With April Fools Day out of the way I can safely emerge from my shell. Turtles aren’t known for their practical joking but in the 1920s a whole bale of us got in on the action by helping American painter Waldo Peirce play a prank on his concierge. He gave her a pet turtle and then secretly swapped it every few days for a bigger one. When she started showing off her ever-changing chelonian to all her friends he then confused her even more by swapping it for smaller and smaller ones instead. My uncle Snapper said it was the funniest thing he’s ever done, but he doesn’t get out much.
Talking of relatives, scientists have been looking into my family tree by examining the fossils of giant soft-shelled turtles. Trionychidae, or “pancake” turtles as they are sometimes known, have soft leathery shells rather than the hard bony carapaces that most of us prefer. I personally go in for a soft cuddly shell but then I am a very unusual turtle!
Which probably explains why I was the only turtle invited to the unveiling of BioMed Central’s new journal Flavour; a taste-tastic treatise on the science of food. More than 300 people gathered at the University of London to celebrate the official launch of the journal, learn about Nordic cuisine and try some seaweed ice-cream. Yummy!
I’m always a fan of science, but even more so when it’s related to food, so I was stoked to learn about Pi Day. March 14th or (03.14 for our American cousins) is an international celebration of π. The party officially starts at 1:59 PM which gives a grand total of 3.14159. In 1995, Hiroyoki Gotu memorized 42,195 places of pi, which makes him the world pi champion. That sounds like a lot of work, so I hope they rewarded him with a tasty pie like this one!
All this talking of food is making me peckish, so I’m off for a snack.
Happy eating peeps!
