history-that-makes-you-laugh part 2

“Food is the ingredient that binds us together.”

Unknown

 Food

 

1. Ketchup was sold as medicine in the 1800s.

Around 1834, a physician from Ohio—Dr. John Cook Bennett—started selling actual ketchup as medicine, claiming that it could cure diarrhea, indigestion, and even jaundice. Later, Bennett began to sell concentrated ketchup in pill form…and other companies actually followed suit!

Tilly: He wasn’t so daft – tomatoes are rich in lycopene, potassium, and vitamins A, C, and K, which support heart health, lower blood pressure, and enhance eye health. Antioxidant properties help reduce inflammation and combat cellular damage. Cooking them with olive oil enhances the absorption of these beneficial compounds.

Studies suggest compounds in tomatoes may help prevent cancers of the prostate, lungs, and stomach.

Topical application of tomato juice can help treat acne, sores, or dry skin.

High in Vitamin C and nutrients, they can reduce inflammation and boost immunity.

Carotenoids in tomatoes, such as lutein, help protect against eye damage.

Cooked tomato products (paste, sauce) provide more bioavailable lycopene than raw ones.

2. Americans renamed hamburgers and sauerkraut during World War II.

“Hamburger” and “sauerkraut” were much too German-sounding for their tastes, since America was at war with Germany. So, both foods were temporarily renamed; “hamburgers” became “liberty steaks” and “sauerkraut” became “liberty cabbage.”

Tilly: You forgot ‘Freedom Fries’.

3. The Bloody Mary wasn’t always called Bloody Mary! First, the popular brunch drink was actually called A Bucket Of Blood. After Bucket Of Blood, it transitioned to Red Snapper and, finally, settled on Bloody Mary.

Tilly: See previous post on this for more information …

4. Almost all of the chickens we eat today can be traced back to the 1948 “Chicken of Tomorrow” contest that sought to find the perfect chicken for consumers.

Tilly: The winner was Charles Vantress of California, with a hybrid Cornish-New Hampshire Red cross, creating a large, meaty bird. Henry Saglio from Connecticut took second with his improved White Plymouth Rocks. The contest led to the industrialization of chicken farming, with many modern chickens descending from these winning lines. It changed chicken from a Sunday luxury to an affordable everyday staple, introducing techniques like centralized hatching and standardized breeding.

Free range is best?

5. The oldest beer recipe in the world dates back nearly 4,000 years to 1800 B.C. Mesopotamia. It was translated from stone tablets.

Tilly: Um, seems the oldest evidence of beer is 13,000-year-old residue from a gruel-like brew found in Israel’s Raqefet Cave, used for ritual feasts by Natufian hunter-gatherers.

Evidence of beer production at Göbekli Tepe indicates early use In Turkey, 8500 BC.

Chemical confirmation of barley beer production at Godin Tepe in 3500 BC

6. Drinking straws were invented 5,000 years ago by the Sumerians so they could drink their beer more easily.

Tilly: Who drinks beer with a straw?

7. Peanuts are not nuts. They belong to the legume family.

Tilly: They were originally cultivated as food for livestock, particularly hogs. I read somewhere that they weren’t for human consumption, but I can’t find the reference. They were a source of cooking oil in the 18th and 19th centuries. Originating in South America, initially they were used by pre-Incan civilisations in religious ceremonies. They were also used as a, cocoa substitute and considered a food for the poor before becoming a popular, mainstream, commercial crop after the Civil War. In the 1890s, peanut butter was developed by a doctor as a nutritious, protein-rich food for patients with poor teeth.

George Washington Carver championed them in the early 20th century to diversify southern agriculture, developing hundreds of industrial uses, including soap, plastics, and lubricants.

In 1900, Rudolf Diesel used peanut oil to power his engines, indicating their potential as a biofuel.

8. Margherita pizza is named after Queen Margherita of Savoy. When Queen Margherita visited Naples, Italy, she was so taken with the pizza that it was named after her.

Tilly: She obviously didn’t progress to anchovies, garlic, olives, chilli … legend says pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito created it to honor her visit to Naples in 1889, using tomatoes (red), mozzarella (white), and basil (green) to match the Italian flag’s colors. A number historians doubt the story’s complete accuracy, because the tale emerged in the 1930s.

9. In the early 1900s, an 11-year-old child invented popsicles.

Tilly: Frank Epperson, aged 11, accidentally left a powdered lemonade drink with a stirring stick in it outside overnight, and it froze. He originally called it the “Epsicle” and patented it in 1923, later renaming it “Popsicle”.

10. Carrots were originally purple, not orange.

Tilly: They originated in Central Asia – modern-day Afghanistan – around 1,100 years ago and were purple, yellow, or white. Dutch farmers developed the orange variety in the 17th century. Derived from the wild carrot (Daucus carota), native to Europe and Southwestern Asia, the leaves and seeds were used rather than the root. Ancient Romans used wild carrots for medicinal purposes.

Carrots were introduced to Europe in the 12th-13th centuries, now a worldwide staple, with modern cultivation producing many colors.

11. Cheese is the most stolen food in the world.

Tilly: Someone managed to steal a 22-tonne Hafod cheddar in 2024! High-quality cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano are particularly vulnerable, with millions of dollars’ worth stolen annually. Cheese is often easily hidden and stolen from supermarkets.

Stolen cheese is frequently sold in unauthorized, secondary markets or to restaurants.

This issue is a global concern affecting retailers worldwide.

No wonder it is expensive …

12/ Gum was invented 9000 years ago.

Tilly: Horrid stuff – especially when chucked out onto pavements (even on the terraces of the Vatican), seats and left on washhand basins in hotels and public loos.The oldest known samples, discovered in Scandinavia (Sweden and Finland), are of birch bark tar complete with human teeth marks, used by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.

This ancient gum was probably used as adhesive for tools, a medicinal remedy for toothaches, or for enjoyment. DNA analysis from this 10,000-year-old gum revealed insights into the diet (deer, trout, hazelnuts) of ancient humans.

Mayans and Aztecs chewed chicle (sapodilla tree sap) to freshen breath or curb hunger.

The ancient “gum” was entirely different from modern, sweetened versions.

13. The smell of bacon frying is caused by over 150 aroma compounds.

Bacon was once used as a form of currency in ancient Europe.

Tilly: Well, is anyone surprised? I have read that the smell of bacon is a sore temptation to vegetarians. It was used as a substitute for metal coins, with Roman soldiers sometimes receiving rations of it, particularly when other resources were scarce.

Bacon was used as a form of currency to pay rent in Medieval times, becaue of its value and durability

“Bring Home the Bacon” originated from a 12th-century English tradition of rewarding married couples with a “flitch of bacon” for harmony, the modern usage implies earning a salary.

14. Cereal was invented as an anti-masturbation food.

Tilly: Hmm … John Harvey Kellog had some weird ideas. A physician and sanitorium director, he believed bland, plant-based foods would curb “unhealthy” passions. I’m astonished that cornflakes and the like became so popular!

15. Holes in Swiss cheese are caused by gas bubbles from bacteria.

Tilly: Elevated hygiene standards in modern milking (closed, automated milking systems), had led to less hay dust which aids the formation of holes, has resulted in fewer or smaller holes. A wheel of Swiss cheese without holes is called “blind”.

The bacterium that creates the holes, Propionibacterium, contributes to the sweet and nutty flavor of Swiss cheese.

16. It takes 37 gallons of water to grow one cup of coffee.

Tilly: The 37 gallons covers the entire, often invisible, water footprint, including irrigation and processing. This is partly due to the shift from shade-grown to sun-grown coffee, which increases yields but requires more intensive farming techniques.

A cup of tea takes about 9 gallons.

I will not be giving up my coffee fixes for tea.

 

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”

Hippocrates.

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

J.R.R. Tolkien.

 

Olive and Tilly