User:Peter Isotalo

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Wikipedia:Babel

sv	Den här användaren talar svenska som modersmål.

en-4

This user is able to contribute with a near-native level of English.

no-2

Denne brukaren/brukeren har god kjennskap til norsk.

da-2

Denne brugers kendskab til dansk er på mellemniveau.

de-2

Dieser Benutzer hat fortgeschrittene Deutschkenntnisse.

ru-1

Этот участник владеет русским языком на начальном уровне.

nl-1

Deze gebruiker bezit beginnende kennis van het Nederlands.

ipa-3
ə

This user has an advanced understanding of the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Cyrl-3
я

This user has an advanced understanding of the Cyrillic alphabet.

⇔	This user is a translator from Swedish to English on Wikipedia:Translation.

Look up user:Peter Isotalo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

My name is Peter Isotalo. I was born in Moscow in 1980 and I grew up in both Sweden and the Soviet Union. My family settled in Sweden in 1990 and I consider myself to be culturally and linguistically a Swede. I used to speak Russian as a second language, but it fell into disuse after moving from Moscow, so it's rather rusty now.

I live in Jakobsberg, a suburb of Stockholm in the municipality of Järfälla. I've completed two terms of linguistics at Stockholm University (SU). I have also taken two terms of Mandarin, two terms of history and a term of ethnology at SU as well as a minor, unfinished, course in Dutch. Before my university studies I took several high school courses in Japanese, German, Spanish, Latin and Russian. I have done some work as a freelance translator and subtitler. I'm currently working part time in the souvenir shop at the Vasa Museum while completing my bachelor's degree in history.

I previously went under the handle user:karmosin, so any edit history prior to October 17 2005 can be found here. You can also find me at Wikimedia Commons and English Wiktionary. I used to be active at Swedish Wikipedia, but quit that part of the project for good in January 2008.

I am participating in the following WikiProjects:

Bias

leftist social democrat
middle class
academic brat
sexual radical
feminist
cannabis liberal
internationalist
anti-separatist (that goes for race, gender and ethnicity too)
slightly pro-Russian

My work

Did you know...

... that Valrhona, a company based in the small town of Tain l'Hermitage in the Rhône Valley in France, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality chocolate?

... that the most common food in medieval cuisine for all social classes was bread and that almond milk and verjuice were among the most common ingredients?
... that a subtlety was an elaborate medieval dish that was supposed to entertain and surprise diners with extravagant decorations or by imitating other types of food?
... that many regional cuisines of medieval Europe were heavily influenced by Arab cuisine through contact with Muslim Spain and Sicily?
... that maize was the staple of Aztec cuisine, and that maguey worms, spirulina and corn smut were popular Aztec foods?
... that chocolate was the first non-alcoholic social beverage in early modern European cuisine?
... that bread and beer were the two basic staples of Ancient Egyptian cuisine?
... that pachamanca is a Peruvian dish which has its origins in Inca cuisine?

... that smoking has a history that dates back at least 5,000 years and is one of the most widely practiced recreational activities in the world?
... that Anna Maria Rückerschöld was an early Swedish cookbook author who also argued that middle class women should be entitled to an education in household matters? (April 12 2009)

Major contributions

primary contributor

Swedish language
Reuben Sturman
Scandinavism (built up from a mere redirect to Scandinavia)
medieval cuisine
- regional cuisines of medieval Europe
- entremet
- subtlety
- potage
- sop
- whitedish (later merged with blancmange)
Aztec cuisine
early modern European cuisine
Ancient Egyptian cuisine
Andean cuisine
Valrhona
horse artillery
Vasa (ship)
smoking
Diderot Effect
Anna Maria Rückerschöld

Minor contributions

meaningful amounts of new info added

Copyediting, reviewing and advising

Articles started

Appreciation

A Rosetta Barnstar for stepping up to the plate and translating a Swedish article on Ben oil so that the material could be added to the English WP article. Waitak 13:35, 8 July 2006 (UTC)[1]	I, MacGyverMagic, hereby award you with an Epic Barnstar for your work on Medieval cuisine - a truly marvellous article which will no doubt be featured on Did You Know pretty soon. - Mgm\|^(talk) 12:24, 18 September 2006 (UTC)[2]	A nice cookie for you becuase I could not find a dish of eels in hypocras sauce. In appreciation of your work on Medieval cuisine, Tom Harrison ^Talk 01:59, 5 April 2007 (UTC)[3]	This barnstar is awarded for notifying a steward about Robdurbar's vandalism and blatant misuse of his administrator tools, stopping a vandal with sysop tools from doing further damage. Jesse Viviano 03:03, 27 April 2007 (UTC)[4]
I, User:Quadell, award you this Golden Wiki for your outstanding contributions to the smoking article. Great job! We need more writers like you![5]	I, Durova, am pleased to award the imperial triple crown jewels to Peter Isotalo in recognition of his outstanding contributions to mainspace articles. Durova^Charge! 15:28, 4 November 2007 (UTC)[6]	Peter, for all the work you have done on Medieval cuisine, this gourmand/history lover would be most pleased if you accept this barnstar. Cheers and thanks for the great article. L0b0t (talk) 16:20, 4 December 2008 (UTC)^[7]

Quotes

It is the nature of man to build the most complicated cage of rules and regulations in which to trap himself, and then, with equal ingenuity and zest, to bend his brain to the problem of wriggling triumphantly out again.

– Barbara Henisch, Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society

What the... That's like asking a flock of gulls about where to find something to eat!

– Swedish satirist Jan Berglin about the fact that Wikipedia is written by its own readers

Useful links

Danish dialect samples at Statsbiblioteket
Norwegian dialect samples - of limited value due to not being normal conversation
University of Victoria IPA lab - plenty of sound samples
Linguistic Discovery

Gallery

A sneaky (and thirsty) friar; medieval cuisine.	A lovely Danish baked by the excellent pastry chefs of Vete-katten in Stockholm.	Pölsa is an integral part of northern Swedish cuisine, the Scandinavian equivalent of haggis. Quite simply a type of meat porridge.	My own homemade vegetarian borscht.
From my trip to Vancouver (with friends living in Seattle); lovely, scenic Deception Pass.	Look at those mustaches... One of the founders of modern Swedish, August Strindberg.	A groovy and very photogenic tunnel at Frankfurt Airport.	Reading of Alexander Pushkin's "Winter evening" (Зимний вечер ) in Russian.
No, this is not a Miriam Makeba-remix. It's an example of the difference between the three variants of voiceless bilabial plosives, [p] that is, in Quechua.	Harbin pronounced in (non-native) Standard Chinese.	This is how you got to dine if you were a late medieval duke. No one sitting but yourself and your cardinal, surrounded by musicians, servants, guards, carvers, fancy plates, small dogs, chaperons and a truly grand nef (a salt cellar), topped off with a fancy red baldaquin over your noble head. And all of this in a room decorated with the most exquisite tapestry.