In the neat little book I found, it says that there is a law in West Virginia that states:  “If any person post another, or in writing or in print use any reproachful or contemptuous language to or concerning another, for not fighting a duel, or for not sending or accepting a challenge, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be confined in jail not more than six months, or fined not exceeding one hundred dollars.”  So, long story short, it’s not OK to make fun of someone for not accepting a duel.

While it is sort of difficult to find online corroboration of this law, in related news The Associated Content published an article in May of 2007 that talks about another West Virginia law regarding duels.  The law predates West Virginia’s statehood, and is classified by WV State Code:  61-2-18 (written in Virginia in 1849) and states that “If a person fights a duel…and in so doing so inflicts a mortal wound, he shall be deemed guilty of murder…”

The article tells us that this law was enforced in April of 2007, when two men got into a fight about the amount of noise one man was making while he helped a woman move.  The man who was disturbed by all the noise confronted the noisy guy, they both grabbed their guns, and fought.  The man who was helping the woman move was mortally wounded, and the shooter was charged with breaking the law I just told you about.

So, how about that?  Dude is just trying to help someone move and gets shot and killed.  There oughta be some sort of Good Samaritan clause…

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photo by dano272

Wild leeks or ramps, technically known as Allium tricoccum, are sort of like a cross between garlic and a green onion.  They look like green onions, taste sort of like a cross between onions and garlic, and smell like nothing else on earth.

Ramps are a popular side dish in the Appalachian Region of the United States.  Personally, I’m from West Virginia, and they grow wild there, as well as in Kentucky, North Carolina, and actually much of eastern North America – they actually grow from Canada all the way to Georgia, but they are most widely eaten in the Appalachians.  Ramps have enjoyed a bit of notoriety, however, in that they have been used on some popular cooking shows like  Iron Chef America and Top Chef.

photo by swanksalot

Right, right, you’re all saying.  What does this have to do with weird or crazy laws?  Well, I started looking into this because I remember my father telling me that when he was in elementary school if a kid came to school after eating ramps he or she was sent home.  So, there was this school law saying you couldn’t come to school after eating ramps.  I looked into it and was happy to find several accounts on the internet that backed up this information.  I didn’t, however, find anything definitive in the bylaws of the West Virginia School System that explicitly states this as a rule.  I suppose it’s a case-by-case, school-by-school kind of thing.

If you haven’t already figured it out, ramps are really stinky.  Eat them raw, and you’ll smell like them for two or three days.  My dad used to come home from camping trips and positively reek of the worst onion/garlic/rotten smell for quite some time.  Since ramp season is April/May-ish, Native Americans believed that they had regenerative powers and that the smell was the old dying off to make way for the new.

It turns out there is, in fact, some law about ramps, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the stink.  Ramps are a protected species of plant in Quebec.  You can have ramps, but not enough for commercial use (ie sale to restaurants, shipping to customers, etc.)  A similar act is in existence in West Virginia, where you can have ramp festivals, but no restaurant is allowed to serve ramps (also called wild leeks).

Your best bet to experience this unique vegetable first hand is to get thee to an Appalachian village for a ramp festival.  They are fewer and further in between because fewer ramps are growing wild.  For instance, most 2009 ramp festivals were canceled because of bad weather or lack of ramps.  Go do a little research, and taste this wild delicacy while you still can.

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