But he was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, right?

That's right. His flight was also longer being New York to Paris while the Brits did Newfoundland to Ireland. However, his plane (most importantly the engine) was much better. I believe that the Brits had to walk onto the wings and fix the engines several times during the flight.

As long as Irish food lacks lutfisk it can't be the worst cuisine in the world.

But he was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, right?

The prize he ended up winning was just for the first pilot(s) to fly nonstop across the Atlantic. Lindbergh wasn't even considered a contender for the prize because he was the only one going solo--everyone thought that the long flight would be impossible without taking a nap, thereby necessitating two or more pilots. He recognized that weight was needed for fuel more than a copilot, and went without sleep for the 33 (IIRC) hour flight.

Ha! Yeah, the Swedes got it goin' on with the lutfisk and the surströmming.

Hey, the Swedes got limpa bread, Swedish meatballs, and my favorite, Swedish pancakes (the latter was as ethnic as our family got, since they were recipes from my Swedish grandpa)!

I can definitely comment on the blandness of American cooking in the past.

Oh, definitely. When I was growing up, the standard way to cook vegetables was, "boil until all the flavor and texture are gone, plus 10 minutes."

Pasta wasn't exotic, as long as you were talking about spaghetti or macaroni. Chinese was exotic, and most everything else that didn't fit your own ethnic background wasn't even on the map.

As late as 1990, my father commented while on the way to a Chinese restaurant, "I hope we get the Chinese waitress."

The prize was for flying from New York to Paris non-stop.

I've never eaten Irish food. My Irish friend arrived in the US completely unable to cook at age 25, but that was due to her mother spoling her as opposed to lack of cuisine in her country.

I have, however, flown nonstop from New York to Paris. As a passenger, not the pilot, and as far as I know nobody walked on the wings.

My friend just emailed to say that their house was the victim of a drive-by shooting on Saturday, and 3 bullets entered the house, including one into the room where she was putting her two year old to bed. They're renters; they're moving. And I'm getting a little tired of my city's apparent determination to be more ghetto than thou (they live on Burch Ave., which isn't ritzy, but I didn't think was drive-by territory either).

I'm a big fan of limpor, semlor, pankakor, dammsugare, kokosnötboller, princesstårta, etc. etc. Swedish sweets and pastries are great. I was just razzin' them about the rotten seafood.

Swedish sweets and pastries are great.

Not IME. Two words: salted licorice.