Explaining the rise of Barcelona as a naval power to rival Italian city-states like Pisa and Genoa, he notes the balanced diet of Catalan sailors: more biscuit and cheese than the Venetians, less wine than the Neapolitans, but plenty of garlic, onions and spices to make hard biscuits more palatable.

ECONOMIST: History��s most important sea

By the end of the feast, there were only two items left: the hard round pretzels and the hard square biscuits.

NEWYORKER: Luda and Milena