Food facts that blew my mind (and a few I'm not sure about)

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DavidLC

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I've been going down a rabbit hole collecting food trivia and some of these genuinely surprised me.
Like: carrots were purple until the 1600s. The Dutch selectively bred the orange ones to honor the House of Orange. Purple, white, red... all came first.
Or: the tin can was invented in 1810, but the first can opener didn't show up until 1858. For 50 years people were using chisels and bayonets.
And ketchup started as a fermented fish sauce in China ("ke-tsiap" from the Fujian region). British traders brought it to Europe, and Americans only added tomatoes in the 1830s.

But I know I'm missing good ones. What food fact do you pull out at dinner parties that nobody believes until you prove it?
 
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People often associate Indian food with hot, spicy dishes; and yet, before the early 17th century, there were no chiles in India. The hottest spices were black pepper and long pepper.
Once the Portuguese had established trade in Goa, they brought chiles, potatoes, pineapples, tomatoes, green beans and corn to India. India, in exchange, gave them mangoes - now the national fruit of Venezuela!
 
I have a few:
Bird’s custard was invented because the guy’s wife had an egg allergy.
The Romans were bemused that native Britons kept chickens for eggs.
In medieval England, feasts consisted of starter, main , dessert served all at the same time. The courses were the clearing of the table.
Similarly, trenchers ( hollowed out bread) were used instead of plates, then given to the poor.
In England the names of livestock are Saxon, while the terms for the food ( Beef, pork, etc) is French. Post 1066.
Probably more. Pyramids built on bread and beer. It’s a treasure trove.
 
karadekoolaid said:
People often associate Indian food with hot, spicy dishes; and yet, before the early 17th century, there were no chiles in India. The hottest spices were black pepper and long pepper.
Once the Portuguese had established trade in Goa, they brought chiles, potatoes, pineapples, tomatoes, green beans and corn to India. India, in exchange, gave them mangoes - now the national fruit of Venezuela!
Click to expand...
On a similar note, chili's were not known in Thailand, Indonesia and so on.
Thailand still has a popular dish made with white pepper, garlic & coriander root. I just can't remember the name.

Tomatoes were not known in Italy till that time as well
 
Potatoes. Peanuts. All capsicums/peppers. All the curcubits. Corn/maize, all the common beans, and a whole slew of foods that are staples now, unknown outside the western hemisphere before about 1500.

The Dutch orange carrot is surprising but.
 
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These are brilliant. The marshmallow one is going straight into my collection. I had no idea the plant was actually used to make them originally.
The Fanta fact is one I've heard before but it still catches people off guard. Coca-Cola's German branch literally had to improvise a new drink from whatever ingredients were available. The name "Fanta" comes from "Fantasie" (German for imagination) because they had to get creative.
And the no-chiles-in-India-before-1600s fact is exactly the kind of thing that messes with people's assumptions. So much of what we think of as "traditional" cuisine is actually pretty recent. Italian food without tomatoes, Thai food without chiles, Irish food without potatoes. The Columbian Exchange rewrote basically every cuisine on earth.
Bird's custard invented because of an egg allergy is a new one for me. Love it.
 
The tomato was introduced to Europe in the 16th century, but was barely used until 2 centuries later. It is most likely that the original (wild) fruits were yellow - hence the name in French : pomme d'or, and Italian: pomodoro. Botanists in the UK viewed the tomato with suspicion, suggesting that the strong smell of the leaves and plant meant it was poisonous. Then it was discovered to be a member of the deadly nightshade family - which only made things worse for the poor old tomato. Tomatoes only became popular in the UK in the 19th century.
 
Did you know that all Madagascan Vanilla is hand-pollinated?
In Central America, the Melipona bee, a small stingless bee native to Mexico and Central America, is the natural pollinator of vanilla orchids. But this bee is not found in Madagascar, so all vanilla grown there is hand-pollinated and the flower has to be pollinated the same day it opens. It also takes a full 9 months for the seed pods to ripen before they are harvested.

I know this because I have my own vanilla orchids.
 
Kopi Luwak is one of the most expensive coffees in the world. It's unique flavour is as a result of the beans being eaten, and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian palm civet - Wikipedia. Allegedly the digestive juices of the Civet change the property of the beans. 💩

Not sure i fancy collecting the beans. 💩😀 And no I've not tried it!
 
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