Here are today’s five thing to know about Cheeseburger:
The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.
Today’s Food History
1709 Samuel Johnson, dictionary author, was born. I have read somewhere that he served his cat fresh shucked oysters.
1851 The first edition of the New York Times was published.
1883 Elmer Maytag was born. Founder of the Maytag Co., washing machine manufacturer. One of his descendants was Fred Maytag II, whose Maytag Dairy Farms manufactures Maytag Blue Cheese.
1990 A 500 pound, 6 foot high Hershey Chocolate Kiss was put on display at Times Square in New York City.
Here are today’s five thing to know about Cheeseburger:
The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.
Today’s Food History
1709 Samuel Johnson, dictionary author, was born. I have read somewhere that he served his cat fresh shucked oysters.
1851 The first edition of the New York Times was published.
1883 Elmer Maytag was born. Founder of the Maytag Co., washing machine manufacturer. One of his descendants was Fred Maytag II, whose Maytag Dairy Farms manufactures Maytag Blue Cheese.
1990 A 500 pound, 6 foot high Hershey Chocolate Kiss was put on display at Times Square in New York City.
Here are today’s five thing to know about double cheeseburgers:
The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.
Today’s Food History
1885 Jumbo, an African elephant exhibited by in France, the London Zoo, and finally in the Barnum & Bailey Circus, died after being hit by a locomotive in Ontario, Canada. Jumbo was supposedly 12 feet tall at the time of his death.
1898 William S. Burroughs died. An American inventor, Burroughs invented and manufactured the first adding machine with a printer.
1962 The Four Seasons ‘Sherry’ hits number 1 on the charts.
1965Green Acres TV show debuted.
1971 Greenpeace founded.
1981 The USDA announced that ketchup could be counted as a vegetable in the school lunch program.
1995 Tan M&Ms are replaced by the new blue M&Ms. The tan ones originally replaced violet M&Ms in 1949.
Here are today’s five thing to know about Cheeseburger:
The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.
Today’s Food History
1709 Samuel Johnson, dictionary author, was born. I have read somewhere that he served his cat fresh shucked oysters.
1851 The first edition of the New York Times was published.
1883 Elmer Maytag was born. Founder of the Maytag Co., washing machine manufacturer. One of his descendants was Fred Maytag II, whose Maytag Dairy Farms manufactures Maytag Blue Cheese.
1990 A 500 pound, 6 foot high Hershey Chocolate Kiss was put on display at Times Square in New York City.
Here are today’s five thing to know about double cheeseburgers:
The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.
Today’s Food History
1885 Jumbo, an African elephant exhibited by in France, the London Zoo, and finally in the Barnum & Bailey Circus, died after being hit by a locomotive in Ontario, Canada. Jumbo was supposedly 12 feet tall at the time of his death.
1898 William S. Burroughs died. An American inventor, Burroughs invented and manufactured the first adding machine with a printer.
1962 The Four Seasons ‘Sherry’ hits number 1 on the charts.
1965Green Acres TV show debuted.
1971 Greenpeace founded.
1981 The USDA announced that ketchup could be counted as a vegetable in the school lunch program.
1995 Tan M&Ms are replaced by the new blue M&Ms. The tan ones originally replaced violet M&Ms in 1949.
1709 Samuel Johnson, dictionary author, was born. I have read somewhere that he served his cat fresh shucked oysters.
1851 The first edition of the New York Times was published.
1883 Elmer Maytag was born. Founder of the Maytag Co., washing machine manufacturer. One of his descendants was Fred Maytag II, whose Maytag Dairy Farms manufactures Maytag Blue Cheese.
1990 A 500 pound, 6 foot high Hershey Chocolate Kiss was put on display at Times Square in New York City.
1709 Samuel Johnson, dictionary author, was born. I have read somewhere that he served his cat fresh shucked oysters.
1851 The first edition of the New York Times was published.
1883 Elmer Maytag was born. Founder of the Maytag Co., washing machine manufacturer. One of his descendants was Fred Maytag II, whose Maytag Dairy Farms manufactures Maytag Blue Cheese.
1990 A 500 pound, 6 foot high Hershey Chocolate Kiss was put on display at Times Square in New York City.
1885 Jumbo, an African elephant exhibited by in France, the London Zoo, and finally in the Barnum & Bailey Circus, died after being hit by a locomotive in Ontario, Canada. Jumbo was supposedly 12 feet tall at the time of his death.
1898 William S. Burroughs died. An American inventor, Burroughs invented and manufactured the first adding machine with a printer.
1962 The Four Seasons ‘Sherry’ hits number 1 on the charts.
1965Green Acres TV show debuted.
1971 Greenpeace founded.
1981 The USDA announced that ketchup could be counted as a vegetable in the school lunch program.
1995 Tan M&Ms are replaced by the new blue M&Ms. The tan ones originally replaced violet M&Ms in 1949.
On this Day in 1900 the first ‘hamburgers’ were served at Louis’ Lunch diner in New Haven, Connecticut.
Five Food Finds about Hamburgers
The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.
Today’s Food History
on this day in…
1586 The potato was introduced to England. It is claimed that Sir Thomas Harriot introduced potatoes to England on this day. (Some sources give December 3 as the date).
1852 Andrew Jackson Downing died. An American horticulturist, he was the author of ‘The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America’ (1845) and editor of the ‘Horticulturist’ periodical.
1866 The metric system was authorized to standardize weights and measures in the U.S. (Authorized, yes, but we still don’t use it very much).
1900 One of the many claims to the origin of the hamburger, is that Louis Lassing (or Lassen) first served hamburgers on a bun in his diner in New Haven, Connecticut.
1907 Earl S. Tupper was Born. The inventor of Tupperware. (Tupperware makes the containers used to conduct mold and bacterial experiments in the back of refrigerator shelves).
1977 At 11:02 p.m. the first oil from Prudhoe Bay arrived at Valdez in the trans-Alaskan pipeline. It took 38 days to travel the 800 miles.
1989 The largest halibut (Atlantic) caught with rod and reel weighed over 255 pounds. It was caught in Gloucester, Massachusetts by Sonny Manley
1883 Laurence M. Klauber was born. Klauber was an American herpetologist and inventor who was a rattlesnake expert. If you want to know anything or everything about rattlesnakes, see his book ‘Rattlesnakes: Their Habits, Life Histories and Influence on Mankind.’
1913 The ‘New York World’ published the first crossword puzzle. Don’t forget to check the various Food theme Crosswords on the Food Reference Website!
1937 Walt Disney’s first full length animated film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ opened in Los Angeles, California. It ran for 83 minutes and cost $1.5 million to make.
1998 Adelaide Hawley Cumming died. She was television’s original Betty Crocker on the Betty Crocker Show premiering in 1949.
A crab cake is an American dish composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, milk, mayonnaise, eggs, yellow onions, and seasonings.
The two most common styles of Maryland crab cakes are known as Boardwalk and Restaurant.
Boardwalk crabcakes are typically breaded and deep-fried, and are often filled with stuffing of various sorts and served on a hamburger bun.
Restaurant crab cakes, which are sometimes called gourmet crab cakes, are often prepared with no filler, and are composed of all-lump crab meat served on a platter or open-faced sandwich.
Many restaurants that offer Maryland crab cakes will offer to have the cakes fried or broiled.
On This Day in Food History…
1822 Charles Graham of New York received a patent for artificial teeth.
1839 Famous Food Fights
The Great Pastry War ended this day. A brief conflict began on November 30, 1838, between Mexico and France caused by a French pastry cook who claimed that some Mexican Army soldiers had damaged his restaurant. The Mexican government refused to pay for damages. Several other countries had asked the Mexican government for similar claims in the past due to civil unrest in Mexico, without any resolution. France decided to do something about it, and sent a fleet to Veracruz and fired on the fortress outside the harbor. They occupied the city on April 16, 1838, and through the mediation of Great Britain were promised payment of 600,000 pesos for the damages. They withdrew on March 9, 1839.
1. Almonds are mentioned several times in the New and Old Testaments. They are revered as symbols of divine approval.
2. Almonds are actually fruits, related to cherries and plums.
3. Raw Almonds contain prussic acids, the eating of more than a handful can be lethal.
4. A key indicator of cyanide poisoning was the faint smell of roasted almonds on the victim.
5. Greek mythology tells of the beautiful princess Phyllis, who was left waiting at the altar on her wedding day by her intended, Demophon. Phyllis waited for years for him to return, but finally died of a broken heart. In sympathy, the gods transformed Phyllis into an almond tree, which became a symbol of hope.
Today’s Food History
on this day in…
1909 Richard McDonald was born. He was one of the brothers who founded McDonald’s fast food restaurants. Richard also designed the golden arches logo.
1932 James E. Markham of Stark Brothers Nurseries and Orchards in Mississippi, received the first patent for a fruit tree. It was for a peach tree whose fruit ripened later than other varieties.
1937 Dr. Wallace Hume Carothers received a patent for Nylon. (Which he discovered in 1935). One of its first uses was to replace the hog bristles that had been used in toothbrushes. Think about it: people used to brush their teeth with pigs hair.
1959 Rap singer ‘Ice T’ was born (Tracy Morrow).
2009 Burgers & Beer on the Road: A truck carrying 40,000 pounds of frozen hamburger patties hit the center median, and dumped thousands of pounds of burgers onto Interstate 15 near Salt Lake City. A few hours later on Interstate 84, also in Utah, a truck carrying 40,000 pounds of Fat Tire Beer hit the center median and spilled its load on the highway. Neither driver was injured.
Here are today’s five things to know about Bittersweet Chocolate:
Bittersweet chocolate is a sweetened form of dark chocolate that does NOT contain milk. It’s usually used for baking.
Dark chocolate is most popular among men.
More than twice as many women than men eat and crave chocolate.
The first chocolate bar was produced by Cadbury in England in 1842.
The word Chocolate comes from the Aztec word xocolatl, meaning, bitter water.
Today’s Food History
1778 Carolus Linnaeus died. He was a Swedish botanist who developed the modern system for defining and naming plants.
1839 Indian tea became available in Britain for the first time.
Until this time only tea from China had been available, and that was very expensive.
The development and import of Indian tea brought the price down so all could afford it, and it quickly became the national drink.
1919 Restaurateur Milton Parker was born. Owner of the famous Carnegie Deli in New York City from 1976 until his retirement in 2002.
1977 Ruth Graves Wakefield died. Inventor of the Toll House Cookie,
the first chocolate chip cookie, at the Toll House Inn neart Whitman, Massachusetts in the 1930s.
1984 Wendy’s ‘Where’s the Beef?’ ad campaign began. Burgers aren’t just for kids anymore.
Here are today’s five thing to know about English Toffee:
Toffee and Caramel are sometimes interchangeable.
Toffees consist of mainly sugar and water, while caramels use dairy products in their production, making them softer
Almond butter treats are toffee from England.
Michigan toffee comes in varies styles, some hard and some chewy, some chocolate covered with nut sprinkles.
Tafia, a West Indian rum of molasses or sugarcane juice, is theorized to be the source of the word “toffee.”
Today’s Food History
1676 Charles II of England revoked his previous proclamation suppressing Coffee Houses due to public response.
1800 The first soup kitchens in London were opened to serve the poor.
1823 Alfred Russel Wallace was born. Wallace was a British naturalist who developed a theory of natural selection independently of Charles Darwin. He sent his conclusions to Darwin, and their findings were both presented to the Linnaean Society in 1858.
1825 Eli Whitney died. Inventor of the cotton gin, but more important he developed the concept of mass producing interchangeable parts.
1872 African American inventor Thomas Elkins received his second patent. It was for a ‘Chamber Commode’ – a combination “bureau, mirror, book-rack, washstand, table, easy chair, and earth-closet or chamber-stool.”
1894 Pierre Joseph van Beneden died. A Belgian parasitologist, he discovered the life cycle of tapeworms.
1926 Comedian ‘Soupy Sales’ was born. Most of his routines ended with Soupy receiving a pie in the face.
1992 President George H.W. Bush becomes ill on a trip to Japan and vomits on Japanese Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi.
1998 Walter E. Diemer died. While working for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company, he experimented with recipes for chewing gum as a hobby. (He really liked his gum!). He invented bubble gum in 1928.
2002 Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s Hamburger chain, died.
Here are today’s five things to know about Whipped Cream:
Whipped cream existed since the 16th century.
It was included in recipes that date back to 1549 in Italy and 1604 in France.
Normal creams consist of 30 percent of milk fat but heavy cream on the other hand consist of 36 percent fat.
“Whipped topping” is an imitation of whipped cream.
Until the 19th century, recipes for whipped cream called for whipping the cream with a willow or rush branch.
Today’s Food History
1589 Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henry II of France died. She is sometimes called the ‘mother of French haute cuisine’ because the Italian chefs she brought with her from Florence had a strong influence on the development of French cuisine. One of the things they brought with them was ice cream.
1786 Thomas Nuttall was born. English naturalist and botanist. He also collected and studied plants in the United States, especially around the Chesapeake Bay area.
1794 Edmund Ruffin born. The father of soil chemistry in the U.S.
1889 According to the ‘Oxford English Dictionary’ the word ‘hamburger’ first appeared in print on this day in a Walla Walla, Washington newspaper.
1914 Aaron ‘Bunny’ Lapin was born. Lapin was the inventor of whipped cream in an aerosol can (Reddi-Wip) in 1947. It was first sold by milkmen in St. Louis in 1948.
1943 George Washington Carver died. African American agricultural scientist and innovator. He developed hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes. He founded the George Washington Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee, for agricultural research.
2007 Momofuku Ando died in Osaka, Japan. Mr. Ando was the founder of Nissin Food Products, and invented ‘Instant Ramen’ noodles.
2009 A locally caught bluefin tuna weighing 282 1/2 pounds sold for $104,700 ($371 lb) at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market auction. Prized by sushi lovers, the normal price for bluefin tuna is about $25 – $50 per pound. A dramatic bluefin population decline, lower quotas and bad weather are affecting prices.
The American colonists used pumpkin in pie crusts, but not in the filling.
The type of pumpkin pie we know today was not made until the 1700s.
Every year, 50 million pumpkin pies are made using Libby’s canned product.
Nestle bought Libby’s in 1971.
The world’s largest pumpkin pie weighed over 350 pounds and was made with 80 pounds of pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, and 144 eggs.
Today’s Food History
1213 King John of England ordered 3,000 capons, 1,000 salted eels, 400 hogs, 100 pounds of almonds and 24 casks of wine for his Christmas feasts.
1252 Henry III hosts 1,000 knights and nobels at York. 600 oxen are consumed.
1415 England’s Henry V orders food distributed to the citizens of Rouen who are trapped by his siege. Henry himself dines on roast porpoise.
1512 The Duke of Northumberland was served 5 swans for Christmas dinner.
1580 The Christmas feasts of Sir William Petrie includes 17 oxen, 14 steers, 29 calves, 5 hogs, 13 bucks, 54 lambs, 129 sheep and one ton of cheese.
1642 Sir Isaac Newton was born. Newton was an English mathematician famous for being hit on the head by a falling apple (probably a ‘Flower of Kent’ variety). He also wrote ‘Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy’ in 1687.
1714 England’s King George I has his first Christmas pudding, made with 5 pounds of suet and 1 pound of plums.
1741 Anders Celsius developed the Centigrade temperature scale. Originally he had the freezing point of water at 100 and the boiling point at 0. This was reversed after his death to match the other temperature scales.
1805 American explorer Zebulon Pike celebrated Christmas by allowing “two pounds extra of meat, two pounds extra of flour, one gill of whiskey, and some tobacco, to each man, in order to distinguish Christmas Day.”
1852 A 446 pound baron of beef was served to Queen Victoria and the royal family.
1887 Conrad Nicholson Hilton was born. Founder of one of the largest hotel chains. It all began when he and his father turned their large New Mexico house into an inn for traveling salesmen.
1944 Henry Vestine of the music group ‘Canned Heat’ was born.
1946 Jimmy Buffet, musician, was born. ‘Cheesburger in Paradise,’ ‘Margaritaville’ etc.
1954 Liberty Hyde Bailey died. He was an American botanist who studied cultivated plants and developed horticulture into an applied science.
1958‘The Chipmunk Song’ becomes the only Christmas song in U.S. in history to be Number #1 on Christmas Day.
1960 Dr. Irving Cooper received a wine bottle opener for Christmas. It injected carbon dioxide gas into the bottle to force the cork out. He noticed the gas was extremely cold coming out from the needle like device. This gave him the idea to develop a brain surgery technique using liquid nitrogen to freeze tiny areas of brain cells or tumors.
1971 Neil Hogan of the musical group The Cranberries was born.
Here are today’s five things to know about French Toast:
French toast was not invented in France. In fact, French toast was around long before France even existed as a country.
The earliest reference to French toast dates all the way back to 4th century Rome.The name for French toast in France is “pain perdu”, which means “lost bread.”
French toast was created by medieval European cooks who needed to use every bit of food they could find to feed their families. They knew day-old bread could be revived when moistened and heated. They also added eggs for additional moisture and protein.
In Scotland, French toast is traditionally served with sausage between two slices of French toast, eaten as a sandwich.
Medieval recipes for French toast suggest this meal was enjoyed by the wealthy.
Today’s Food History
1837 John Wesley Hyatt was born. He developed the process for making celluloid, the first synthetic plastic. He also invented a water purifying system and a sugar cane mill.
1863 Thanksgiving was first celebrated as a regular American Holiday.
1869 F. Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio, was issued the first chewing gum patent in 1869.
1930 After a sandstorm in Morocco, there was a rain of mud in Paris and yellow sand fell in Spain.
1942 Coffee rationing began in the U.S.
1948 The first Polaroid Land Camera went on sale in Boston. This was the first successful self-developing camera; it took a photo about 1 minute to develop.
2006 Texas Republican state Rep. Betty Brown filed a bill (HCR 15) in the Texas legislature which would declare Athens, Texas as the “original home of the hamburger.” Residents of New Haven, Connecticut strongly objected.
Here are today’s five things to know about fast food:
During the early 1900s, the hamburger was thought to be polluted, unsafe to eat, and food for the poor. Street carts, not restaurants, typically served them.
Every month, approximately nine out of 10 American children visit a McDonald’s restaurant.
By 2020, Americans are expected to spend over $223 billion on fast food.
There are more than 300,000 fast food restaurants in the U.S. alone
In the 1990s, cupholders were first introduced into car design. Although the 60’s For Falcon had the first built in cupholder.
Today’s Food History
1620 The first corn (maize) was supposedly discovered (by European settlers) by some Pilgrims led by Myles Standish, while exploring the area near Provincetown, Massachusetts. They named the spot Corn Hill.
1867 Leon Daudet was born. French journalist and novelist, well known gastronome of his time.
1913 The first volume of Marcel Proust’s‘Remembrance of Things Past’ was published. On January 1, 1909, he ate a piece of tea-soaked toast whose taste caused a flood of childhood memories. In his 7 volume allegorical novel‘Remembrance of Things Past,’ the character Swann has a similar experience when he bites into a lemon cookie (a madelaine) which brings on a similar flood of memories. This is one of the most widely quoted allusions in literature.
Suggested Five Tasks Involved in Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day:
Discard opened jars of things that you know you aren’t going to use in the foreseeable future.
Wash down & disinfect the inside walls of the refrigerator, shelves, & all along the door seals.
Wash everything going back in – racks, bins & even the outsides of jars;
Vacuum the coils at the back or bottom of the fridge, if your model has them.
Clean the floor underneath the fridge and the top of fridge.
Today’s Food History
1660 Asser Levy from Portugal, applied for a license to sell kosher meat. He was the first kosher butcher in New Amsterdam (New York).
1849 The first poultry show in the U.S. was held on November 15-16 in Boston, Massachusetts. 1,423 birds were exhibited by 219 exhibitors.
1868 James Mayer de Rothschild died (born May 15, 1792). European banker and founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family. In 1868 he acquired the famous Chateau Lafite vineyards in Bordeaux, France.
1882 Felix Frankfurter, U. S. Supreme Court justice, was born.
1904 King Camp Gillette was issued U.S. patent No. 775,134 for his disposable razor (applied for on Dec 3, 1901).
1952 ‘Jambalaya (On The Bayou)’ by Hank Williams was number one on the country music charts.
1964 Bernard Frank died (born March 7, 1902). American forester and conservationist, he was one of the eight co-founders of the Wilderness Society.
1967 Elmer McCollum died. He was a chemist who discovered vitamins A, B and D.
1969 The first color TV commercial in Britain was aired, for Birdseye Peas.
1969 Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s Hamburger restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.
Here are today’s five things to know about Raisin Bran Cereal:
“Skinner’s Raisin Bran” was the first bran brand on the market, introduced in the United States in 1926 by U.S. Mills.
During his incarceration, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein preferred Raisin Bran cereal for breakfast given by his American prison guards.
The first cold breakfast cereal, Granula, was invented in the United States in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson, operator of Our Home on the Hillside which was later replaced by the Jackson Sanatorium in Dansville, New York.
Twenty-six percent of Americans snack on cereal during the day; 61 percent of that group is women.
Kellogg’s was the first company to advertise on the Times Square billboard in New York.
Today’s Food History
1660 Asser Levy from Portugal, applied for a license to sell kosher meat. He was the first kosher butcher in New Amsterdam (New York).
1849 The first poultry show in the U.S. was held on November 15-16 in Boston, Massachusetts. 1,423 birds were exhibited by 219 exhibitors.
1868 James Mayer de Rothschild died (born May 15, 1792). European banker and founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family. In 1868 he acquired the famous Chateau Lafite vineyards in Bordeaux, France.
1882 Felix Frankfurter, U. S. Supreme Court justice, was born.
1904 King Camp Gillette was issued U.S. patent No. 775,134 for his disposable razor (applied for on Dec 3, 1901).
1952 ‘Jambalaya (On The Bayou)’ by Hank Williams was number one on the country music charts.
1964 Bernard Frank died (born March 7, 1902). American forester and conservationist, he was one of the eight co-founders of the Wilderness Society.
1967 Elmer McCollum died. He was a chemist who discovered vitamins A, B and D.
1969 The first color TV commercial in Britain was aired, for Birdseye Peas.
1969 Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s Hamburger restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.
Nachos were invented near the Amercian/Mexican border in Piedras Negras, Mexico.
The term “Nacho” is a common nickname for Ignacio. It was invented in 1943 by Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya.
Nachos as we know them aren’t Mexican food, they’re Tex-Mex.
The first known appearance of the word “nachos” in English dates to 1949, from the book A Taste of Texas.
Today’s Food History
on this day in…
1814 Antoine-Joseph (Adolphe) Sax was born. A musical instrument maker, he invented the saxophone. 1923 HyperInflation ran rampant in Europe. A loaf of bread cost 140 Billion German Marks. 1991‘Cream’ by Prince & The NPG is #1 on the charts. 1993 The world’s largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich was created in Peanut, Pennsylvania. It was almost 40 feet long and used 150 pounds of peanut butter and 50 pounds of jelly.
Here are today’s five craziest, most delectably greasy foods:
1. Deep-fried hamburger:
2. The Fat Darrell
3. French fry-coated bacon
4. Monster grilled cheese
5. Deep-fried pizza
Today’s Food History
1955 The first microwave oven for home use was introduced by the Tappan Stove Company. It cost about $1,300.
1962 Chad Smith of the music group ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers’ was born.
1975 On the ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ Chuckles the Clown is killed by an Elephant while he is dressed in a peanut suit.
2001 It was reported that the remains of a crocodile that lived 110 million years ago was found in Niger. It could grow up to 40 feet long and weigh more than 8 tons!
1582 If you lived in Italy and many other Catholic countries, this day and the next 10 days did not exist due to the Gregorian Calendar Adjustment (it corrected an accumulated 11 day discrepancy). The day following Thursday, October 4, 1582 was Friday, October 15, 1582. It was effective in most Catholic countries. The old Julian calendar continued in use in Britain and its colonies until 1752, in Japan until 1873, in China until 1912, in Russia until 1918, in Greece until 1923, and in Turkey until 1925.
1902 Ray Kroc is born in Oak Park, Illinois. Ray Kroc sold blenders for milkshakes, and one of his customers was a restaurant in San Bernardino, California owned by Maurice and Richard McDonald. Kroc set up a chain of drive-in restaurants based on their efficient assembly line production kitchen. He opened his first restaurant on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. By 1961 he had 228 restaurants and he bought out the McDonald brothers. When he died in 1984 there were over 7,500 McDonald’s restaurants.
1948 Brian Connolly of the music group ‘Sweet’ was born.
1983 Earl Silas Tupper died. The inventor of Tupperware. (Tupperware makes the containers used to conduct mold and bacterial experiments in the back of refrigerator shelves).
2007 One week after recalling almost 22 million pounds of ground beef products, Topps Meat Company announced it was going out of business. Topps had to recall the meat after samples tested positive for E. colibacteria, and at least 30 people had become ill since July. Topps was one of the country’s largest manufacturers of frozen hamburgers.
1782 Andreas Sigismund Marggraf died. A German chemist who discovered beet sugar, which led to the development of the modern sugar industry.
1794The Whiskey Rebellion. Protesting the 1791 federal tax on distilled spirits a large gathering of rebels in western Pennsylvania burned the regional tax inspectors home. President Washington ordered 13,000 troops to the area, but opposition disappeared.
1903 Louis Leakey was born. Anthropologist largely responsible for convincing scientists that Africa was the place to search for human origins, not Java or China. Together with his wife Mary, they made many significant fossil discoveries.
1925 M.S. Swaminathan was born. Swaminathan is an Indian geneticist and a leading figure in India’s Green Revolution, which distributed high yield wheat and rice varieties to poor farmers.
1991 The world’s largest Burger King opened in Budapest.
More than 50 percent of adults in the US prefer chocolate to any other flavor.
Americans eat 2.8 billion pounds of candy annually. About half of it is chocolate.
The word chocolate comes from “Xocolatl,” the Aztec word that means “bitter water.”
Eating chocolate can help prevent tooth decay and works as an anti-bacterial agent.
The Ivory Coast produces more cocoa than any country in the world which makes for 37 percent of it.
Today’s Food History
on this day in…
1586 The potato was introduced to England. It is claimed that Sir Thomas Harriot introduced potatoes to England on this day. (Some sources give December 3 as the date).
1852 Andrew Jackson Downing died. An American horticulturist, he was the author of ‘The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America’ (1845) and editor of the ‘Horticulturist’ periodical.
1866 The metric system was authorized to standardize weights and measures in the U.S. (Authorized, yes, but we still don’t use it very much).
1900 One of the many claims to the origin of the hamburger, is that Louis Lassing (or Lassen) first served hamburgers on a bun in his diner in New Haven, Connecticut.
1907 Earl S. Tupper was Born. The inventor of Tupperware. (Tupperware makes the containers used to conduct mold and bacterial experiments in the back of refrigerator shelves).
1977 At 11:02 p.m. the first oil from Prudhoe Bay arrived at Valdez in the trans-Alaskan pipeline. It took 38 days to travel the 800 miles.
1989 The largest halibut (Atlantic) caught with rod and reel weighed over 255 pounds. It was caught in Gloucester, Massachusetts by Sonny Manley
Barbecues have been a White House tradition since Thomas Jefferson. Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, hosted the first barbecue at the White House that featured Texas-style barbecued ribs.
The most popular holidays for barbecuing are, in order, July 4th (71 percent), Memorial Day (57 percent), and Labor Day (55 percent)..
The most popular foods for cooking on the grill are, in order: burgers (85 percent), steak (80 percent), hot dogs (79 percent) and chicken (73 percent).
The side dishes most commonly prepared on the grill are, in order, corn (41 percent), potatoes (41 percent), and other vegetables (32 percent).
The most popular flavors of barbecue sauce are hickory, followed by mesquite, honey, and then spicy-hot.
Today’s Food History
on this day in…
1828 The cornerstone was laid for the Tremont House in Boston, Massachusetts. It would be the first U.S. hotel to install bathrooms. It opened on October 16, 1829.
1845 Henry David Thoreau begins his 2 year experiment with simple living at Waldon Pond.
1848 Francois Auguste René Vicomte de Chateaubriand died. Chateaubriand was a French writer and politician. His chef, Montmireil, created a famous recipe consisting of a center cut from the beef tenderloin, grilled and served with béarnaise sauce and chateau potatoes. Montmireil named the dish Chateaubriand.
1906 Vincent Schaefer was born. A U.S. research chemist, he invented ‘cloud seeding’ with dry ice to cause rain or snow.
1918 Pauline Esther and Esther Pauline were born. Pauline Esther’s pen name was Abigal Van Buren and she wrote the “Dear Abby” newspaper advice column. Her twin sister Esther Pauline wrote the “Ann Landers” column advice column.
1943 Alan Wilson of the music group ‘Canned Heat’ was born.
1956 At a Fourth of July family picnic, Milton Levine came up with the idea for the Ant Farm. I wonder if he had dreams of fencing them in so they would not bother him at picnics?
If the body does not get enough zinc, it may have difficulty producing testosterone – a key hormone in initiating sexual desire in both men and women. Pecans provide nearly 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for zinc.
It would take 11,624 pecans, stacked end to end, to reach the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.
Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919. In fact, Texas Governor James Hogg liked pecan trees so much that he asked if a pecan tree could be planted at his gravesite when he died.
Albany, Georgia, which boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees, is the pecan capital of the U.S. Albany hosts the annual National Pecan Festival, which includes a race, parade, pecan-cooking contest, the crowning of the National Pecan Queen and many other activities.
Pecan trees usually range in height from 70 to 100 feet, but some trees grow as tall as 150 feet or higher. Native pecan trees – those over 150 years old – have trunks more than three feet in diameter.
Today’s Food History
on this day in…
1626 A large Codfish, split open at a Cambridge market, is found to contain a copy of a book of religious treatises by John Frith.
1868 Christopher Nathan Sholes of Wisconsin patented a mechanical writing machine, called a type-writer. It was as large as a desk, made of black walnut and had black and white keys. He signed a deal with the Remington Arms company for its manufacture in 1873. It was Remington who turned it into a more practical machine. Chefs could now type their recipes so others could read them (only Doctors have more illegible handwriting than Chefs).
1894 Alfred Charles Kinsey born. Alfred Charles Kinsey is famous for the two books his Institute for Sex Research published, ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Male’ (1948) and ‘Sexual Behavior of the Human Female’ (1953). However, he was also a world authority on the taxonomy of gall wasps, and author of ‘Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America’ (1943).
1964 Arthur Melin of the Wham-O company (of Frisbee fame) patented the hula-hoop. Great exercise.
1969 Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
1982 A record low temperature of -117 F was recorded at the South Pole
1993 John Wayne Bobbitt does not appreciate his wife Lorena’s expertise with a kitchen knife.
2005 The Lucky Pierrot restaurant chain in northern Japan began serving deep fried Whale Burgers, made with minke whale meat. The meat is from whales that Japan kills for “research purposes” and then sells the meat. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986. Japan has said it will double its annual “research cull” of minke whales to 935 for 2005.
A strudel is a type of layered pastry with a — most often sweet — filling inside, often served with cream. It became well known and gained popularity in the 18th century through the Habsburg Empire.
Strudel is most often associated with Austrian cuisine but is also a traditional pastry in the whole area formerly belonging to the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The oldest Strudel recipe (a Millirahmstrudel) is from 1696, a handwritten recipe at the Viennese City Library, Wiener Stadtbibliothek. The pastry has its origins in the similar Byzantine Empire or Middle Eastern pastries.
Strudel is a loanword in English from German. The word itself derives from the German word Strudel, which in Middle High German literally means “whirlpool” or “eddy”.
In Hungary it is known as rétes, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia as štrudla or savijača, in Slovenia as štrudelj or zavitek, in the Czech Republic as závin or štrúdl, in Romania as ștrudel, and in Slovakia as štrúdľa or závin.
Today’s Food History
1239 King Edward I of England was born (ruled 1272-1307). His coronation feast included 278 bacon hogs, 450 pigs, 440 oxen, 430 sheep and 22,600 hens and capons.
1862 W.H. Fancher and C.M. French patented an unusual plow/gun combination.
1870 George Cormack, the creator of Wheaties cereal, was born.
1872 George M. Hoover arrived in Dodge City. He was the second settler there, and opened the first business, a saloon of course. Whisky was 25 cents.
1903 Ruth Graves Wakefield was born. Inventor of the Toll House Cookie, the first chocolate chip cookie, at the Toll House Inn neart Whitman, Massachusetts in the 1930s.
1978‘Cheeseburger In Paradise’ by Jimmy Buffett peaks at #32 on the charts.
A cup of black tea has half as much caffeine as a cup of coffee.
Drinking milk may mean stronger bones, but the same goes for a cup of tea!
In one day, an experienced tea picker can collect around 70 pounds of tea! That’s enough tea to make 14000 cups! Talk about filling a quota.
A large amount of caffeine is released from tea after the first 30 seconds of brewing. Dumping this content out and pouring new hot water is a neat trick for caffeine conscience tea drinkers.
There are four main types of tea: white, green, oolong, and black. But depending on the influence of culture, these four types can turn into thousands of varieties.
Today’s Food History
1869 Frozen food was shipped long distance for the first time. Frozen Texas beef shipped by steamship to New Orleans.
1943 Laslo Biro patented the ball point pen.
1952 Mylar was registered as a DuPont trademark. Mylar is a very strong polyester film that has gradually replaced cellophane. It is used as a food wrap in addition to many other non-food uses.
1965 Jimmy Chamberlain of the music group ‘The Smashing Pumpkins’ was born.
1971‘Want Ads’ by Honey Cone is #1 on the charts
1973 William Motter Inge died. An American playwright, he was the author of ‘Picnic’ which was also filmed in 1956.
1985 A ‘Most Embarrassing Moment’: Coca Cola announced it was bringing back the old formula Coke, to replace the New Coke nobody wanted.
1990 Burger King began using Newman’s Own Salad Dressings
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