it after consecration—altar bread being preferred before consecration. Western theology teaches that at the Words of Institution the bread is changed or altered into the Body of Christ, hosts are often made by nuns as a means of supporting their religious communities. In the Latin Rite, unleavened bread is used as in the Jewish Passover or Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Churches use leavened bread for Prosphora. The Armenian Catholic Church, the Syro-Malabar Church and the Maronite Church have adopted the use of unleavened bread, some traditions proscribe the use of spiced, flavored or sweetened hosts, while others allow it. However, both Eastern and Western traditions insist that the bread must be made from wheat, the Code of Canon Law, Canon 924 requires that the hosts be made from wheat flour and water only and recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal §321 recommends that the eucharistic bread, be made in such a way that the priest at Mass with a congregation is able in practice to break it into parts for distribution to at least some of the faithful. In the varying Protestant denominations, there is a variety of practices concerning the sacramental bread used. Some, such as the Christian Congregation use leavened loaves of bread, others, such as Lutherans, continue to use unleavened wafers like the Roman Catholics, reformed Christians use rolls which are broken and distributed to symbolize their belief that Christ is not physically present in the bread
10.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
11.
Karlovy Vary
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Karlovy Vary or Carlsbad is a spa town situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately 130 km west of Prague. It is named after Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and it is historically famous for its hot springs. It is the most visited spa town in the Czech Republic, an ancient late Bronze Age fortified settlement was found in Drahovice. A Slavic settlement in Karlovy Vary is documented by findings in Tašovice, people lived in the close proximity of later Karlovy Vary as far back as the 13th century and they must have been aware of the curative effects of close thermal springs. Around 1350, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor organized an expedition into the forests surrounding modern-day Karlovy Vary during a stay in Loket, on the site of a spring, he established a spa called the Horké Lázně u Lokte. The location was renamed after him once he had acclaimed the healing power of the hot springs. Charles IV granted the city privileges on 14 August 1370, earlier settlements can be also found in the outskirts of todays city. An important political event took place in the town in 1819, initiated by the Austrian Minister of State Klemens von Metternich, the decrees were intended to implement anti-liberal censorship within the German Confederation. It became more popular after railway lines to Cheb and Prague were completed in 1870, the number of visitors rose from 134 families in the 1756 season to 26,000 guests annually at the end of the 19th century. By 1911, that figure had reached 71,000, at the end of World War I in 1918, the large German-speaking population of Bohemia was incorporated into the new state of Czechoslovakia in accordance with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. As a result, the German-speaking majority of Karlovy Vary protested, a demonstration on 4 March 1919 passed peacefully, but later that month, six demonstrators were killed by Czech troops after a demonstration turned unruly. In 1938, the majority German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland, after World War II, in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, the vast majority of the people of Karlovy Vary were forcibly expelled from the city because of their German ethnicity. In accordance with the Beneš decrees, their property was confiscated without compensation, since the end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the presence of Russian businesses in Karlovy Vary has steadily increased. In 2012, foreigners were around 7% of the population of the Karlovy Vary region, after Prague, this is the highest proportion in the Czech Republic. The largest group of foreigners were Vietnamese, followed by Germans, Russians and Ukrainians, local buses and cable cars take passengers to most areas of the city. The city can be reached from other locations by inter-city buses, the city is connected by expressway R6. International Karlovy Vary Airport is located 4.5 km south-east from the city, the city is also known for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which is one of the oldest in the world and one of Europes major film events. It is also known for the popular Czech liqueur Becherovka and the production of the glass manufacturer Moser Glass
12.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
13.
Christmas wafer
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Christmas wafer is a central European Christian Christmas tradition celebrated in Poland, Lithuania and in some parts of Slovakia during Wigilia, or the Christmas Eve Vigil. Being only a reminder of the Body of Christ used in private homes, the Opłatki wafers are embossed with Christmas-related religious images, varying from the nativity scene, especially Virgin Mary with baby Jesus, to the Star of Bethlehem. Before partaking of the Christmas Eve meal, the family gathers around the table, the eldest member holds a large wafer and breaks off a piece to begin the ritual. The remaining wafer is passed on to another member while a prayer for loved ones is said. This continues until everyone at the table has a piece of the wafer, finally, the family members consume their share quietly. The breaking of the Christmas wafer is a custom that began in Poland in the 10th century and is practiced by people of Polish ancestry around the world and it is considered the most ancient and beloved of Polish traditions. In Poland and some parts of Central Europe, these Christmas wafers are dyed and used as ornaments and they are also sent as small trinkets with greeting cards to loved ones who are away from home. The Christmas wafer symbolizes the unity of the family, which many consider to be the pillar of society. According to beliefs, the bond of unity should exist between family members, the father is seen as the link in the unbroken chain of One Body, One Bread, One Christ, and One Church, while other family members join him in this eternal procession. The wafer also symbolizes forgiveness and reconciliation, before the Kūčios meal starts, the families in Lithuania share kalėdaitis, also known as plotkelė, paplotėlis, plokštainėlis or Dievo pyragai depending on the region of Lithuania a family is from. A plate with as many wafers as there are persons participating in the meal is placed in the center of the table, each member of the family is given a piece of unleavened wafer. The head of the family, typically the oldest person present however often father of the family, then takes a wafer, god grant that we are all together again next year, they respond and break off a piece of wafer. The family member then offers the head of the family a piece of their wafer in return, the head of the family then offers their wafer to every family member or guest at the table. After them, all the diners exchange greetings and morsels of wafer, care is taken not to skip anyone for that means terrible misfortune or even death the following year. In breaking a piece of wafer, each tries to get a larger than that remaining in the others hand for it means his year will be better. The person holding the wafer tries to prevent a large piece being taken for this will break his luck, when everyone has exchanged wafers, the family members take their pile of wafers before the head of the house. He then looks at the wafers in the family hands and reads a fortune from how they are assembled. After this has been completed, people return to their seats, Christmas wafers in Slovakia are round and embossed with various Christmas motifs. They are eaten with honey at the beginning of Christmas Eves dinner, as a Christmas custom the “opłatek” originated in Poland and was spread widely as far back as the 17th century
14.
Eastern Europe
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Eastern Europe, also known as East Europe, is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus on the area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, cultural. There are almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region, a related United Nations paper adds that every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct. One definition describes Eastern Europe as an entity, the region lying in Europe with main characteristics consisting in Byzantine, Orthodox. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used more or less synonymously with the term Eastern Bloc, a similar definition names the formerly communist European states outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe. Historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegating, several definitions of Eastern Europe exist today, but they often lack precision or are extremely general. These definitions vary both across cultures and among experts, even scientists, recently becoming more and more imprecise. The Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caucasus Mountains are the land border of the eastern edge of Europe. Eurovoc, a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union, provides entries for 23 EU languages, of these, those in italics are classified as Eastern Europe in this source. Other official web-pages of the European Union classify some of the countries as strictly Central European. The East–West Schism is the break of communion and theology between what are now the Eastern and Western churches which began in the 11th century and lasts until this very day and it divided Christianity in Europe, and consequently the world, into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in the West, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in the east, due to this religious cleavage, Eastern Orthodox countries are often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic, for example, Greece is overwhelmingly Orthodox, the fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the East–West division in Europe, but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media. The Baltic states have seats in the Nordic Council as observer states and they also are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight whereas Eastern European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group. Estonia Latvia Lithuania The Caucasus nations may be included in the definitions of Eastern Europe, the extent of their geographic or political affiliation with Europe varies by country and source. All three states are members of the European Unions Eastern Partnership program and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, on 12 January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. Georgia — in modern geography, Georgia has been classified as part of Eastern Europe. Under the European Union’s geographic criteria, Georgia is viewed as part of Eastern Europe and is the only Caucasus country to be actively seeking EU membership and it is a member of Council of Europe and Eurocontrol
15.
Christmas traditions
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Christmas traditions vary from country to country. Christmas carols may be sung and stories told about such figures as the Baby Jesus, St Nicholas, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Stephens Day, New Years, and the Feast of the Epiphany. Christmas Day is a holiday in Eritrea that is celebrated on January 7 or on 27 Tahsas of the Ethiopian calendar. Christmas is called Ledet in Eritrea or Gena in Ethiopia, many people who are Christian in the two countries fast for 40 days. They then head to church at dawn on Christmas morning, on Christmas Day, there will be colorful musical celebrations which involve the priests dressed in their best robes performing rituals, including dancing and playing drums and other instruments. Early in the morning at dawn, everyone dresses in white, Late in the afternoon there will be the traditional game of Gena, a kind of hockey. According to an Ethiopian legend, the game was being played by the shepherds who were tending their flocks on the night that Jesus was born, the game is attended by the leader of the community. A prize is awarded to the winner of the Gena game, as the towns and cities empty, people jam the West African markets to buy and transport live chickens, goats and cows that will be needed for the Christmas meals. On Christmas Eve, traditional meals are prepared according to the traditions of each region, rather than having candy and cakes, Nigerians as a whole tend to prepare various meats in large quantities. In the North several local desserts are made which is hardly ever found in other parts of Nigeria. An alternative in both regions is a soup with fish, goat, or beef which may also be served with Fufu. Gift giving in Nigeria often involves money and the flow of gifts from the more fortunate to the less fortunate, after the successful visitors have come from their towns, cities, and even overseas, they are given time to settle in. Afterwards, local relatives begin approaching them asking for assistance of some kind, religion in Nigeria is about equally divided between Christians and Muslims. There are occasional outbreaks of religious conflict, the Islamic sect Boko Haram has attacked Christian churches with bombings on Christmas 2011. Christmas in South Africa is a holiday celebrated on December 25. Many European traditions are maintained despite the distance from Europe, Christmas trees are set up in homes and the children are given presents in their stockings. Traditional fir Christmas trees are popular and children leave a stocking out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, the gift bearer is Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The Christmas meal is mince pies, turkey, roast beef or a barbecue outdoors, the meal is finished with Christmas Pudding
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Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
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Lithuania
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Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began
18.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Wigilia
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Wigilia is the traditional Christmas Eve vigil supper in Poland, held on December 24. In this usage, the supper itself is rather called wieczerza or wieczerza wigilijna, using an Old Polish word meaning dinner or large supper, the Last Supper translates into Polish as ostatnia wieczerza. The word Wigilia derives from the Latin verb vigilare, to watch, the feasting traditionally begins once the First Star has been sighted in the sky at dusk. Therefore, Christmas is also sometimes called Gwiazdka, children usually decorate the Christmas tree on this day. Often a bundle of hay is placed under the tablecloth or in each of the four corners of the room to symbolize the fact that Jesus was born in a manger, as a game, children would remove pieces of straw from under the table. Green would mean a year of wealth or possibly a marriage, the drawing of hay was only for fun and was rarely paid attention to. Various other divinations are semi-seriously practiced such as hiding a nut in a cake, whoever finds the nut inside his portion is guaranteed to have a successful year. Another tradition practiced by some, is to one extra place-setting for an unexpected guest. This is to celebrate the tradition of hospitality and inclusion, the empty seat is left open just in case a traveler, family member, or a friend knocks on the door, so there would be a place for them to join in the celebrations. Family members begin the celebration with a prayer and breaking of the Christmas wafer, readings from the Bible concerning the nativity of Jesus are practiced in more religious households. After the First Star appears in the sky and after sharing the Christmas wafer, a traditional Christmas meal in Poland includes fish dishes and Borscht with Uszka. Fish provides a component of the Christmas Eve meal across Poland, since 1940 more popular are carp fillet. Wigilia is observed as a Black Fast meaning that most Poles abstain from eating meat on this day, many households also prepare a great variety of special Christmas rollmops, matjas herring, poppy seed cakes, dried fruit compote and other delicacies including edible Christmas ornaments. Common dishes are various fruits and salads and it is still believed that whatever happens on Wigilia affects the following year. So, if a quarrel should arise, it foretells a quarrelsome and troublesome year, some families as well as individual worshippers attend the traditional midnight mass/Shepherds Mass, where Christmas carols are also sung. A major part of the Wigilia festivities is the opening of gifts, the children often open their gifts and hand out the gifts for the adults from under the tree. The gift-giver in Polish tradition is the Gwiazdka – Saint Nicholas feminine counterpart – or the Gwiazdor, Saint Nicholas brings gifts on December 6. However this varies and in some families Saint Nicholas is said to bring presents both on the 6th and on Christmas, Christmas Day is a national holiday in Poland and most Poles spend the day feasting with their family
20.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
21.
Colombia
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and it shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the Gran Colombia Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada, the new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation, and then the United States of Colombia, before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Since the 1960s the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, and thereby possesses a rich cultural heritage. Cultural diversity has also influenced by Colombias varied geography. The urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains. Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, ecologically, it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries, and the most densely biodiverse of these per square kilometer. Colombia is a power and a regional actor with the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Colombia has an economy with macroeconomic stability and favorable growth prospects in the long run. The name Colombia is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus and it was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819. When Venezuela, Ecuador and Cundinamarca came to exist as independent states, New Granada officially changed its name in 1858 to the Granadine Confederation. In 1863 the name was changed, this time to United States of Colombia. To refer to country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia. Owing to its location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of early human migration from Mesoamerica, the oldest archaeological finds are from the Pubenza and El Totumo sites in the Magdalena Valley 100 km southwest of Bogotá. These sites date from the Paleoindian period, at Puerto Hormiga and other sites, traces from the Archaic Period have been found
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Ecuador
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Ecuador also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres west of the mainland. What is now Ecuador was home to a variety of Amerindian groups that were incorporated into the Inca Empire during the 15th century. The territory was colonized by Spain during the 16th century, achieving independence in 1820 as part of Gran Colombia, Spanish is the official language and is spoken by a majority of the population, though 13 Amerindian languages are also recognized, including Quichua and Shuar. The capital city is Quito, while the largest city is Guayaquil, in reflection of the countrys rich cultural heritage, the historical center of Quito was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. Cuenca, the third-largest city, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999 as an outstanding example of a planned. Ecuador has an economy that is highly dependent on commodities, namely petroleum. The country is classified as a medium-income country, Ecuador is a democratic presidential republic. The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, Ecuador is also known for its rich ecology, hosting many endemic plants and animals, such as those of the Galápagos Islands. It is one of 17 megadiverse countries in the world, various peoples had settled in the area of the future Ecuador before the arrival of the Incas. They developed different languages while emerging as unique ethnic groups, even though their languages were unrelated, these groups developed similar groups of cultures, each based in different environments. Over time these groups began to interact and intermingle with each other so that groups of families in one area became one community or tribe, with a similar language and culture. Many civilizations arose in Ecuador, such as the Valdivia Culture and Machalilla Culture on the coast, the Quitus, each civilization developed its own distinctive architecture, pottery, and religious interests. Eventually, through wars and marriage alliances of their leaders, a group of nations formed confederations, one region consolidated under a confederation called the Shyris, which exercised organized trading and bartering between the different regions. Its political and military came under the rule of the Duchicela blood-line. The native confederations that gave them the most problems were deported to distant areas of Peru, Bolivia, similarly, a number of loyal Inca subjects from Peru and Bolivia were brought to Ecuador to prevent rebellion. Thus, the region of highland Ecuador became part of the Inca Empire in 1463 sharing the same language, in contrast, when the Incas made incursions into coastal Ecuador and the eastern Amazon jungles of Ecuador, they found both the environment and indigenous people more hostile. Moreover, when the Incas tried to subdue them, these indigenous people withdrew to the interior, as a result, Inca expansion into the Amazon basin and the Pacific coast of Ecuador was hampered. The indigenous people of the Amazon jungle and coastal Ecuador remained relatively autonomous until the Spanish soldiers, the Amazonian people and the Cayapas of Coastal Ecuador were the only groups to resist Inca and Spanish domination, maintaining their language and culture well into the 21st century
23.
Guatemala
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With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a democracy, its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becoming part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, from the mid to late 19th century, Guatemala experienced chronic instability and civil strife. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company, in 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U. S. -backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution, from 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the military. As of 2014, Guatemala ranks 31st of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of the Human Development Index, Guatemalas abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes a large number of endemic species and contributes to Mesoamericas designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The country is known for its rich and distinct culture. The name Guatemala comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān, or place of many trees and this was the name the Tlaxcaltecan soldiers who accompanied Pedro de Alvarado during the Spanish Conquest gave to this territory. The first evidence of habitation in Guatemala dates back to 12,000 BC. Evidence, such as obsidian arrowheads found in parts of the country. There is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunters and gatherers, pollen samples from Petén and the Pacific coast indicate that maize cultivation had been developed by 3500 BC. Sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in the Quiché region in the Highlands, archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period. Until recently, the Preclassic was regarded as a period, with small villages of farmers who lived in huts. This period is characterized by urbanisation, the emergence of independent city-states and this lasted until approximately 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed. The Maya abandoned many of the cities of the lowlands or were killed off by a drought-induced famine. The cause of the collapse is debated, but the Drought Theory is gaining currency, supported by such as lakebeds, ancient pollen. A series of prolonged droughts, among other such as overpopulation, in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya
24.
El Salvador
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El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. El Salvadors capital and largest city is San Salvador, as of 2015, the country had a population of approximately 6.38 million, consisting largely of Mestizos of European and Indigenous American descent. El Salvador was for centuries inhabited by several Mesoamerican nations, especially the Cuzcatlecs, as well as the Lenca, in the early 16th century, the Spanish Empire conquered the territory, incorporating it into the Viceroyalty of New Spain ruled from Mexico City. In 1821, the country achieved independence from Spain as part of the First Mexican Empire, from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, El Salvador endured chronic political and economic instability characterized by coups, revolts, and a succession of authoritarian rulers. The conflict ended with a settlement that established a multiparty constitutional republic. El Salvador has since reduced its dependence on coffee and embarked on diversifying the economy by opening up trade and financial links, the colón, the official currency of El Salvador since 1892, was replaced by the U. S. dollar in 2001. As of 2010, El Salvador ranks 12th among Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index, however, the country continues to struggle with high rates of poverty, inequality, and crime. Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado named the new province for Jesus Christ – El Salvador, the full name was Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesus Cristo, El Salvador Del Mundo, which was subsequently abbreviated to El Salvador. Tomayate is a site located on the banks of the river of the same name in the municipality of Apopa. The site has produced abundant Salvadoran megafauna fossils belonging to the Pleistocene epoch, at the same time, it is considered the richest vertebrate paleontological site in Central America and one of the largest accumulations of proboscideans in the Americas. Sophisticated civilization in El Salvador dates to its settlement by the indigenous Lenca people, theirs was the first, the Lenca were succeeded by the Olmecs, who eventually also disappeared, leaving their monumental architecture in the form of the pyramids still extant in western El Salvador. The Maya arrived and settled in place of the Olmecs, the Pipil were the last indigenous people to arrive in El Salvador. They called their territory Kuskatan, a Pipil word meaning The Place of Precious Jewels, backformed into Classical Nahuatl Cōzcatlān, the people of El Salvador today are referred to as Salvadoran, while the term Cuzcatleco is commonly used to identify someone of Salvadoran heritage. In pre-Columbian times, the country was inhabited by various other indigenous peoples, including the Lenca. Cuzcatlan was the domain until the Spanish conquest. Since El Salvador resided on the edge of the Maya Civilization. However, it is agreed that Mayas likely occupied the areas around Lago de Guija. Other ruins such as Tazumal, Joya de Cerén and San Andrés may have built by the Pipil or the Maya or possibly both
25.
Venezuela
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Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a federal republic located on the northern coast of South America. It is bordered by Colombia on the west, Brazil on the south, Guyana on the east, Venezuela covers 916,445 km2 and has an estimated population of 31775371. The territory now known as Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples and it gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. This new constitution changed the name of the country to República Bolivariana de Venezuela. Venezuela is a presidential republic consisting of 23 states, the Capital District. Venezuela also claims all Guyanese territory west of the Essequibo River, oil was discovered in the early 20th century, and Venezuela has the worlds largest known oil reserves and has been one of the worlds leading exporters of oil. Previously an underdeveloped exporter of commodities such as coffee and cocoa, oil quickly came to dominate exports. The recovery of oil prices in the early 2000s gave Venezuela oil funds not seen since the 1980s, the Venezuelan government then established populist policies that initially boosted the Venezuelan economy and increased social spending, significantly reducing economic inequality and poverty. However, such policies later became controversial since they destabilized the economy, resulting in hyperinflation, an economic depression. According to the most popular and accepted version, in 1499, the stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, of the city of Venice, so he named the region Veneziola Piccola Venezia. The name acquired its current spelling as a result of Spanish influence, where the suffix -uela is used as a term, thus. The German language 16th century-term for the area, Klein-Venedig, also means little Venice, however, Martín Fernández de Enciso, a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew, gave a different account. In his work Summa de geografía, he states that they found people who called themselves the Veneciuela. Thus, the name Venezuela may have evolved from the native word and it is not known how many people lived in Venezuela before the Spanish conquest, it has been estimated at around one million. In addition to indigenous peoples known today, the population included historic groups such as the Kalina, Auaké, Caquetio, Mariche, the Timoto-Cuica culture was the most complex society in Pre-Columbian Venezuela, with pre-planned permanent villages, surrounded by irrigated, terraced fields. They also stored water in tanks and their houses were made primarily of stone and wood with thatched roofs. They were peaceful, for the most part, and depended on growing crops, regional crops included potatoes and ullucos
26.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
27.
Oblea
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Also eaten in other Latin American countries such as Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Venezuela and México with arequipe or dulce de leche between thin wafers. Obleas may also jam, cheese, fruits, or whipped cream. In Argentina the term oblea is used to refer to a wafer, in Costa Rica they are referred to as galletas Suizas. They are sometimes served with marmalade, condensed milk, chocolate, raspberry sauce, cheese, oblea is said to be eaten during the queen of Englands daily tennis practice
28.
Arequipe
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Dulce de leche is a confection prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a substance that derives its taste from the Maillard reaction, changing flavour and colour. Literally translated, it means candy of milk or sweet of milk and its origin is a highly debated topic and it is popular in most Latin American countries. The dulce de leche of El Salvador has a soft, crumbly texture, central Mexico had versions as manjar or cajeta, which is made from goats milk, in the North of the country the dulce de leche from cows milk is more common. In Cuba, dulce de leche is made from soured milk thats curdled, in the Dominican Republic, it is made with equal parts milk and sugar with cinnamon, and the texture is more like fudge. In Puerto Rico, dulce de leche is made with unsweetened coconut milk. A variant of Chilean manjar incorporating cannabis-infused butter and originating in Valparaíso is called ganjar, in Panama, the top is crystallized. Dulce de leche is popular in the Philippines, where it is usually paired with cakes or breakfast rolls. As in other places, it has found its way into other desserts such as cakes. A French version, known as confiture de lait, is similar to the spreadable forms of dulce de leche. In Haiti, it is known as douce lait, the Norwegian HaPå spread is a commercial variant that is thicker and less sweet. The name is an abbreviation of Hamar where it originally was made, ha på literally means put on as a reference to putting it on a slice of bread. HaPå originated during the Second World War when, due to the scarcity of supplies, housewives would boil Viking-melk to a similar type of spread. After the war the production was commercialized and continues to this day, in Soviet times there was some commercial production, but at a scale insufficient to meet a demand, so most households returned to traditional at-home preparation. Since the fall of the USSR the spread exploded in popularity and is commercially produced both in can form and as an ingredient and default filling in various sweets. A Polish version, called kajmak, is known from XVIII century and it is used to cover some cakes, the most basic recipe calls for slowly simmering milk and sugar, stirring almost constantly, although other ingredients such as vanilla may be added for flavour. Much of the water in the milk evaporates and the mix thickens, the transformation that occurs in preparation is caused by a combination of two common browning reactions called caramelization and the Maillard reaction. This results in a product that is sweeter than the slow-boiled kind. It is dangerous to do this on a stove, if the pot is allowed to boil dry, the can will overheat and explode
29.
Dulce de leche
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Dulce de leche is a confection prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a substance that derives its taste from the Maillard reaction, changing flavour and colour. Literally translated, it means candy of milk or sweet of milk and its origin is a highly debated topic and it is popular in most Latin American countries. The dulce de leche of El Salvador has a soft, crumbly texture, central Mexico had versions as manjar or cajeta, which is made from goats milk, in the North of the country the dulce de leche from cows milk is more common. In Cuba, dulce de leche is made from soured milk thats curdled, in the Dominican Republic, it is made with equal parts milk and sugar with cinnamon, and the texture is more like fudge. In Puerto Rico, dulce de leche is made with unsweetened coconut milk. A variant of Chilean manjar incorporating cannabis-infused butter and originating in Valparaíso is called ganjar, in Panama, the top is crystallized. Dulce de leche is popular in the Philippines, where it is usually paired with cakes or breakfast rolls. As in other places, it has found its way into other desserts such as cakes. A French version, known as confiture de lait, is similar to the spreadable forms of dulce de leche. In Haiti, it is known as douce lait, the Norwegian HaPå spread is a commercial variant that is thicker and less sweet. The name is an abbreviation of Hamar where it originally was made, ha på literally means put on as a reference to putting it on a slice of bread. HaPå originated during the Second World War when, due to the scarcity of supplies, housewives would boil Viking-melk to a similar type of spread. After the war the production was commercialized and continues to this day, in Soviet times there was some commercial production, but at a scale insufficient to meet a demand, so most households returned to traditional at-home preparation. Since the fall of the USSR the spread exploded in popularity and is commercially produced both in can form and as an ingredient and default filling in various sweets. A Polish version, called kajmak, is known from XVIII century and it is used to cover some cakes, the most basic recipe calls for slowly simmering milk and sugar, stirring almost constantly, although other ingredients such as vanilla may be added for flavour. Much of the water in the milk evaporates and the mix thickens, the transformation that occurs in preparation is caused by a combination of two common browning reactions called caramelization and the Maillard reaction. This results in a product that is sweeter than the slow-boiled kind. It is dangerous to do this on a stove, if the pot is allowed to boil dry, the can will overheat and explode
30.
United Biscuits
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United Biscuits is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVities biscuits, Jacobs Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, United Biscuits was formed in 1948 by a merger of two Scottish family businesses, McVitie & Price and MacFarlane Lang. In 1962, William Crawford & Sons, best known for its shortbread, was acquired for £6 million, in 1965, William MacDonald & Sons was acquired for £2.8 million, and brought the Penguin brand to the group. In 1972, it acquired Carrs of Carlisle, makers of the eponymous Table Water biscuits, United Biscuits acquired the US-based Keebler Company for $53 million in 1974. It also owned the Wimpy Bar fast food restaurant chain between 1977 and 1989 and it acquired the frozen food company Ross Youngs from Hanson in 1988 for £335 million. Keebler was sold for $500 million in 1995, the company was acquired in May 2000 by Finalrealm, a consortium of financial investors, as well as Nabisco Holdings Corporation, as part of the transaction, UB acquired Nabiscos European businesses. The company sold Youngs Bluecrest in 2001, in order to concentrate on the sweet biscuit sector, in September 2004 the company bought the UK portion of Groupe Danones Jacobs Biscuit Group for £240 million, including Cream Crackers and Twiglets. In July 2006 it sold its Southern European biscuits business to Kraft Foods, in October 2006, MidOcean Partners sold the company to a consortium made up of the Blackstone Group and PAI Partners. The deal was completed in December 2006, in December 2012 UB agreed the sale of its KP Snacks business to Intersnack for £500 million. On 3 November 2014, private equity funds managed by Blackstone, the core of the business is in the United Kingdom, where it produces biscuits under a number of brand names including, McVities biscuits and Jacobs Cream Crackers. The company manufactures in a number of countries across Europe, such as the Netherlands, France and it also has a manufacturing site in India. The companys headquarters is in Hayes in suburban West London, the companys main UK distribution centre is at Ashby-de-la-Zouch. This change meant a move from a 5-day 8-hour operation to a 7-day 12-hour operation and was introduced following Union agreement, the first part of this change happened in June 2014 and is being introduced in 5 phases over 2014 and 2015. The factory will be fully 24/7 in April 2015 and will increase capacity by 40%. When the changes are implemented, the number of employees on the site will increase to around 580. In his 2009 book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, Alain de Botton chronicles his tour, burtons Foods Jacob Fruitfield Food Group Huntley & Palmers Peek Freans Tunnocks Jaffa Cakes Official website
31.
Fresca
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Fresca is a diet lime and grapefruit citrus soft drink made by The Coca-Cola Company. Borrowing the word Fresca from Spanish, it was first introduced in the United States in 1966, since introduction in 1966, Fresca has been marketed in the United States as a calorie-free, lime and grapefruit-flavored soft drink. Fresca has undergone several major ingredient changes since its introduction and it was originally sweetened with cyclamates, which were banned by the FDA in 1969, and replaced with saccharin. That was replaced by NutraSweet-brand aspartame, around the time of the 2005 redesign, acesulfame potassium was added as a secondary sweetener. Johnson, who loved the beverage, had a fountain containing Fresca installed in the Oval Office. In Latin America, Coca-Cola markets a sugar sweetened version of Fresca, in 1997, The Coca-Cola Company responded to requests for this product from immigrant communities by launching it throughout the U. S. as Citra. This was a success but is sold as the Citrus flavor in Coca-Colas Fanta line in areas with large Hispanic populations. In Colombia and Argentina sweetened Fresca is called Quatro and marketed using Frescas colors, Fresca was made available in South Africa during the early 1990s with a series of colorful ads featuring Hakeem Kae-Kazim with the slogan, Nothing tastes like Fresca. The soft drink developed a following but sales were discontinued. Fresca packaging has been redesigned several times, although advertising continues to emphasize sophistication, in 2005, Coca-Cola gave Fresca a more contemporary look, Frescas first makeover since 1995. During this redesign, two new flavors were introduced and the grapefruit flavor was renamed Sparkling Citrus. Later, Sparkling was dropped and the flavor was renamed Original Citrus. Several additional flavors have been added to the line-up since 2005
32.
Manner (confectionery)
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Manner is a line of confectionery from the Austrian conglomerate, Josef Manner & Comp AG. The corporation, founded in 1890, produces an assortment of confectionery products. These include wafers, long-life confectionery, chocolate-based confectionery, sweets, cocoa, the companys best-known product are the Neapolitan wafers, introduced in 1898. They are sold in blocks of ten 47 x 17 x 17 mm hazelnut-cream filled wafers, the hazelnuts were originally imported from the Naples region in Italy, hence the name. The basic recipe has remained unchanged to this day, the company logo is a picture of St Stephens Cathedral in Vienna. This dates to the 1890s, when Josef Manner opened his first shop next to the Cathedral. The Archdiocese of Vienna and the Manner Company agreed that the company may use the cathedral in its logo in return for funding the wages of one stonemason performing repair work on the structure, since Manner wafers are one of Schwarzeneggers favorite snacks, he integrated them into the movie. Manner ran a series of commercials in Austria in 2003. Manner appeared in Central Perk from Friends, a popular American television sitcom, instances of such appearances are in Season 6, Episode 22, The One Where Pauls the Man and Season 6, Episode 25, The One with The Proposal. Manner was also a sponsor of Mexican skier Hubertus Von Hohenlohe, St. Stephens Cathedral, Vienna Manner. com +
33.
Mille-feuille
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The mille-feuille, vanilla slice, custard slice, also known as the Napoleon, is a French pastry whose exact origin is unknown. Its modern form was influenced by improvements of Marie-Antoine Carême, traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry, alternating with two layers of pastry cream, but sometimes whipped cream or jam are substituted. The top pastry layer is dusted with sugar, and sometimes cocoa, pastry crumbs. Alternatively the top is glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white and brown stripes, all the elements of the recipe are present in numerous cookbooks since, at least, the 16th century but the exact origin of the mille-feuille is unknown. The earliest mention of the name itself appears in 1733 in an English-language cookbook written by French chef Vincent La Chapelle. Unlike the modern cake, the 18th-century Mille-feuille is served stuffed with jam, in French, the first mention of the Mille-feuille appears a little later, in 1749, in a cookbook by Menon. The word mille-feuille is not used again in the books of the 18th century. However, under the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, several of the fanciest Parisian pastry shops appear to have sold the cake, during the 19th century, all recipes are filled with jam with the exception of the 1876 recipe by Urbain Dubois which is served with Bavarian cream. According to Alan Davidson in the Oxford Companion to Food, the invention of the form is attributed to Szeged, Hungary. Traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of pastry, and two layers of crème pâtissière. The top layer is coated with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, in later variations, the top is glazed with icing, in alternating white and brown strips, and then combed. Today, there are also savory mille-feuille, with cheese and spinach or other savory fillings, according to La Varenne, it was earlier called gâteau de mille-feuilles, referring to the many layers of pastry. Using traditional puff pastry, made with six folds of three layers, it has 729 layers, with some modern recipes it may have as many as 2,048. The variant name of Napoleon appears to come from napolitain, the French adjective for the Italian city of Naples, there is no evidence to connect the pastry to the emperor himself. In France, a Napoléon is a type of mille-feuille filled with almond flavoured paste. In Russian literature, a cake named Наполеон is first mentioned as early as in the first half of the 19th century, alexander Bestuzhev explained the emergence of such names by the romantic and historicist spirit of that time. The cake has enjoyed a great popularity since the centenary celebration of the Russian victory over Napoleon in the Patriotic War of 1812. During the celebrations in 1912, triangular-shape pastries were sold resembling the bicorne, the many layers of the cake symbolized La Grande Armée
34.
Stroopwafel
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A stroopwafel is a waffle made from two thin layers of baked dough with a caramel-like syrup filling in the middle. It is popular in the Netherlands, where they were first made in the city of Gouda, the stiff dough for the waffles is made from flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs. Medium-sized balls of dough are put into a waffle iron and pressed into the required uniformly thin. After the waffle has been baked, and while it is still warm, the warm filling, made from syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon, is spread between the waffle halves, gluing them together. The stroopwafel was first made in Gouda either during the late 18th century or the early 19th century by a baker using leftovers from the bakery, such as breadcrumbs, which were sweetened with syrup. In the 19th century, there were around 100 syrup waffle bakers in Gouda, after 1870 they were also made at parties and in markets outside the city of Gouda. In the 20th century, factories started to make stroopwafels, in 1960, there were 17 factories in Gouda alone, of which four are currently still open. Freska — Egyptian snack IJzerkoekje How stroopwafels are made, schepsbakeries. com Dutch Stroopwafels, dianasdesserts. com Association of Stroopwafel Addicts at Meta-Wiki
35.
Tompouce
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A tompoes or tompouce is a common pastry in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is the variety of the mille-feuille or Napoleon, introduced by an Amsterdam pastry baker and named after Admiraal Tom Pouce. In the Netherlands, the tompoes is iconic, and the market allows little variation in form, size and it must be rectangular, with two layers of puff pastry. The icing is smooth and pink, or occasionally white, for many years however, the top layer has been orange on Koningsdag, and a few days before. It may also be orange-coloured when the football team plays in large international tournaments. The filling is sweet, yellow pastry cream. Tompouce are sometimes topped with whipped cream, variations with different fillings or with jelly are comparatively rare and are not called tompoes. The boekske may have a finish and may be square. Belgians also prefer the spelling tompouce, the cakes are usually served with tea or coffee, and in formal settings are eaten with pastry forks. But the brittleness of the pastry makes this difficult, inspiring the humorous article Hoe eet je een tompoes, how do you eat a tompoes. The name of Tom Puss, a character by Marten Toonder, is a play on Tompouce = Tom poes. kremna rezina kremówka List of custard desserts mille-feuille napoleonskake
36.
Hardtack
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Hardtack is a simple type of biscuit or cracker, made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it was and is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages, land migrations, the name derives from the British sailor slang for food, tack. Australian and New Zealand military personnel knew them with some sarcasm as ANZAC wafers, the introduction of the baking of processed cereals, including the creation of flour, provided a more reliable source of food. Egyptian sailors carried a flat brittle loaf of bread called dhourra cake. King Richard I of England left for the Third Crusade with biskit of muslin, which was a mixed grain compound of barley, bean flour, some early physicians associated most medical problems with digestion. Hence, for sustenance and health, eating a biscuit daily was considered good for ones constitution, the bakers of the time made biscuits as hard as possible, as the biscuits would soften and become more palatable with time due to exposure to humidity and other weather elements. Because it is so hard and dry, hardtack will survive rough handling, the more refined captains biscuit was made with finer flour. To soften, hard tack was often dunked in brine, coffee, or some other liquid, baked hard, it would stay intact for years if kept dry. For long voyages, hardtack was baked four times, rather than the more common two, and prepared six months before sailing, in 1588, the daily allowance on board a Royal Navy ship was one pound of biscuits plus one gallon of beer. Later, Samuel Pepys in 1667 first regularized naval victualing with varied, Ships biscuit, crumbled or pounded fine and used as a thickener, was a key ingredient in New England seafood chowders from the late 1700s. Since the journey took months, pilot bread, which could be kept a long time, was stored in the wagon trains, Bents company later sold the original hardtack crackers used by troops during the American Civil War. The G. H. Bent Company remains in Milton and continues to sell items to Civil War re-enactors and others. During the American Civil War, three-inch by three-inch hardtack was shipped from Union, some of this hardtack had been stored from the 1846–48 Mexican–American War. With insect infestation common in improperly stored provisions, soldiers would break up the hardtack and this would not only soften the hardtack but the insects, mostly weevil larvae, would float to the top, and the soldiers could skim off the insects and resume consumption. Some men also turned hardtack into a mush by breaking it up with blows from their rifle butts, if the men had a frying pan, they could cook the mush into a lumpy pancake, otherwise they dropped the mush directly on the coals of their campfire. They also mixed hardtack with brown sugar, hot water, and sometimes whiskey to create what they called a pudding, during the Spanish–American War, some military hardtack was stamped with the phrase Remember the Maine. Commercially available pilot bread is a significant source of energy in a small. A store-bought 24-gram cracker can contain 100 kilocalories,2 grams of protein, ma Bo mentioned hardtack as being a staple food of Chinese hard-labor workers in Inner Mongolia, during the Cultural Revolution
37.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
Cookbook: Wafer 
Media: Wafer
Media related to Wafers (snack) at Wikimedia Commons