Wednesday’s Wanderer
Porsche —> Barbecue
Porsche is a German company heavily invested in the automotive industry. It was founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche. In 1934-1938, the company worked with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to design the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most manufactured cars since the end of World War II in 1945. Today, the Porsche brand is well-known for its stylish sports cars, such as the popular Porsche 911.
In 2012, Volkswagen AG took over the Porsche automotive company. As of March 2014, the company is among the first to develop cars with carbon fibre bodies.
Germany is a country in Europe, and one of the most important states in the European Union in terms of political and economic clout. In 1914-1918, Germany fought World War I and lost. Until the 1930s, it struggled to develop. Then, in 1939-1945, it fought World War II under the leadership of Hitler, but was again defeated by the Allied forces led by the UK and USA. Ever since, it has been making steady progress under the watchful eyes of many politicians, including Ludwig Erhard, a politician who steadied the nation’s economy.
Ludwig Erhard was a former Chancellor of West Germany, the part of Germany independent from Soviet rule at the end of World War II. He held the post in 1963-1966. Before that, he was the country’s Minister of Economics since 1949. In this period, he oversaw the revival of Germany’s fortunes and social development, allowing the country to become industrially superior in the region by the 1950s and able to accommodate the millions of refugees flooding the country because of the Cold War. In 1961, then American President Lyndon B. Johnson hosted the first presidential barbecue in Erhard’s honour.
Barbecue is a cooking method popular in the southern USA. It requires a special set up where pieces of meat are suspended from a rod over a charcoal fire. The hot smoke from the fire slowly bakes the meat, giving it a unique taste. Because cooking the meat like this takes a few hours, barbecues are often hosted as part of social events. The practice has been prevalent since the 19th century.
Of late, practitioners have been using propane and electric fires as well.
So the path that we have traversed today is:
Porsche —> Germany —> Ludwig Erhard —> Barbecue
Three clicks!
Hop over. It’s time for the next question:
Thursday’s Trekker
IPL —> Norman Borlaug
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