food, history
there's an entire book on "chicken Marengo" and I kinda want it simply because it goes into the whole mythology behind this dish, that it's supposedly something Napoleon Bonaparte's army chef cooked up after the Battle of Marengo from whatever could be scrounged up locally
pretty sure that's _just_ a story, but it's a lot cooler than most made-up stories about the origins of famous foodstuffs
food, history
@Alyx I've heard it claimed that mayonnaise was invented during a siege since it requires virtually nothing except food oil and eggs. (that don't even have to be particularly fresh) I'm pretty sure that's even more apocryphal than this one, though.
