The Chocoholic

The Chocoholic

Ralph Peck was a human being just like you and me! And like most of us, lie loved food. He was a chocolate lover: "If it is not chocolate, it is not dessert!" was his standard reply at dessert time. Ralph would sometimes have popcorn for lunch; I had never heard of that before. He did love the small Norwegian shrimp as long as he did not have to shell them. Ralph on the other hand did not think much of the Norwegian brown cheese, nor the cloudberries which we cherish so much (and sell and buy at the price of gold). I did manage to slip a few of them to him mixed up with a lot of whipped cream!

Maybe Ralph's most important contribution, however, is teaching the Norwegians about peanut butter sandwiches with lettuce. We were hesitant, but having tasted it, we found it surprisingly fresh and good, and healthier. Today, every now and then, you will find an island of people in Norway eating peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches. Ralph's legacy lives in Norway, not only though his engineering contributions, but also in the culinary front!

Suzanne Lacasse, D.Sc., P.E., F.ASCE

This letter is an excerpt from the Geo-Strata Feature on Professor Peck, Geo-Strata September/October 2008.