Posts tagged “5 food finds”

March 17 – ‘Eat Like an Irishman’ Day

Posted on March 17, 2012

National “Eat Like an Irishman” Day

Also St. Patrick’s Day!

Five Food Finds about Irish Cuisine

  • In 2010, the average Irish person aged 15+ drank 11.9 litres of pure alcohol, according to provisional data. That’s the equivalent of about 44 bottles of vodka, 470 pints or 124 bottles of wine.
  • There is a famous Irish dessert known as Drisheen, a surprisingly delicious black pudding.
  • Traditional dishes include Irish stew, coddle, and Irish breakfast.
  • The leprechaun, famous to Ireland, is said to grant wishes to those who can catch them.
  • The first fish and chips was served in Dublin in the 1880’s by Italian imigrants.

Daily Food Quote

“Only Irish Coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, fat.”
Alex Levine

Today’s Food History

on this day…

  • 1751 Anders Dahl was born. A renowned Swedish botanist, the Dahlia flower was named for him.
  • 1845 Stephen Perry received a patent for the rubber band. It was made from vulcanized rubber.
  • 1864 Work began on a 2 mile long, 5 foot diameter, water supply tunnel for Chicago. It was completed in 1867.
  • 1944 John Sebastian of the music group ‘Loving Spoonful’ was born.
  • 1967 Billy Corgan of the music group ‘Smashing Pumpkins’ was born.


Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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A History of Irish Cuisine

Posted on March 16, 2012

There are many references to food and drink in Irish mythology and early Irish literature such as the tale of Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Salmon of Knowledge. The old stories also contain many references to banquets, although these may well be greatly exaggerated and provide little insight into everyday diets. Honey seems to have been widely eaten and used in the making of mead. There are also many references to fulacht fiadh, which may have been sites for cooking deer, consisting of holes in the ground which were filled with water. The meat was placed in the water and cooked by the introduction of hot stones. Many fulacht fiadh sites have been identified across the island of Ireland, and some of them appear…

Categories: 5 food finds, Encyclopedia, Food Facts

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A History of Chicken Nuggets

Posted on March 15, 2012

Did you know that chicken nuggets were invented in the 1950s by Robert C. Baker, a food science professor at Cornell University, and published as unpatented academic work.  Dr. Baker’s innovations made it possible to form chicken nuggets in any shape. McDonald’s recipe for Chicken McNuggets was created on commission from McDonald’s by Tyson Foods in 1979 and the product was sold beginning in 1983. A chicken nugget is a chicken product molded from meat slurry, breaded or battered, then deep-fried or baked. Fast food restaurants typically fry their nuggets in vegetable oil.  The process is fattening, but it also creates a seared seal around the meat that traps moisture.  These fried treats used to be considered a healthy alternative to the beef already being offered. Five Food Finds for Chicken McNuggets McDonald’s…

Categories: Encyclopedia, Food Facts

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March 14 – National Potato Chip Day

Posted on March 14, 2012

National Potato Chip Day

Five Food Finds about Potato Chips

  • The first potato “chips” appeared in 1853. Served at the Lodge at Saratoga Springs, New York. They were referred to for decades as “Saratoga Chips”
  • Native American chef, George Crum is credited with creating & first serving the “Saratoga Chips”
  • The average potato chip is .04 to.08 of an inch thick.
  • During WWII production of potato chips halted because they were deemed an “unessential food”
  • in Great Britain and many other parts of the world Potato Chips are referred to as “crisps”. Chips, to them are French Fried potatoes.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

  • 1794 Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin.
  • 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt established the first U.S. national bird sanctuary to protect pelicans and herons nesting on Pelican Island, near Sebastian, Florida.
  • 1958 ‘Tequila’ by The Champs is #1 on the charts.

Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 13 – Chicken Noodle Soup Day

Posted on March 13, 2012

National Chicken Noodle Soup Day

Five Food Finds about Chicken Noodle Soup

  • Campbell’s first introduces ‘Chicken with Noodles’ soup in 1934
  • During a radio program on “Amos ‘n Andy”  Amos misread his script and said “Chicken Noodle Soup”.  Within a few weeks, Campbell’s changed the name.
  • Research has shown that each can of soup contains around 216 noodles measuring 32 to 34 feet of noodles.
  • Campbell’s create over a million miles of noodles for soup per year. Enough to go around the Earth 40 times.
  • According to the ingredients on the can, only 8% of the soup is chicken.
Extra Fact:In 1889 Campbell’s Soup labels adopted the crimson & white color scheme 
in honor of the Cornell University Football Team.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

  • 1764 Charles Grey, 2nd Earl, was born. Earl Grey was supposedly given the recipe for Earl Grey Tea by a Chinese mandarin with whom he was friends.
  • 1813 Lorenzo Delmonico, famed restaurateur was born at Marengo, Switzerland. In 1851 he joined his uncles in their catering and pastry shop in New York City. He transformed the business into one of the most famous restaurants in the country.
  • 1893 The original Waldorf Hotel opened. It had 450 rooms and almost 1,000 employees.
  • 1915 Wilbert Robinson (Uncle Robby), manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, attempted to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane. Someone had substituted a grapefruit instead, which virtually exploded in his glove on impact, covering him with grapefruit pulp and juice, much to the amusement of his team.
  • 2006 While a Poultry and Food Science professor at Cornell University from 1949-1989 he developed chicken nuggets (keeping the breading on was the key), turkey ham, poultry hot dogs and many other products. He founded Cornell’s Institute of Food Science and Marketing in 1970, and in 2004 was inducted into the American Poultry Hall of Fame.

Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 12 – National Milky Way Day

Posted on March 12, 2012

National Milky Way Day

Five Food Finds about Milky Way Candy Bar

  • The Milky Way bar was created in 1923 by Frank Mars.
  •  In the 1920’s it came in two flavors chocolate and vanilla.
  • It was the first mass produced chocolate bar with a filling.
  •  The name ‘Milky Way’ was taken from a popular malted milkshake NOT the galaxy.
  •  Outside of North America the Milky Way is a completely different kind of candy bar. See here.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

  • 1841 Orlando Jones of Middlesex, England received a U.S. patent for a process to make starch from rice or corn.
  • 1894 Coca Cola was first bottled by Joseph A. Biedenham of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Before that it was only mixed to order at the soda fountain.
  • 1912 Juliette ‘Daisy’ Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in Savannah, Georgia.
  • 1929 RIP Asa Griggs Candler, In 1887, Asa Candler, a wholesale druggist, purchased the formula for Coca-Cola from John S. Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, for $2,300. He sold the company in 1919 for $25 million.
  • 1930 Mahatma Gandhi began his march to the coastal village of Dandi, to protest the British salt monopoly.
  • 1993 RIP Christian Kent Nelson, He was the inventor of the Eskimo Pie in 1919 in Iowa.

Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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Know Your Noodles

Posted on March 11, 2012

“Eat Your Noodles” Day

Five Food Finds about Noodles

  1. Dry noodles are considered a form of unleavened bread
  2. In China archaeologists discovered the world’s oldest bowl of noodles, thought to be over 4000 years old. They were made of millet flour.
  3. “Instant” noodles were invented in 1958. They are flash fried then quickly dried. This made for a long shelf life.(If they are kept dry, some say they will remain edible for decades)
  4. Over 40% of the flour in Asia is used to make noodles.  Feeding over half of the world’s population.
  5. Thomas Jefferson brought the first “macaroni” noodles to America in 1789 after returning from a trip to France.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

  • 1791 Samuel Mulliken of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania received a patent for a machine to thresh corn and grain.
  • 1853 Self rising flour was supposedly invented by Henry Jones of Bristol.
  • 1903 Lawrence Welk, champagne music-maker, was born.

Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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Happy 100th Brithday to the Oreo Cookie

Posted on March 5, 2012

Five Food Finds about Oreo Cookies

  1. The Oreo cookie celebrates it’s 100th birthday on March 6, 2012
  2. Some believe that the cookie’s name was taken from the French word for gold, “or” (the main color on early Oreo packages). Others say the name is a combination of taking the “re” from “cream” and placing it between the two “o”s in “chocolate” – making “o-re-o.
  3. They were originally called the “Oreo Biscuit” later changed to the “Oreo Sandwich” in 1920’s Now they are simply Oreos
  4. Oreos were not an original idea, Originally the Oreo came in chocolate and vanilla flavored cookies with cream filling, very similar to Hydrox cookies first introduced in 1908.
  5. Oreos are the most popular cookie of the 20th century.

Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 2 – National Banana Cream Pie Day

Posted on March 2, 2012

Five Food Finds about pie in America

  1. Nearly one out of five (19%) of Americans prefer apple pie, followed by pumpkin (13%), pecan (12%), banana cream (10%) and cherry (9%)
  2. Until the early 1900’s Pie was considered a breakfast food.
  3. In England, Oliver Cromwell banned the eating of pie in 1644, declaring it “a pagan form of pleasure”
  4. “Wet bottom” molasses pie, Shoo-fly pie, were not originally made to eat. They were used to attract flies from the kitchen. They would stick to the pies
  5. Early colonists cooked their pies in long narrow pans calling them “coffins”  Round pies were not common until the early 1800’s.
Daily Quote:
“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”
Jim Davis
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