Keen as Mustard
Meaning
Very enthusiastic.
Origin
There are many similes in English that have the form ‘as x as y’ (see this list). ‘As keen as mustard’ is typical and, although it is rather archaic, it is worth a closer look – if only to dispel a myth about its origin.
The Olde England of folk memory conjures up pictures of ale-quaffing yeomen tucking into sides of roast beef. That may be fanciful, but the long-standing enthusiasm for the Sunday roast was real, as reflected in the words of Richard Leveridge’s 1735 song Roast Beef of old England:
When mighty Roast Beef
Was the Englishman’s food,
It ennobled our brains
And enriched our blood…
