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Quote by Janet Clarkson

“The problem with cooking meat this way [open fire] is that even if it does not burn, the valuable and tasty juices drip away and the meat dries and shrinks. Other cooks at other times got around this problem by wrapping the meat up to protect it - in leaves, for example. Or clay. Clay that, to another cook in perhaps, another time and place, felt just like dough. This last inspired step created the primitive meat pie - something medieval cooks called a 'bake-mete'.”

Quote by Janet Clarkson

Book:Pie: A Global History
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Pie: A Global History

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Janet Clarkson

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“The thick crust of the early pie acted like a baking dish. For hundreds of years, it was the only form of baking container - meaning everything was pie. The crust also, as it turned out, performed two other useful functions: it acted as a carrying and storage container (before lunch boxes) and, by virtue of excluding air, as a method of preservation (before canning and refrigeration).”

FoodPieBakingFood WritingFood AnthropologyFood HistoryGlobal History
Book:Pie: A Global History
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“The key is gluten. Gluten is a protein with long, elastic molecules which simultaneously enable the dough to be made stronger (by providing structure) and lighter (by enabling the trapping of air bubbles). A lot of gluten means a firm structure, which is ideal for bread, but bad for pastry. Too little gluten means no structure and no air-trapping, so flat bread and tough pastry. The task of the pastry-cook is to get just the right amount of gluten to make the pastry light and crumbly and flaky.”

FoodPieBakingFood WritingFood AnthropologyFood HistoryGlutenGlobal HistoryPastry
Book:Pie: A Global History
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“Through a chink in my fingers, I watched Mel react. She fished around in her sock, producing a switchblade. She clicked it open and whipped it through the air. The steel blade caught the sunlight, and flashed. Then she tore after the creature, squealing and hoofing as it had. It looked up at her in dismay, and I partially pitied it, pitied the terror on its homely face. She swiped the blade across its side as it attempted to turn around, its legs scrabbling, its pudgy body squirming and twitching, trying in vain to push through the dense tangle. Mel had a chance to knife it again—I could see her debating whether she should, but she wiped the bloody blade against her sock instead. The injured creature finally made headway into the creepers. Another squeal, and then its backside and tufted tail disappeared into the undergrowth. Shuddering, I moved my hands from my face. I stared at Mel. I tried to breathe. The pig’s blood looked bright and alarming against the grimy cotton of her sock. FROM DAMSELFLY “Will it die?” I whispered. “I didn’t get it very deep. I should have killed it. Killed it before it killed you.”

Young AdultAsianMultiracialYalitMixedDamselflyScholasticChandra Prasad
Author:Chandra Prasad
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“An insect hovers nearby. She can't remember what it's called: smaller than a dragonfly, with delicate mother-of-pearl wings. It skims the surface of the beck. She stays like that for a long time, listening to the birds, the water, the insects. She shuts her eyes, opening them again when she feels something brush her hand. The dragonfly-like creature with the iridescent wings. The word swims up from the depths of her brain: a damselfly. Tears well in her eyes, surprising her. She was fascinated by insects as a child. She remembers begging her mother to spare the moths that fluttered out from wardrobes, the gauzy spider's webs that clung to the ceiling. She'd collected vividly illustrated books about them. About birds, too. She would hide under the covers reading, in the small, silent hours of the morning while her parents slept in the next room. It hurts now, to think of that little girl, her innocent wonder: flashlight in hand, turning the glossy pages and marveling at the wild and wonderful creatures. Butterflies with eyes on their wings, parrots in candy-colored plumage.”

InsectsBirdsChildhood MemoriesChildlike WonderDamselfly
Book:Weyward
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“As I write, in early July 2025, threatening plumes of smoke sweep across the horizon. Dava Moor, twelve miles from Laikenbuie Ecology Trust, is on fire. The wildfire currently spans over nine miles. As well as the terrible impact on local people, I grieve for the animals. Endangered northern damselflies and white-faced darters live in lochs now surrounded by flames. Never has it felt more pressing to restore health to our habitats and increase Scotland's resilience to climate change.”

Climate ChangeEndangered SpeciesWildfire2025DamselflyDarterDava MoorLochanMorayMuirburn
Book:Reforesting Scotland 72: Autumn/Winter 2025
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