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Hot Ticket Item · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
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  Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world
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  Speaker 1: is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an
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  Speaker 1: open book, all of these amazing tales are right there
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  Speaker 1: on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. We tend not to think of
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  Speaker 1: where the things in our daily lives come from. When
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  Speaker 1: it comes to certain items, They've been a part of
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  Speaker 1: our lives for so long it feels like forever. Paper,
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  Speaker 1: for example, is so ubiquitous all over the world. Some
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  Speaker 1: may be surprised to learn that it got its start
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  Speaker 1: in China almost two thousand years ago, and the glasses
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  Speaker 1: we used to see clearly each day first arrived in
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  Speaker 1: Italy during the Jury. But such inventions aren't the only
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  Speaker 1: things that have spread across the globe. Food has also
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  Speaker 1: escaped beyond its original borders, allowing different cultures to sample
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  Speaker 1: flavors from thousands of miles away. William Hughes was on
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  Speaker 1: a quest, but not for food. He was on the
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  Speaker 1: hunt for plants. He had traveled thousands of miles by
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  Speaker 1: ship from his home in England to the America's during
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  Speaker 1: the sixteen thirties. He was was a botanist, writing about
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  Speaker 1: the plants of the New World. He was also a pirate.
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  Speaker 1: There weren't too many pirate botanists in those days. If
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  Speaker 1: you can imagine, Hughes had pretty much cornered the markets. However,
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  Speaker 1: he was no captain. Instead, he took up a position
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  Speaker 1: serving on one of the King's ships doing odd jobs.
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  Speaker 1: Other crew members followed orders to capture any ships they
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  Speaker 1: encountered at sea, but that wasn't what made Hugh as
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  Speaker 1: a pirate. His job was unique and considerably more dangerous.
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  Speaker 1: When a ship encountered an unfamiliar land, Hughes was out
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  Speaker 1: in a small boat to investigate it. He would look
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  Speaker 1: for food and fresh water, then report back as to
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  Speaker 1: whether it was safe for the others to come ashore.
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  Speaker 1: He wasn't upset about the task though. By exploring the
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  Speaker 1: flora of unknown shores, Hughes was able to record new
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  Speaker 1: observations for his book. He encountered plants and fruits such
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  Speaker 1: as sugar canes, limes, and prickly pears. In his notes,
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  Speaker 1: he detailed how to use them in their fullest potential.
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  Speaker 1: The lime, for example, worked best as an antidote discurvy.
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  Speaker 1: Of all the fruits he encountered, though, there was only
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  Speaker 1: one to which he devoted his longest and most thorough entry.
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  Speaker 1: He called it the American nectar. The Colombians and Hondurans
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  Speaker 1: were already familiar with it. Its main ingredients had factored
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  Speaker 1: into their foods and drinks for thousands of years. The
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  Speaker 1: ingredient was considered a food of the gods. People would
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  Speaker 1: grind it up or crush it into a pulp and
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  Speaker 1: place it in hot water with other foods like honey
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  Speaker 1: and vanilla. The drink was also incorporated into religious ceremonies,
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  Speaker 1: and when prepared in a certain way, bore the color
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  Speaker 1: and viscosity of blood. European colonizers who visited South America
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  Speaker 1: were often greeted with steaming cups of the stuff, which
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  Speaker 1: was how Hughes came to know it so well. He
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  Speaker 1: published some of his favorite recipes in his book The
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  Speaker 1: American Physician in sixteen seventy two. He wasn't the first
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  Speaker 1: to encounter the fruits, but he was among the first
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  Speaker 1: to write about it in English. Christopher Columbus had encountered
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  Speaker 1: it over a hundred years earlier, on one of his
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  Speaker 1: trips to the Americus, the Hondurans he'd met had treated
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  Speaker 1: it as precious as gold, spilling some of the fruits
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  Speaker 1: on the floor of their canoe and quickly picking it
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  Speaker 1: back up, careful not to lose any Columbus tasted some
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  Speaker 1: and believed it to be some kind of almond. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: most Europeans who consumed the drink made from this valuable
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  Speaker 1: ingredients didn't care much for it. It was too bitter
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  Speaker 1: for their tastes. One Italian explorer noted that it was
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  Speaker 1: more fit for pigs than humans, and so it was
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  Speaker 1: widely ignored outside of Central and South America. Spain went
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  Speaker 1: on to adopt it, but it didn't spread throughout the
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  Speaker 1: rest of Europe until Hughes brought both the fruits and
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  Speaker 1: the recipes back with him to England. Europeans eventually returned
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  Speaker 1: to the America's but not to taste the magical drink.
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  Speaker 1: They committed genocides of the indigenous people, murdering thousands and
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  Speaker 1: taking many overseas as slaves. They also started importing African
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  Speaker 1: slaves as well. The women from these different cultures shared
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  Speaker 1: their knowledge to help make the drink less bitter as
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  Speaker 1: it would appeal more to their master's tastes. They would
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  Speaker 1: sweeten it by adding things like milk and flavorings. Today
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  Speaker 1: we still guzzle cups of it during the winter, snuggled
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  Speaker 1: up by our fireplace or the Yule log on TV.
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  Speaker 1: We put everything from marshmallows to peppermint in it to
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  Speaker 1: enhance its flavor, but in the end, the pure substance
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  Speaker 1: just can't be beat. The American nectar the South Americans
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  Speaker 1: gave to William Hughes was none other then hot chocolate.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing beats a nice relaxing vacation on a tropical island,
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  Speaker 1: the warm sand beneath one's feet, a cold drink with
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  Speaker 1: a tiny umbrella sticking out of it, and the sound
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  Speaker 1: of the ocean crashing upon the shore. Just the thought
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  Speaker 1: is enough to make someone want to pack up and
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  Speaker 1: fly out to one tomorrow, that is, if they can
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  Speaker 1: find it. In ninety seven, England's Guardian newspaper did a
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  Speaker 1: special report on an obscure set of islands known as
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  Speaker 1: the Sans Serif, which were celebrating the tenth anniversary of
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  Speaker 1: their independence from Portugal. Despite its rich history, San Serif
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  Speaker 1: was not well known until the Guardians seven page story.
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  Speaker 1: It was discovered in the Indian Ocean by explorer John Street,
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  Speaker 1: who first set sail with his crew in fourteen one.
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  Speaker 1: Spain and Portugal sent ships of their own to colonize
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  Speaker 1: the islands ten years later. After their rule ended, Great
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  Speaker 1: Britain took control of San Serrif during the mid seventeenth
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  Speaker 1: century until it seeded the land to Portugal in eighteen fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: the island's independence not coming until April of nineteen sixty seven.
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  Speaker 1: The larger island, named Casa superior A, was home to
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  Speaker 1: an international airport, as well as lush forests and substantial
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  Speaker 1: oil fields along its western coast. The smaller island, Casa
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  Speaker 1: inferior A, also had an airport of its own and
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  Speaker 1: several tourist friendly beaches. Surprisingly, such small islands were actually
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  Speaker 1: home to almost every world religion imaginable. However, the primary
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  Speaker 1: faith was that of Asterism, an amalgamation of Christianity, Hinduism,
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  Speaker 1: and other belief systems. Worshippers believe their god, the Ascender,
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  Speaker 1: would eventually return and lift them above the baseline with
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  Speaker 1: the help of priests known as wingdings. The food of
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  Speaker 1: Sant sa refe was comprised mainly of the root vegetable swarfega.
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  Speaker 1: Swarfega was prepared a number of ways, including mashed, squashed
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  Speaker 1: and flattened, then dipped into flavorful sauces. To help with
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  Speaker 1: the taste, many islanders would wrap it in toilet paper
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  Speaker 1: first to help it go down just a little easier.
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  Speaker 1: Readers were smitten with San Serriff and what it had
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  Speaker 1: to offer Englanders looking for a tropical vacation spot, but
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  Speaker 1: travel agents hated it. They were bombarded with calls following
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  Speaker 1: the reports publication from people hoping to book flights to
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  Speaker 1: the archipelago. There was just one problem. They couldn't find it.
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  Speaker 1: If you haven't caught on yet, there's something a little
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  Speaker 1: offset about San Saiff. You can hear it in the
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  Speaker 1: name San Serif San Saraf consisting of the two principal
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  Speaker 1: islands where those names translate to upper case and lower case.
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  Speaker 1: It's cities and ports are named after fonts such as Bodhini, Garamond, Clarendon,
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  Speaker 1: and other areas named for general type setting terms. At
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  Speaker 1: the tip of the lower island lies thirty point, just
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  Speaker 1: to hop, skip and a jump away from the shores
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  Speaker 1: of gil Sands. The island's creation had been in April
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  Speaker 1: Fool's Day joke devised by Philip Davies, the Special reports
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  Speaker 1: manager for The Guardian. He had been mildly annoyed by
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  Speaker 1: the articles of another paper, The Financial Times, which would
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  Speaker 1: publish pieces about small countries he had never heard of.
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  Speaker 1: Shortly before April one of nineteen seventy seven, Davies was
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  Speaker 1: flipping through The Financial Times and wondered, why don't we
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  Speaker 1: just make up a country. The other editors took his
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  Speaker 1: idea and ran with it, turning it not only into
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  Speaker 1: a successful April Fool's Day joke, but also an advertising venture.
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  Speaker 1: Four of the seven pages of the report were nothing
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  Speaker 1: but ads from real companies who were in on the hoax.
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  Speaker 1: For example, Kodak held a photo competition for readers pictures
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  Speaker 1: of San Saief. Winners would be featured in a public
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  Speaker 1: exhibition the following year. Though the airlines and travel agents
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  Speaker 1: were less than thrilled by the ruse, it has endured
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  Speaker 1: for over forty years thanks to fan made websites and
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  Speaker 1: even a series of books published about life on the islands,
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  Speaker 1: all fictional, of course, Several astute readers caught on right away,
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  Speaker 1: writing back to the paper with tongue in cheek letters
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  Speaker 1: about their childhood trips to the islands. It wasn't like
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  Speaker 1: Davies was trying to hide it either. Look closely at
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  Speaker 1: a map of Sans Serife and you'll see the biggest
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  Speaker 1: clue of all. The pair of islands had been drawn
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  Speaker 1: to resemble a semi colon. And that's what I'd call curious.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
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  Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
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  Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
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  Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
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  Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
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  Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
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  Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay
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  Speaker 1: curious one.