FLOWER POWER: Yes, even local tree hugger Danny Karpen is a foodie of sorts. The eccentric Karpen stopped by to introduce us to a different type of cuisine — fresh flowers. Daylilies, or Hemerocallis as they are known in the plant world, taste quite a bit like lettuce to the tender taste-buds of a couple of our foodies-in-training. Just visit your garden to try some for yourself. By doing a little internet research, the Foodies also discovered that daylilies are often sold in Asian markets because of their use as ingredients in “hot and sour soup” and Moo Shu pork. Just be sure not to over-indulge as daylilies may also have a laxative effect. Wonder if that explains some of Danny’s strange antics.

LOBSTER BAKE: Wednesday evening, Aug 2, seatings from 5-6:30pm. On the patio of NYIT’s de Seversky Center, dinner features a variety of hot foods, including boiled lobster with drawn butter, baked clams, mussels, fried shrimp, linguini with white clam sauce, filet of tilapia with lemon caper sauce, herb-crusted salmon, and sautéed bay scallops with white wine sauce. Cold food selections include Jersey tomato and fresh mozzarella salad, salad of mesclun greens with condiments, shrimp, new potato salad, carrot salad with balsamic glaze and grilled summer squash with basil oil. Also: New England clam chowder, vegetables and dessert cart. Reservations and pricing: 516-686-1249.

THEY DIED FOR US: We recently reported that Whole Foods would no longer sell live lobsters or crabs saying that humane treatment of the creatures was as important as food quality. Apparently their lives in tanks and people plunging them into boiling water turned off the foodheads at Whole Foods. A New York Times column by Frank Bruni (6/25/06) titled “They Died For Us,” raises questions as to how many of the living creatures reach your kitchen table: How is the chicken raised and killed? Just because you buy packaged parts, does that make the process more humane or just very far removed from your table? Michael Pollen author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” said, “”Foie gras and lobster are not at the heart of the real tough issues of animal welfare, which are feed lots and pigs and cattle and chickens and how billions of animals are treated.” We were recently asked: “Is Whole Foods grandstanding, cutting out a lower profit margin item and gaining great press?” We wonder if all the creatures that are still sold at their markets, are raised humanely and killed with love and kindness.

SERVERS NEEDED: If you’re looking to for a job as a server at a local upscale grille, we have a tip for you. Indigo American Grille on Gerard is hiring and looks like a fun place to work. They’re “looking for friendly, professional staff with knowledge of food and wine.” Stop by Indigo at 70 Gerard Street, after 3PM, and speak with Amy or Dave, or call 631-424-7757.

FRANKLY SPEAKING: The name “hot dog” originated in the early 1800s, when German immigrants brought sausages to the United States. They also brought with them long, thin, dachshunds – the funny-looking dogs. The similarity in shape likely prompted someone to dub the sausages “hot dogs.” Our research has not enabled us to give credit to the hot dog who named the hot dog nor has it explained why the dogs aren’t called frankfurters. The sausage or frank history takes us, in the early 1800’s, to Vienna – Wien, in German – thus explaining their name “wiener.” The Austrian master sausage maker was, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, trained in Frankfurt, Germany. He named his the “wiener-frankfurter.” It was also called the “wienerwurst” – wurst is sausage in German. Fifty years later, the butcher’s guild in Frankfurt introduced a spiced and smoked sausage packed in a thin casing called the “frankfurter.” The frankfurter was also known as a “dachshund sausage” and this name came with the Germans and was Americanized to “hot dog.” By the 1860s, German immigrants sold hot dogs, with rolls and sauerkraut, from Bowery pushcarts.

Send news of the food world to Foodie@LongIslandernews.com

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