KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 6 -- When I was younger, in my early twenties, my party trick was boring dates with facts like "You know, tempura actually originated with Portuguese Jesuits arriving in Japan".

It was almost always met with a flat "Wow, that's so interesting." Occasionally: "What's a Jesuit?"

And now, reader, you find yourself on the receiving end. Peixinhos da horta, a Portuguese dish of battered and deep-fried vegetables - usually green beans - is widely seen as the precursor to Japanese tempura.

It was often eaten during Lent and the Ember days, periods of fasting and prayer when Catholics abstained from meat and ate vegetables or fish instead.

The Latin word used for these holy "times" or "time periods" was tempora; four centur...