Delicious Phrases - Day 2

DAY 2 - Humble Pie

In the 13th Century, British families tended to divvy up food after a hunt by giving priority (and the best portions of meat) to the man who shot the stag, his eldest son and his closest male friends. Those of lesser importance, like the man’s wife, his remaining children and the family of his friends for example, were graciously gifted the umbles (a.k.a. the heart, the brain, the tongue, the kidneys and the entrails). Coating these scraps in seasoning and then baking them into a piecrust made the umbles a little more appetizing, but not much, apparently. Years after the delicacy was discontinued, some punster added an “h” to the phrase, and “to eat humble pie” became synonymous with an embarrassing drop in social status, then generalized as any sort of humiliation.