Eat your words: Berty Ashley hosts a food etymology walk in Bengaluru’s Church Street

Do you know the story behind the popular Italian dessert, tiramisu? | Photo Credit: Istock/Getty Images Tiramisu means “pick me up” in Italian, but the origins are saucier than you think. Molecular biologist-turned-quizmaster Berty Ashley tells me it emerged from the brothels of Italy. “The women running the brothels realised the longer their clients stayed there, the more money they could make. Once they were done with their session, they were served this coffee and liquor dessert. The dish acts like a stimulant and brings back the vigour, encouraging them to stay a little longer.”This Saturday Berty will be hosting Word Of Mouth, a food walk, taking guests through Church Street restaurants, and unpacking the backstory behind iconic dishes with anecdotes and history that you are unlikely to have come across in your text books. Berty Ashley, molecular biologist-turned-quizmaster | Photo Credit: Mallikarjun Katakol Berty is one of India’s premier quizmasters. Hailing from Madurai, the science communicator is also familiar to readers of The Hindu for his Sunday quiz called Easy Like Sunday Morning, that has a fan following. “The events platform Urbanaut got in touch saying they wanted to do a walk with me. And we came up with the idea of doing a food walk. Bengaluru is a potpourri of cultures, and Church Street alone has restaurants from many different cultures, old and new. I wanted to add a ‘Berty’ touch to the walk, so I thought of including etymology and trivia,” he says.Word of Mouth will weave in five stops on Church Street: ⁠Big Fat Roll, ⁠Panda 18 Bubble Tea, ⁠Indian Coffee House, ⁠Paris Panini and Hotel Empire. “We will eat at each place, while we discuss word origins and I may even do a little quiz or trivia round,” says Berty who fondly remembers visiting Indian Coffee House years ago as a broke college student, after spending all his money buying Pink Floyd CDs at Music World. Bengaluru’s Church Street is a potpourri of restaurants from different cultures Some word origins that you can expect to learn about are the galouti kebab, or Boba tea (hint: it is named after a famously curvaceous actress from Hong Kong). “I would love to do this in other cities too, such as Mysuru, or my hometown Madurai.”Tickets are priced at ₹1785. November 14, 3 PM to 6 PM. On Church Street. For more details, head to urbanaut.app Published - November 11, 2026 05:37 pm IST