It seems every family has one relative who cooks a “World Famous” something. From baked beans to borscht, there is an Aunt Sarah or Uncle Fred who has created a version of the dish that has garnered kudos from around the globe. At least, they say so.

My question is this: is there a governing body of taste testers who makes determinations as to what foods are worthy of planetary fame? For that matter, is this a world body, reflecting the gastronomic preferences of cultures spanning the globe?

Are the dishes submitted to this Food Court (Like it? Thought of it myself), or are there Savory Scouts on the prowl, always searching for the next World-Famous Family Dish?

How would regional World-Famous comestibles translate from country to country? After all, a simple translation from American English to British English is problematic enough. French fries in the US are chips across the pond. So, imagine other nation’s trouble with translation.

Speaking of food, what is the deal with television hyperbole? It seems that every episode of a TV show is a “special” episode. It used to be it took a wedding or a birth to entice viewers. Now, every program on the telly is an “event,” adding the word to “diva” and “hero” in being devalued beyond it’s use in a serious conversation.

There are episodes that are “going to get real” or are “going to change everything.” What does that even mean? Will chocolate taste any different after I watch? Will up be down and down be up? Will my hair grow back?

I can handle a little embellishment in promotion. Haven’t we all heard and read advertisements about goods and services that were The Best, the Newest and the Revolutionary? But I have yet to watch an episode where everything was supposedly “about to get real” and everything actually “got real.”

While we are on the subject of getting real, who is the genius who found out that having people say “cheese” when getting their picture taken made it looks like they-re smiling? Did they try other words like “grease” or “spleen?”

Are there other words that will make you look angry for the camera? How about sad? I have been told it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown, yet that is the expression people have trouble with. I guess I will add that to the things that baffle me. The list is extensive.

A few examples are understanding how bees fly and cats purr. Why do we say alarm clocks go off when they actually turn on, and why are they called “apartments” when they are all stuck together?

If you replace “W” with “T” in “What, Where and When,” you get the answer to each of them. If you rip a whole in a net, there are actually fewer holes in it than there were before.

And finally, not a question or a musing. This is just something I heard that maybe sounds more deep that it really is: A self-fulfilling prophesy is nevertheless fulfilled.