DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Essential to life? No, says Switzerland. PICTURE: Alex/Unsplash
• Switzerland has taken a bold step and declared coffee non-essential to human survival. Until now, coffee-makers and importers have been required to keep a stockpile of bags of coffee under national regulations ensuring there are ample supplies of essential foodstuffs just in case of a national emergency. But the Federal Office for National Economic Supply has now concluded coffee is “not essential for life” and proposed ending stockpiling requirements in 2022. A final decision is expected later this year.
• The World Grits Festival was held in the US state of South Carolina last weekend and among events was a grits eating competition as well as a contest which involved participants rolling in a pool of grits. Grits, for those unaware, is a dish made from boiled cornmeal and the festival was started after it was realised the people of the town of St George ate more grits per capita than anywhere else in the world. The object of the grits rolling competition involves throwing oneself around in a pool of instant grits in an effort to cover oneself in the most of the substance. The record is apparently 66 pounds (almost 30 kilograms).
• Still in the US, and the state of Pennsylvania has named an official state amphibian – a salamander that’s apparently also known as a “snot otter”, “lasagna lizard” or “mud devil”. State legislators voted in favour of honouring the Eastern hellbender which can grow to half a metre in length and, the largest amphibian in North American, is found in the Appalachian Mountains. Other nicknames for the hellbender – which is in decline due to pollution and sedimentation in rivers and streams – apparently include “devil dog”, “ground puppy” and “Allegheny alligator”.