Mayonnaise Was Almost Certainly Invented During a Military Siege. No Kitchen Was Involved.
In 1756, a French general laid siege to a Spanish island and his cook ran out of ingredients. What he improvised that night became... read more >>
foodmyths
The Fork Was Considered Sinful in Medieval Europe. The Church Had Opinions.
For centuries, the fork was not a utensil. It was a provocation. The Church called it unnatural. Aristocrats called it effeminate. Everyone had an... read more >>
Champagne Was Invented by Accident. The Man Who Gets Credit for It Tried to Prevent It.
Dom Perignon spent years trying to stop his wine from bubbling. The bubbles were considered a defect. An Englishman named Christopher Merret described the... read more >>
Ketchup Was a Fermented Fish Sauce Invented in Asia. Heinz Turned It Into Something Entirely Different.
The word ketchup comes from a fermented fish sauce called ke-tsiap made in Fujian, China, around 300 BCE. British sailors brought the name home... read more >>
Sushi Was Originally Street Food Sold in Less Than 30 Seconds. Here Is What Happened to It.
In 1810, Hanaya Yohei invented nigiri sushi at a street stall in Edo. He pressed rice and fish together in under 30 seconds. Customers... read more >>
The Industry Convinced You Breakfast Is the Most Important Meal of the Day. It Was an Ad Campaign.
The phrase breakfast is the most important meal of the day was a 1944 radio advertising line for General Foods. Before that, Edward Bernays... read more >>
Pasta Did Not Come From China. The Marco Polo Story Is a Myth. Here Is the Real One.
The story that Marco Polo brought pasta to Italy from China was invented in 1929 by an American pasta industry trade journal for marketing... read more >>
The French Did Not Invent French Fries. Belgium Is Still Angry About This.
Belgium has claimed for decades that French fries are theirs. They petitioned UNESCO. They held conferences. Then in 2021 a Belgian historian concluded they... read more >>
Chocolate Was a Bitter Drink for 3,000 Years. Someone Decided to Add Sugar. Everything Changed.
The chocolate you know is 500 years old. What came before it was bitter, spiced with chili, served cold, and consumed for 3,000 years... read more >>
The Tomato Was Considered Poisonous in Europe for 200 Years. Here Is Why.
For more than two hundred years, Europeans refused to eat the tomato. They called it the poison apple. Aristocrats died after eating it. Botanists... read more >>
