Food is essential for humans and it is only reasonable that it is as diverse as human culture. Depending on the location and local customs, there are as many food types as there are human societies on the planet. The most fascinating thing is that two different cooks can start with the same ingredients and end up with a completely different meal.
In a globalized society we live today, people are exposed to different cuisines more than ever. Some of them are strange to us, others plain weird. There are those that, to some of us at least, are downright disgusting, just like some parts of our cuisine can be disgusting to other people unaccustomed to it. One thing is certain, as long as it is edible, there is someone on the planet that is eating it.
Strange facts about food aren’t limited to just types of food. There are also customs that are food related which are very peculiar to us. These strange facts about the food you may not know have been gathered from around the globe.
In Russia, beer is food. At least it was until 2011, and not only beer but any alcoholic drink containing less than 10% alcohol. As far as stereotypes go, this one is bang on the money.
Cheese gets stolen more than any other food on the planet. About 4% of all cheese produced is stolen. This may sound weird at the first glance, but some of the most expensive food in the world is cheese. Combine that with the fact that cheese is rather easy to handle and you get both motive and opportunity for crime.
Strawberries aren’t actually berries, but bananas are. You know what else isn’t a berry? Blackberries and raspberries. But that is ok because cucumbers and kiwis are. Why? Because of reasons.
Lobsters are synonymous with luxury life and are considered a delicacy today, but it wasn’t always so. Once upon a time, fishermen who got lobsters tangled in their nets used to toss them overboard, because they were so cheap it wasn’t worth their time to bring them ashore. They were served to servants and other lower classes. There was even a law that specified how much lobster can be fed to prisoners, in order to avoid cruelty.
Pistachios can be used for a homemade bomb. A large pile of these nuts can spontaneously burst into flames, because of their composition.
You know those stickers you find on fruits and vegetables? They are edible, apparently. Why would anyone want to eat them is another question entirely.
One of the reasons behind the obesity epidemics in the West is that junk food is cheaper than healthy food. And we are not talking about few percentages, it can be 10 times more expensive to have a healthy diet compared to a junk food based one.
Sandwiches came into existence when Earl of Sandwich decided he loves to gamble so much that getting up from the card table to eat is a waste of time, so he instructed his servants to place a piece of meat between two pieces of bread. Soon, the rest of the gamblers followed his example and sandwiches were born.
You can’t overcook mushrooms, due to special polymers in their cell walls. And no, it isn’t a challenge.
Many things we today take for granted were quite expensive back in a day. Black pepper is one of them. It was so expensive when it was first brought from Southeast Asia to Europe via Ottoman Empire that few grams could pay a year’s rent. In fact, Vasco de Gama’s famous expedition was undertaken with a sole purpose to find a new route for spices to arrive in Europe.
A whopping 25% of all hazelnuts in the world are used to produce Nutella. The only problem we have with this fact is how to increase it to at least 50%.
Chocolate is one of the most loved things on the planet. Flies are one of the most hated things on the planet. Yet, if we exterminate all flies, we lose chocolate as well, because the only insects that pollinate cacao plants are a species of flies. Ironic, isn’t it?
If all hot dogs eaten on 4th of July are laid one after another, they would stretch from Los Angeles to Washington DC. Five times over. That’s a lot of hot dogs.
McDonald’s burgers can’t rot. They have so little moisture that they are basically dehydrated food and rot doesn’t affect them.
We are all aware that the atmosphere around us can make us drink more or less. For instance, it is more likely that you will overdo it in a club than in a small, quiet bar. The reason behind is that loud music makes us drink not only more but faster as well.
