Few social rituals are as widespread or instinctive as clinking glasses after a toast. At weddings, dinners, and bars and pubs around the world, we reach across the table, touch glasses with a satisfying clink and a quick “cheers,” and take a sip. But where does this custom actually come from? Let’s take a look at the origins of this familiar custom, and try to sort the myth from reality.   The Poison Theory The most common origin story goes something like this: In medieval times, clinking cups or glasses hard enough would cause liquid to slosh and spill from one vessel into another, so if your drinking companion had poisoned your cup, they’d be consuming poison too. As such, the clinking was a way to show that no drinks had been spiked, whether with belladonna, hemlock, arsenic, mercury, or any other common toxin …Read More

During Europe’s golden age of exploration — from roughly the 1400s through the 1700s — long voyages over land and sea were fraught with danger. Potential threats lay around every corner and across every sea — harsh landscapes, raging oceans, and clashes with Indigenous inhabitants were just some of the problems faced. And then there were the fundamentals of survival, none more important than what to eat.  For sailors at sea and overland expeditions pushing through unmapped wilderness, the question of food was one not of comfort but of staying alive. A lack of food meant starvation and sickness, and often a catastrophic end to even the most meticulously planned expedition. But what exactly did explorers eat on these long journeys? Here we look at some of the common food supplies carried — or harvested — during this era.  Hardtack If there was …Read More