About lime I do shudder

Limes were the reason Great Britain became the greatest world power!

Scurvy, caused by vitamin C deficiency, plagued seamen for centuries in early modern times, as they ate no fresh food on voyages. James Lind, a Scottish Royal Navy surgeon, conducted studies in the 18th century that proved that eating citrus fruit prevented scurvy. It took several decades for the ultra-traditionalist Royal Navy to take action, but eventually all Royal Navy ships started carrying citrus juice and the seamen themselves became known as “limeys”. The healthier seamen make the British Navy invincible.

There is a Torah connection here: Lind’s study was unusual in that he compared seaman who ate citrus to those who did not. That was the second study in human history that used a comparison group. The first such study was over 2,000 years earlier and is described in the first perek of Sefer Daniel in which his vegetarian diet was healthier than the King’s meat diet. For some reason this methodology was ignored by everyone, even Chazal, until the 18th century.

It’s great with Mexican food 🙂

Lime or limes?