Food... Since the very first day we were given life, it has been going in and out - from mouth to anus nonstop till now. For some, it's what they live for. Others, it what makes their world go round... I just ate a 8x8 - 12 inches thick lasagna and then an idea about posting an unusual and interesting facts about food came up. So here's the result. Enjoy the long list of unusual and interesting facts about food.UNUSUAL|INTERESTING FACTS FOOD
The average kid in America eats about 46 slices of pizza a year. In the U.S. pepperoni is the number one favorite topping and anchovies are last. In Japan the favorite topping is squid!
Wisconsin is the state that grows the most cranberries. Each year cranberry producers grow more than 300 million pounds of cranberries.
Raisins are made from grapes that have dried in the sun for two to three weeks. Most of the raisins eaten in the United States come from California - and about three quarters of all raisins are eaten with breakfast.
It takes about 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese. The average cow produces 2,100 pounds of milk in a month or 210 pounds of cheese. By the way, that same cow can produce about 46,000 glasses of milk in a year.
6 out of every 10 apples that get eaten every day in the U.S. were grown in Washington State. The most popular varieties are Red Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Fuji.
Pumpkins are fruits, not vegetables. The average pumpkin weighs between 10 and 30 pounds. The winner of the 2003 biggest pumpkin contest weighed 1,140 pounds.
Guess how many honeybees it takes to produce a tablespoon of honey? If you said 12, then you are right!
How many turkeys do Americans eat at Thanksgiving? Americans gobble up 45 million turkeys each year on Thanksgiving - about one for every seven people.
Hawaii is the only state that grows pineapples. You can grow your own by cutting (or screwing) the top off a fruit and planting it in a pot in a warm place. In 3 to 4 years fruits develop from tiny, lavender flowers that grow from the center of the leaves.
Which vegetable do Americans eat the most? Potatoes. The average person in the United States eats 140 pounds of potatoes every year. Bet you didn't realize that the potato was the first vegetable to be grown in space!
Three quarters of all raisins are eaten with breakfast. California is the heart of the world's largest raisin producing state because of ideal weather conditions for drying freshly picked California grapes into sun-dried raisins.
Sheep raised in North Dakota produce more than 800,000 pounds of wool each year. That is enough wool to knit more than 600,000 sweaters.
The biggest hamburger ever served weighed 8,266 lbs. It was cooked in 2001 at the Burger Fest in Seymour, Wisconsin. Hungry hamburger fans can visit Seymour, the "Home of the Hamburger" and site of the Hamburger Hall of Fame, paying tribute to hamburger inventor Charles Nagreen. According to local legend, Nagreen served the first burger in 1885 at the Outagamie County Fair.
Why do fresh apples float? Fresh apples float because 25% (or ¼ ) of their volume is air.
Maine produces almost all of the nation's wild blueberries. Wild blueberries are smaller and sweeter than "commercial blueberries", and they hold their shape, texture and deep-blue color through a variety of baking and manufacturing processes.
Each American eats approximately 22 pounds of tomatoes yearly. Over 1/2 of the tomato consumption is in the form of catsup and tomato sauce. Florida is the number one tomato producing state, closely followed by California.
Did you know there are over 40,000 varieties of rice grown worldwide? Rice has been produced in the United States for more than 300 years. The major rice-producing states are Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Missouri. In the winter the flooded rice fields provide safe places for migrating birds, ducks and other animals.
Did you know that in Japan, the most popular topping for pizza is squid? In the United States the most popular pizza topping is pepperoni. Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza EACH DAY, or about 350 slices per second. October is Pizza Month!
The first olive trees were planted in California at the San Diego Mission by Franciscan monks in 1769. Today, over 1,200 growers grow olives on on 35,000 acres in the warm inland valleys of California.
It takes between four and five pounds of grapes to make one pound of raisins. Most raisins are made from the Thompson Seedless variety of grapes. Because you can keep them indefinitely without having them spoil, raisins are a good choice for long trips.
During the Alaskan Klondike gold rush, (1897-1898) potatoes were practically worth their weight in gold ? Potatoes were so valued for their vitamin C content that miners traded gold for potatoes. In fact, there is even a potato called Yukon Gold. These potatoes are slightly flat and oval in shape with light gold, thin skin and light yellow flesh.
Almonds are actually stone fruits related to cherries, plums and peaches ? California produces 80% of the world's supply of almonds. The world's largest almond factory is in Sacramento, California. It processes 2 million pounds of almonds a day. Chocolate manufacturers currently use 40% of the world's almonds and 20% of the world's peanuts. Japanese teenagers enjoy snacking on a mixture of dried sardines and slivered almonds.
Not all carrots are orange ? The first carrots originated some 5,000 years ago and were white, purple, red, yellow, green and black. The orange carrots we find in the supermarket come from a variety bred in the 1700's by the Dutch. And did you also know that three carrots give you enough energy to walk three miles...if cows eat too many carrots their milk tastes bitter.... all brides should be given carrots because it supposedly brings luck in the kitchen.
Alfalfa is supposedly the oldest know plant used for livestock feed ? Records of its use date as early as 1,000 BC in the Middle East. Alfalfa is very drought resistant and one of the most nutritious crops to feed to animals. Alfalfa sprouts are used in salads, and the leaves may also be used raw or cooked as a vegetable.
More than 87,000,000,000.00 (87 billion) eggs are produced in the U.S. each year ? The average person eats the equivalent of 254 eggs yearly. Eggs will age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator. To test eggs for freshness, place two teaspoonfuls of salt in a cup of water, then put in the egg. A fresh egg sinks; a doubter will float.
Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries
The onion is named after a Latin word meaning large pearl
Half of the world's population live on a staple diet of rice
The remains of fast-food shops have been found in ancient ruins! Even ancient Greeks enjoyed take-out. The only thing that is new is the mass production, standard menus and recipes of fast-food "chains." Wow! fast.gif (4964 bytes)
Potato crisps were invented by a North American Indian called George Crum
During a lifetime the average person eats about 35 tonnes of food
Ice Cream Is Chinese Food!
When the famous explorer Marco Polo returned to his homeland of Italy, from China in 1295, he brought back a recipe (among other things). The recipe, was a Chinese recipe for a desert called "Milk Ice." However, Europeans substituted cream for the milk, and voila..."Ice Cream." Ice cream has been a hit ever since!
The founder of McDonald's has a Bachelor degree in Hamburgerology
In France, people eat approximately 500,000,000 snails per year
Carrots Really Can Help You See In The Dark!
Vitamin A is known to prevent "night blindness," and carrots are loaded with Vitamin A. So, why not load-up today!
The first breakfast cereal ever produced was Shredded Wheat
There are about 100,000 bacteria in one litre of drinking water
The Word "Salary" Comes From "Salt!"
Salt, our oldest preservative, was extremely rare in the past. So rare, in fact, that it was often used as pay. Imagine...earning a couple of tablespoons of salt for a hard-days work. Today, salt is so common that restaurants give it away for free, and packaged food contains so much that it's far too easy to eat too much salt (salt is also known as "sodium")
Cream is lighter than milk
Over 1,000 litres of beer are drunk in the House of Commons each week
Sometimes frozen fruits And vegetables are more nutritious than fresh fruits!
The longer that fruits or vegetables sit around waiting to be sold or eaten, the more nutrients they lose. But fruits and vegetables grown for freezing are usually frozen right after they're picked. Therefore, they have less time to lose their nutrients.
Instant coffee has been in existence since the middle of the eighteenth century
The dish chop-suey does not come from China. It was created by Chinese immigrants in California
You're more likely to be hungry if you're cold! Temperature can affect your appetite.
Frankfurter sausages were first created in China
Within 2 hours of standing in daylight, milk loses between half and two-thirds of its vitamin B content
Have A Tomato With Your Burger! When a source of Vitamin C (orange, lemon, grapefruit, strawberry, tomato, potato, etc.) is eaten with meat or cooked dry beans, the body makes better use of the iron in the protein food.
A portion of the water you drink has already been drunk by someone else, maybe several times over
Bakers used to be fined if their loaves were under weight, so they used to add an extra loaf to every dozen, just in case -- hence, the expression "baker's dozen"
It Takes 3500 Calories To Make A Pound Of Fat!
So, as long as you're active, and burning of calories, calories shouldn't have too much of a chance to turn into fat.
Peanuts are used in the manufacture of dynamite
It has been traditional to serve fish with a slice of lemon since the Middle Ages, when people believed that the fruit's juice would dissolve any bones accidentally swallowed
The Average Person Eats Almost 1500. Pounds Of Food A Year!
On average, that can be thought of as 150 pounds of meat, 290 pounds of milk and cream, 35 pounds of eggs, 48 pounds of chicken, 68 pounds of bread, 125 pounds of potatoes, and 80 pounds of fruit. That should be enough to fill your stomach.
almonds are a member of the peach family.
americans eat approximately 10kg of tomatoes yearly, over half of which is in the form of catsup and tomato sauce.
apple is made of 25% air, that is why they float.
apples, onions, and potatoes all have the same taste? Try the test: Pinch your nose and take a bite out of each.
avocado has the highest protein and oil content of all fruits, but most of this is the healthier unsaturated type.
barbecue comes from barbacoa, a Caribbean "rude framework for sleeping or drying meat over a fire".
beer drunk with dinner works better than drinking red wine, gin or sparkling mineral water in controlling homocysteine, a blood factor that promotes heart disease by boosting blood levels of vitamin B6.
beer is a popular ingredient in batter for deep fried foods since the protein in beer provides browning and produces a light, crisp, dry batter when cooked.
beer of 375mL has fewer calories than two slices of bread and contains no fat.
birds eat half their own body weight in food each day! So, why do people say that a poor eater "eats like a bird"?
biscuit is a word derived from Latin via Middle French and means "twice cooked".
black-eyed peas are really beans.
blenders were invented by Stephen Poplawski when in 1922 he became the first person to put a spinning blade at the bottom of a small electric appliance to make Horlick's malted milk shakes.
brown sugar is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar with some residual molasses or produced by the addition of molasses to refined white sugar.
butter and margarine are similar in calories, the difference is that butter is higher in saturated fats, while margarine generally has more unsaturated fats.
butterflies taste with their feet.
canola is derived from "Canadian oil, low acid".
cabbage is 91% water.
capers are the unopened green flower buds of a wild and cultivated bush which is related to the cabbage family.
capsaicin, which makes hot peppers "hot" to the human mouth, is best neutralized by casein, the main protein found in milk.
carrots were originally purple in colour, changing in the 17th Century to orange with newer varieties.
celery requires more calories to eat and digest than it contains.
cereal as a word is derived from the name of the Roman goddess Ceres, protector of crops.
champagne contains 49 million bubbles in a bottle and has a pressure 3 times that of a car tyre.
cherries are a member of the rose family.
chewing gum may keep you slim by boosting the metabolic rate by about 20%.
chewing gum stimulates signals in the learning center of the brain and thus help save memory as you age.
chicken is one of the few things that we eat before it's born and after it's dead.
chili heat is measured in Scoville units, named after the pharmacist Thomas Scoville.
chocolate bloom occurs when the cocoa butter has separated causing it to rise to the surface of the chocolate and is a result of the chocolate being stored in too humid or too warm a temperature.
chocolate is a particularly good source of magnesium, potassium and calcium. It also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. On the down side it contains caffeine and has a high fat level.
chocolate may have its romantic effect due to the effects on the brain of a naturally occurring substance called phenylethylamine which enhances endorphin levels, increase libido and act a natural antidepressant.
coca-cola was originally green.
coffee is the most recognized smell in the world.
coffee originated from the Arabic word “qahwah”.
corn always has an even number of ears.
corn makes up about 8% of the weight in a box of corn flakes.
cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.
doughnuts were orginally made of raised dough with a nut in the centre.
eggs contain most of the recognised vitamins with the exception of vitamin C. egg spills can be fixed by sprinkling a generous amount of salt on the egg and let it dry. Then sweep the egg up with a broom.
eggplants are actually fruits, and classified botanically as berries.
fish consumption may be more than brain food but also help protect your eyes from age-related macular degeneration, a potential cause of blindness.
flamingos owe their pink or reddish colour to the rich sources of carotenoid pigments in the algae and small crustaceans that the birds eat.
fortune cookies are not Chinese, they were invented in Los Angeles around 1920.
gelato comes from the Italian word gelare which means to freeze; it is made from cow milk and its rich taste comes from being denser (30% air whereas ice cream is around 50%).
Gerber's top selling baby food in Japan is sardine dish.
Guinness beer, after pouring, produces bubbles that sink to the bottom. The bubbles go up more easily in the centre of the beer glass than on the sides because of drag from the walls. As the bubbles go up, they raise the beer, and the beer has to spill back, and it does. It runs down the sides of the glass carrying the bubbles - particularly little bubbles - with it, downward to the bottom of the glass
hamburgers were invented in 1900 by Louis Lassen. He ground beef, broiled it, and served it between two pieces of toast.
Heinz Catsup leaves the bottle traveling at 40 kilometers per year.
himalayan gogi berry contains, weight for weight, more iron than steak, more beta carotene than carrots, more vitamin C than oranges.
honey is the only edible food for humans that will never go bad.
horseradish was the first product sold by Heinz in 1869.
humble pie comes from the food "umble pie", a pie consisting of the innards of deer, which very poor people in Medieval England ate.
Kopi Luwa from Indonesia is the world's costliest coffee, at US$350 a kilgram, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of droppings of palm civets, nocturnal tree-climbing creatures about the size of a large house cat, which eats ripe robusta coffee cherries for treats. The coffee beans, which are found inside of the cherries, remain intact after passing through the animal. Plantation workers track them and scoop their precious poop.
lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.
lettuce is the only vegetable or fruit which is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh.
lobster was so common in Maine in the 18th Century that it was used as fertiliser.
margarine was first called Butterine in England when it was introduced.
mayonnaise will kill lice and also condition your hair.
Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
milk from reindeer has more fat than cow milk.
milk is the new diet drink since low-fat, high-calcium dairy foods may burn off fat since extra calcium increases metabolism.
nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
olive oil has lots of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory activity to fight rheumatoid arthritis.
olive oil is an oil extracted from the fruit of the olive tree.
olive oil is the only vegetable oil that can be created simply by pressing the raw material.
orange does not rhyme with any other word.
organ meats were known as garbage in the 16th Century, the term then used for the innards of an animal.
parmigiano is a natural source of and has a high concentration of Monosodium glutamate (MSG), giving it the unami taste, found as small white crystals formed during maturation.
peanuts are legumes and not a tree nut.
peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.
pear is a fruit that ripens from the inside out.
Pepsi-Cola was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1898. Originally called "Brad's Drink," the beverage was first marketed as a digestive aid and energy booster. It was renamed Pepsi-Cola because of its pepsin and kola nut content.
percentage alcohol in a bottle of liquor is estimated by dividing the proof by two.
pineapple is the international symbol of hospitality.
pizza originated in the early 1700's in Naples, Italy.
pizza toppings of squid are the most popular variety in Japan.
Popsicle were invented by an 11 year old, Frank Epperson when he left his soda water drink with a stirring stick overnight on his porch.
pound cake was so named because of its original proportions of 1 lb (500g) each of butter, sugar, and flour.
puffed grain were invented by Alexander Anderson in 1902. Unlike popcorn, a type of corn that naturally pops or puffs up with heat, puffed cereal or snacks are formed by exploding whole grain kernels under high pressure and steam.
raisin in a glass of champagne will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.
refried beans aren't really what they seem. Although their name seems like a reasonable translation of Spanish frijoles refritos, the fact is that these beans aren't fried twice. In Spanish, refritos literally means "well-fried," not "re-fried."
rice paper does not contain one grain of rice - its made from either Rice straw, Bamboo, Hemp, Mulberry leaves, Wingceltis or Gampi.
sandwiches are named after John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), for whom beef was placed between 2 sliced pieces of bread so that he could stay at the gambling table without interruptions for meals.
shredded wheat was the first breakfast cereal to ever be produced.
sliced bread was introduced by Otto Frederick Rohwedder who invented the bread slicer, which he started working on in 1912. At first, Rohwedder came up with the idea of a device that held the slices together with hat pins (not a success). In 1928, he designed a machine 1.52m long by 0.90m high that sliced and wrapped the bread in waxed paper to prevent the sliced bread from going stale. On July 7, 1928, the first loaves of sliced bread were made by the near bankrupt baker Frank Bench.
soup has its origin as a word from 'sop' or 'sup', meaning the slice of bread on which the broth was poured.
soy flour and soya flour are richer in calcium and iron than wheat flour, gluten-free and high in protein. Soy flour is ground from raw soybeans; soya flour from lightly toasted soybeans.
spilling salt is considered good luck in Japan.
strawberries are the only fruit which has its seeds on its outer skin.
swiss cheese ferments with bacteria generating gas which bubbles through the cheese leaving holes; cheese-makers call them "eyes."
tea strengthens bones because isoflavonoid chemicals in tea may have a weak estrogenic effect, reducing bone deterioration and osteoporosis risk.
ten gallon hats only hold about 6 pints or 2.8 Litres.
thyme's most active ingredient is thymol, the antibacterial ingredient found in mouthwashes and Vicks Vaporub.
toasters for bread using electricity were invented by Crompton and Company, Leeds, England in 1893; the first automatic pop-up electric toaster was designed in 1919 by Charles Strite.
tomato used to be considered poisonous.
Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.
traditional italian food is an anagram of radiation, toil, fat and oil.
TV dinners were introduced in 1954 by Omaha-based C.A. Swanson and Sons featuring roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes and peas, selling for 98 cents.
Vegemite is an Australian icon which was developed in 1922 by Dr. Cyril Callister. He took used brewer's yeast and blended the yeast extract with ingredients like celery, onion, salt, and a few secret ingredients to make this paste rich in B vitamins; it was developed for the Fred Walker Company which is now Kraft Foods.
white chocolate is not a true chocolate because it contains no chocolate liquor, instead its made of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, lecithin and vanilla.
white shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and earlobes while brown eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and earlobes; the colour has no relationship to the nutritional quality or taste of the eggs.
Wrigley's gum was the first product to have a bar code.
yelling for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days produces enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
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