How Thatcher, Proust and Hemingway loved to have breakfast. Drinking whiskey may reduce the risk of stroke

The most famous politician in England of modern times, Winston Churchill, was fond of repeating: “My tastes are extremely simple. I only like the best." This principle was fully extended to food, which had its consequences: with an unheroic growth of 1 meter 70 centimeters, Churchill reached a weight of 95 kilograms in his mature years. Churchill never exhausted himself with gymnastics, although in his youth he was a good fencer and rider; but throughout his life he carried the love of tasty and plentiful food. England knows not so many gourmets; perhaps the most famous was King Henry the Eighth, who for this reason reached an absolutely impossible size, which brought him to his grave ahead of time. On the contrary, Churchill, being a very overweight man, lived a long and generally healthy life, refuting all ideas about proper nutrition. Here is a typical breakfast of the British Prime Minister, which he consumed all alone, so that no one, not even his beloved wife Clementine, would prevent him from enjoying the first meal of the day.

So, Churchill's breakfast began with a melon, followed by an omelette or scrambled eggs and bacon. At this, the average person will consider that breakfast has already taken place, but such was not the descendant of the family of the Dukes of Marlborough. Having eaten the first course of courses, he proceeded to a mutton chop or asked for a chicken leg. The breakfast was completed with coffee with milk, which was served with toast with jam.

The truly gastronomic tastes of Winston Churchill were revealed during lunch and dinner, i.e., respectively, lunch and dinner in our opinion. Dinner began with oysters, a distinctly French habit that Churchill had become addicted to during his frequent vacations, which he usually spent in the south of France. This was followed by Savoy soup - a vegetable soup with potatoes and Savoy cabbage, flavored with crushed lard or bacon. Only after that came the turn of ... appetizers, in which our gourmet was quite unpretentious, preferring a can of sardines to some intricate pickles. Indeed, the main delights were yet to come. It can be said that Churchill's favorite dish was flounder fillet wrapped in smoked salmon, with a side dish of shrimp in garlic sauce.

After the fish dish, the meat dish was certainly served. It was quite often a venison roast stuffed with foie gras and truffle sauce - also, as you understand, not an English specialty, but a tribute to traditional French cuisine.

Actually English cuisine in the diet of the Prime Minister was represented not so much by dishes as by products. First of all, it was Churchill's favorite cheese - the blue English Stilton cheese. Let there be five thousand excellent cheeses in France; the British are proud of one, and the Stilton is worth it. Cheese at the prime minister's table was also served with a typical English drink, port wine, that is, Portuguese wine, which the subjects of the British crown taught how to make according to the own tastes of the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula. After vintage port came the turn of cake, ice cream and coffee with brandy. Modern nutritionists and doctors would be horrified to learn that Winston Churchill necessarily washed down all these dishes of considerable calorie content with a jug of heavy cream, to which he was a great hunter and which he especially liked to treat guests at the table. The meal ended with the host asking, "Does anyone else want cream?"

At bedtime, this cheerful man did not drink boring kefir, but a strong broth made from meat or game.

Even in a nightmare, one cannot imagine Churchill as a vegetarian. Few, however, knew that the Prime Minister experienced almost physical pain when a cow or a pig had to be slaughtered on his farm. One day he said to his wife, pointing to a roast goose pictured reclining on a silver platter: “Please cut it yourself. He was my friend."

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Most recently, I talked here about how you can cool off remarkably in such hot weather. Today we will touch on a drink that is more serious, stronger and no less interesting, I would also add that it is quite useful with proper use and knowledge of some facts about it, so

Facts about whiskey or 22 great reasons to drink whiskey:

1. Whiskey is virtually fat and carb free, so your hips will thank you.

One shot of whiskey contains no fat at all and is 4% carbs, so you can wear your skinny jeans and still drink whiskey in peace.

2. The word whiskey means "water of life".

Whiskey comes from the Gaelic "Uisge Beatha" which means "water of life". phonetically, this became the basis of the name - "usky", and only then turned into the better known to us "whisky". So this drink is nothing but living water, friends!

3. In the border area, whiskey was worth its weight in gold.

In 18th-century Pennsylvania, whiskey acts as currency—used for cooking, medicine, drinking, and a few other things. This devotion to whiskey eventually led to the farmers' rebellion in 1794, who fought against taxes and fees that threatened their drink with its complete elimination. Also known as the Whiskey Rebellion. This fight was worth it, I can tell you.

4. Whiskey may help prevent cancer.

In 2005, Dr. Jim Swan, speaking at the Glasgow EuroMedLab conference, said: “Research has shown that there are even greater health benefits for people who drink single malt whiskey. Why? Single malt whiskey contains more ellagic acid than red wine. This acid can also be found in most fruits and is an antioxidant that can absorb cancer cells in the body. Of course, more research is needed to be absolutely sure of this, but let's drink and hope that Dr. Swan is right.

5. Drinking whiskey can reduce the risk of stroke.

To be clear, drinking a lot of alcohol increases your chances of having a stroke anyway. However, if you can master the art of moderate consumption - that is, somewhere around one to two fifty-gram shots a day - then this can provide protection against ischemic stroke. Meanwhile, this amount of this drink per day is better than no consumption of it per day when it comes to protection against ischemic stroke.

6. It may also reduce the risk of developing heart disease.

A 1998 study showed that a large sip of whiskey could help protect against heart disease and increase the body's defenses against disease by increasing the body's antioxidant levels.

7. Drinking 6 shots of whiskey a week may reduce the risk of adult dementia.

Special studies at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center showed that the chances of developing dementia were lower among those adults who drank alcohol in moderation compared to those who did not drink at all!

8. Hillary Clinton regularly drinks whiskey.

And we all want to be like Hill)).

9. Winston Churchill drank whiskey and water for breakfast...
and led the state through World War II.

Whiskey and soda, boiled eggs and his cigars, of course.

10. And he helps Jack Donahue run Kabletown.

11. Oh, did I mention that Mark Twain was a big fan?

12. A closed bottle of whiskey will only get better for 100 years.

And even after you open a bottle of whiskey, a half-full bottle will remain good for five years.

13. Things to know about American Drinking Whiskey: Tennessee and Kentucky are some of the earliest whiskey-producing regions in the world.

Bourbons such as Maker's Mark and Wild Turkey are made in Kentucky, while Tennessee is home to Jack Daniel's.

14. There are over 5,000 types of single malts.

15. Whiskey may be the smartest investment you can ever make.

Unlike wine, which only tastes worse in the bottle, the fact that whiskey tastes almost forever means that its value is much higher. So, instead of choosing a retirement fund and investing in it for a comfortable retirement, maybe you should just buy yourself a couple of bottles of rare whiskeys, watch their value go up and enjoy? (It will bring much more pleasure).

16. George Washington, the father of America, also founded one of the largest whiskey factories in the country.

The use of whiskey was mentioned at the core of the Constitution. After his tenure as the first President of the United States, which ended in 1797, Washington proposed to the manager of the Scottish economy, James Anderson, to build a whiskey distillery. The distillery was the largest in America, producing 11,000 gallons of whiskey in 1799, making it one of Mount Vernon's most successful economic ventures.

17. Whiskey was originally created by monks and only for them, which makes it a holy spirit.

(LOL, spirit, understand?) This practice changed in 1541 when King Henry VIII dissolved all those liquor-ridden monasteries. Poor sober monks.

18. Whiskey is not afraid of the cold and even sub-zero temperatures cannot freeze it.

Nothing proves this fact more than when a case of 100-year-old whiskey was found in Antarctica. And although he survived temperatures below -30 Celsius, all bottles of this magical drink were in excellent condition.

19. Whiskey is measured in "fingers" - Your body is the only tool for measuring the perfect amount of whiskey for you!

To measure the whiskey, all you have to do is place your finger horizontally on the glass and pour the whiskey to the width of your finger or a couple if you feel frisky))

20. Did I mention that whiskey looks great on a bar?

21. Bacon is a great side dish.

22. But let's be honest: The best reason to drink whiskey is because it tastes good.

Finally, another interesting facts about whiskey or rather, the rule, the rule of five "S" (golden rules for tasting whiskey), which came to us from Scotland (Sight, Smell, Swish, Swallow, Splash). Translated into Russian, this will be the rule of five "P" (Look, Smell, Taste, Swallow, Splash water). So:

Smell the whiskey undiluted, swirl it in the glass.

Taste, take a small sip and, as it were, "chew" it. "Savoring" the whiskey in your mouth gives you the opportunity to get a more complete experience, because. different parts of our tongue perceive different tastes: the tip of the tongue is sweet, the edges of the tongue are salty, the middle of the tongue is acid, the back of the tongue is bitter. Assess the balance of these main taste groups.

Swallow whiskey, evaluate its taste, sharpness or softness.
Pay attention to the aftertaste: long or which, pleasant and soft or sharp and strange. Typically, a classy whiskey has a long aftertaste, and its aroma is able to remain in an empty glass for several days.

The Scots believe that diluting whiskey with spring water allows you to reveal its aromas and taste. This is especially true for whiskey with a cask strength of more than 50% alcohol content, the consumption of which in its pure form will instantly numb your taste buds, significantly reducing your ability to adequately perceive the taste of the drink.

In general, forget about all the rules and enjoy the "water of life"!

There are many myths and legends about the outstanding British politician, Nobel Prize winner in literature and artist Winston Churchill.

They say that there were Iroquois in his family, that he did not study well at school, that he stuttered and an actor read his speeches, that he did not like sports, was a glutton and a drunkard.

The legends he invented

However, all of the above is just fiction, although Churchill himself periodically gave the occasion for the last three myths. He said: “In my youth, I made it a rule not to drink a drop of alcohol before dinner. Now that I am no longer young, I keep the rule not to drink a drop of alcohol before breakfast "and" I have always followed the rule: do not run if you can stand; don't stand if you can sit; don't sit if you can lie."

Churchill was always served breakfast in bed. He once said: "My wife and I two or three times in 40 years of marriage, but it turned out to be so unpleasant that I had to stop it." However, all this is categorically not true. He played golf fluently in his 30s and 40s, played polo in his 50s until he injured his leg, hunted hounds until his 70s, swam into his 80s.

wine cellar illusionist

Churchill was amused by giving reason to think that he could drink like a bottomless barrel. There is his famous statement to the King of Saudi Arabia that his inviolable rule requires the mandatory use of alcohol before meals, during meals and after meals.

Once Bessie Braddock (Member of Parliament) exclaimed in 1946: “Winston, you are drunk!”, to which the derogatory reply “That's right. And you are a freak. I'll sober up tomorrow morning. And you will remain ugly."

"Dad's Cocktail"

The story of a drink called "Daddy's Cocktail", so named by Churchill's daughter (covering the bottom of a glass, which was then filled with water and drunk in the morning), is confirmed by many witnesses.

He acquired this habit in his youth when he was in India and South Africa: the water was undrinkable, whiskey had to be added and, as Churchill writes in his book My Early Years, "gradually I learned to love this drink." According to one of the researchers of his biography, Jock Colville, the vodka he fell in love with was more like mouthwash than whiskey. It can hardly be called "scotch and water."

Truth is in champagne!

“First champagne - then business!” Churchill once said while on an official visit to New York. The British wartime prime minister was such an avid fan of Pol Roger champagne that the manufacturer named this prestigious blend after him, Cuvée Winston Churchill.

Champagne is known for its beauties. One of the most remarkable was Odette-Paul Roger, whose husband ran a champagne company of the same name. Pol Roger had been Churchill's favorite champagne since the 1920s, so when he attended a dinner at the newly reopened British Embassy in Paris in November 1944. Ambassador Duff Cooper, who knew that Churchill enjoyed the company of beautiful women almost as much as he liked champagne, seated Odette next to him. They immediately liked each other and their passionate friendship, which was hardly of such an innocent nature, lasted until Churchill's death in 1965.

Churchill was such an ardent admirer of Odette and her champagne that he called Pol Roger, 44 Avenue de Champagne, Epernay the most drinkable address in the world, and named one of his racehorses Pol Roger.. Odette returned the compliment in 1984, naming the new prestigious champagne blend Cuvée Winston Churchill.

And it's all about him

Much has already been said about what Churchill liked to drink. In the mornings, he would greet guests in his apartment while drinking sherry. He hated cocktails. He drank beer for lunch, instead of tea - whiskey and soda (albeit very diluted). However, he had a special relationship with coffee. He said: " . It, like cognac, cannot be drunk in mugs!

There is a story about how a noble lady Lady Astor said to him:

“If I were your wife, Winston, I would put poison in your coffee.”

“And if I were your husband, I would drink it,” came the immediate answer.

"I am easily satisfied with the best"

“Food from words never upset my stomach,” W. Churchill wrote. He was a fan of first-class French cuisine.

He was also partial to traditional English dishes such as game and roast beef with Yorkshire pudding.

He preferred light, "transparent" soups to their thick and fatty counterparts.

Winston Churchill is the most famous British politician of the mid-twentieth century. Many photographs have been preserved where he sits in a comfortable chair with a glass of Armenian cognac and a Cuban cigar. Possessing a refined taste, Churchill always had a love for cooking. It is simply impossible to imagine him as a vegetarian. However, the prime minister was worried when a sheep or a pig had to be slaughtered for dinner on his farm. Once, when he was served a carcass of a roasted goose on an old dish, he asked his wife to carve it, because the goose was "his friend." The Prime Minister of Great Britain did not deny himself pleasures. Gourmet food, alcohol and cigars became an attribute of his daily life. Nevertheless, he lived for many years. We will tell you what Churchill ate for breakfast and how he lived to be 90 years old.

For lunch, Churchill was served baked salmon with garlic sauce and shrimp garnish. Well, the main dish on the Prime Minister's table was a saddle of roast venison with truffle sauce and goose liver pate.

The writer Sita Stelzer wrote about the culinary passions of the famous politician of the 20th century in her book. It's called "Dinner with Churchill: Politics at the Dinner Table".

But back to the question of how Churchill lived to be 90 years old, drinking cognac daily and smoking a dozen Cuban cigars. Maybe the harm of smoking and alcohol is greatly exaggerated? What allowed Sir Winston to live to a ripe old age and is it possible to try on his life credo for yourself?

From poached eggs to whiskey and soda, together with the Dima Borisov Family of Restaurants, the site finds out what Winston Churchill, Marcel Proust and other famous people ate for breakfast.

Solomiya Krushelnytska

Breakfast "the most charming Madama Butterfly" has not changed since childhood: a glass of milk and a bun, sometimes with honey or butter. Having settled on the Mediterranean coast, Solomiya did not change her habit - she still had breakfast after the morning promenade, sometimes adding a little coffee to milk.

Breakfast for Solomiya Krushelnytska

Breakfast of Solomiya Krushelnytska in Kyiv (restaurantChickenKiev):

• Bun with cinnamon and fudge – 25 UAH 24 kopecks
• Milkshakes – 69 UAH
• Coffee with milk - 49 hryvnia

Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway woke up no later than six in the morning and actively wrote until noon, and his favorite breakfast invariably consisted of poached eggs with salmon. By the way, salmon is Ernest's favorite whiskey snack. When the writer lived in Cuba, he usually started the day with a glass of champagne.

Breakfast for Ernest Hemingway

Breakfast Ernest Hemingway in Kyiv (restaurantChickenKyiv)

Complex breakfast: a glass of sparkling wine, a bookcase with snacks, freshly baked bread and homemade pie, poached eggs with gravlax salmon, asparagus and cheese sauce - 128 hryvnia 19 kopecks.

Breakfast Ernest Hemingway in Kyiv (restaurant "Badger")

Poached eggs with gravlax salmon – 125 UAH

Margaret Thatcher

The Iron Lady preferred a light breakfast: half a grapefruit and a cup of strong black coffee. When Thatcher noticeably lost weight a month before the election, legends began to circulate about her diet - you can still find many options for the “Maggie diet” on the net.

Breakfast for Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher breakfast in Kyiv (Bessarabia restaurant)

• Kapugrey: espresso with grapefruit juice – 75 UAH

Marcel Proust

Thanks to Marcel Proust, breakfast with croc-monsieur first appeared in literature - in the novel "Under the shadow of girls in bloom." The writer himself had coffee with milk and a croissant for breakfast - right in bed, and wrote there all day.

Breakfast for Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust breakfast in Kyiv (Bessarabia restaurant)

• Freshly baked croissant with jam and homemade butter – 98 UAH
• Crome madam with bacon and sheep cheese – 145 UAH
• Coffee with milk - 49 hryvnia

Lev Tolstoy

Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a convinced vegetarian, but he ate a lot, varied and satisfying. His breakfast was very simple - oatmeal, homemade kefir and eggs: scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs with mushrooms or eggs in a tomato. When the wife made a shopping list, she noted: “To buy 20 larger eggs for Lev Nikolayevich, for everyone else - ordinary ones.”

Breakfast for Leo Tolstoy

Breakfast of Leo Tolstoy in Kyiv (restaurant "Lubchik")

• Tea or fruit drink, assorted snacks with bread, oatmeal with caramelized apples – 98 UAH
• Tea or fruit drink, assorted snacks with bread, shakshuka (eggs with sweet peppers, tomatoes and toast) – 98 UAH

Winston Churchill

A few years ago, an airplane menu, on the back of which Winston Churchill wrote down the “correct” breakfast option, was sold at auction for £1,500. And the politician’s breakfast looked like this: “First serving: poached egg, toast with berry jam and butter, coffee with milk, cold milk, cold chicken or meat. Second part: fresh grapefruit, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, whiskey with soda and a cigar ".

Churchill's daughter gave a detailed description of "Daddy's cocktail": a little whiskey and half a glass of water. With a sip of this drink, Churchill usually began the day and continued to drink it until dinner. Breakfast, of course, is always in bed.

Breakfast for Winston Churchill

Breakfast of Winston Churchill in Kyiv (restaurant "Badger")

• Poached eggs with fried bacon – 99 UAH
• Toast with jam
• Orange fresh – 55 UAH
• Coffee with milk - 49 hryvnia
• Whiskey Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack - 129 hryvnia.

For those who want to test Ukrainian whiskey -"Mikulinetske" - 98 hryvnias in the restaurant "Ostannya Barikada"

Alexandre Grimaud de La Renière

One of the most famous restaurant critics of the 18th century, the author of the popular Gourmet Almanac, left us a detailed description of a modest breakfast from his era. “Breakfast is a non-committal meal… Several baskets of oysters serve as a prelude… They are replaced by mutton kidneys, pigeons disguised as cutlets, pyramids of sausages and sausages, pork legs stuffed with pistachios. The famous capon may even appear on the table ...

... Capons are replaced by salads, where living creatures coexist with everything that incites appetite and causes thirst, such as: truffles, intricate jellies, Mayan anchovies, cucumbers, Genoese beans, Turkish grain, cherries, mushrooms, melon in English, small onions in vinegar, pickled oysters from Granville…

Roast is excluded from the morning meal, but its place is taken by a huge turkey pate stuffed with truffles and ham. Along with the pâté are four sweet pre-dessert dishes, such as charlotte or, even better, English apple flan pie. Then it's time for dessert... It's not forbidden to drink a cup or two of punch, a faithful companion of the stomach, but the real end of breakfast is coffee without cream and its inseparable companion - liquor.

Breakfast for Alexandre Grimaud de La Renière

Alexander Grimaud de La Renière in Kyiv (restaurantChickenKyiv)

Unlimited breakfast buffet at Chicken Kyiv: oysters, profiteroles with pates, cheeses and meat specialties, gravlax salmon, sausages and meat rolls, charlottes and pies, various fruits, sparkling wine. 249 hryvnia.

Collages: Olga Sosyura