Food Phrases Explained...

✓ “Bring Home the Bacon” – In the 12th century, an English church promised a side of bacon to any married man who could swear he had not quarrelled with his wife for a year and a day.

✓ “Chopped Liver” – Chopped chicken liver in many cooking schools is a side dish, one that is easily upstaged by the main course, thus explaining the question: “What am I, chopped liver?”

✓ “Easy as Pie” – Making pie ain’t exactly easy, so what’s up with this? Apparently, the expression was originally: “Easy as eating a piece of pie.”

✓ “Happy As a Clam” – Has its origins in the way clams are harvested at low tide. The phrase was originally ‘happy as a clam in high water’, since clams are out of danger at high tide.

✓ “Piping Hot” – Around since late medieval times, this expression refers to the steam that shot out of a spouted tea kettle. At the time, ‘piping’ was synonymous with ‘boiling’.