Posts tagged “today in food history”

April 1 is Soylent Green Day: “For the people, by the people.”

Posted on March 31, 2018

 

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Interesting Food Facts about Soylent Green

  1. Soylent Green, introduced 1966, is usually considered the original “green” food.
  2. It was first marketed as a, “Miracle food of high-energy plankton gathered from the oceans of the world.”
  3. Throughout the years the company has adopted many slogans:
    • “Food for the people, by the people.”
    • “Make room, make room for green.”
    • “It’s easy being green.”
    • “You’re in good hands with Soylent.”
  4. You can find many recipes for homemade Soylent Green, but there’s nothing like the real thing.
  5. It is said that Charlton Heston was this snack’s #1 fan, keeping mass quantities in his home.

Fun Fact:

The Soylent Green Biscuit Co. is planning on world distribution by 2022.

The Soylent Green Biscuit Co’s famous snack has been a cult classic since its inception in 1973.  People everywhere were delighted to have this affordable snack that “tastes just like grandmas.”

Charlton Heston says that, “When April 1st heralds the coming of Spring, I always think fondly of Soylent Green.”

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Today’s Food History

  • 1582 France adopted the new Gregorian calendar.  Prior to that, the new year was celebrated on April 1.
  • 1755 Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was born.  In his books, dining is treated as an art form and contains many delightful and witty observations on the pleasures of the table.
  • 1893 The first dishwashing machine became an award winning success at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, which used Josephine Garis Cochran’s hand operated, mechanical dishwashers in its kitchens.  (She patented her original version on December 28, 1886.)  Her company eventually evolved into KitchenAid.
  • 1911 Seaman Asahel Knapp died.  An American agriculturist, he began the system which evolved into the U.S. Cooperative Extension Service.
  • 1932 Actor Gordon Jump was born.  The ‘Maytag Repairman’ in commercials, also Arthur Carlson on ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’
  • 1960 Tiros I, the first weather observation satellite was launched from Cape Kennedy.
  • 1976 Jimmy Buffet’s ‘Margaritaville’ was released.
  • 1976 Carl Peter Henrik Dam died. Dam was a Danish biochemist who discovered vitamin K in 1939.
  • 1994 Ray Geiger died (born Sept 18, 1910).  Editor of theFarmers’ Almanac from 1934-1993, and editor of American Farm & Home Almanac from 1964-1990.
  • 1996 The Taco Bell fast food chain played an April Food joke on the American public by claiming to have bought the Liberty Bell to help pay down the national debt
  • 1999 The first minimum wage goes into effect in Britain, £3.60 an hour for adults and £3.00 an hour for those under 22 years old.
  • 1999 In April 1999, Restaurant Nora in Washington DC became America’s first certified organic restaurant.  This means that 95% or more of everything that you eat at the restaurant has been produced by certified organic growers and farmers.

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Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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April 5 is National Raisin and Spice Bar Day

Posted on April 5, 2015
minimalistbaker.com

minimalistbaker.com

Here are today’s five thing to know about Raisin and Spice Bar:

  1. Raisin spice bars are typically made with cinnamon, allspice, chopped pecans or walnuts, and raisins.
  2.  The the creator and origin of National Raisin and Spice Bar Day is not clear. 
  3. Raisin – comes from the Latin racemus and means “a cluster of grapes or berries”.
  4. Raisin grapes were grown as early as 2000 bc in Persia and Egypt, and dried grapes are mentioned in the Bible (Numbers 6:3) during the time of Moses. David (Israel’s future king) was presented with “a hundred clusters of raisins” (1 Samuel 25:18), probably sometime during the period 1110–1070 bc.
  5. Raisin colors vary by drying process. For example, a dark purplish/black raisin is sun-dried. A light to medium brown raisin is mechanically dehydrated in special drying tunnels.

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

  • 1764 The Sugar Act passed in Britain, placing new restrictions on the import of molasses to America.
  • 1806 Isaac Quintard patented the apple cider mill.
  • 1858 W. Atlee Burpee was born. Founder of the world’s largest mail-order seed company in 1876.
  • 1881 Edwing Houston and Elihu Thomson patented a centrifugal separator, which could be used in separating milk.
  • 1981 Bob Hite died. Singer with Canned Heat.
  • 1994 Andre Tchelistcheff died. Tchelistcheff was a Russian-born U.S. enologist, was a pivotal figure in the revitalization of the California wine industry following Prohibition (1919-33) and used his Paris training in viticulture and wine making to pioneer such techniques as cold fermentation and the use of American oak barrels for aging. He was also an authority on the types of soil suitable for growing various grape varieties.
  • Encyclopedia Brittanica (CD-2002)
  • 1998 The Spice Girls first U.K. concert in Glasgow

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Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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April 4 is National Cordon Bleu Day

Posted on April 4, 2015

Here are today’s five thing to know about Cordon Bleu:

  1. The phrase “Cordon Bleu” means “Blue Ribbon” when referring to the dish.
  2. Another use of the phrase “Cordon Bleu” comes from a distinguished order of sixteenth-century French knights, who apparently wore blue sashes and were therefore popularly referred to as the “Cordon-bleus.”
  3. Cordon Bleu is a thinly pounded piece of meat (most often chicken, but also veal or pork) stuffed with ham and cheese, then breaded and fried.
  4. Chicken Cordon Bleu is a relatively recent American creation, first found mentioned in the written word in 1967.
  5. Common variations on this recipe include baking instead of frying, skipping the breading, and switching the order of the meats.

Fun Fact:

The dish did not originate at any of the prestigious Cordon Bleu cooking schools of Europe as often thought. It is not exactly clear who was the first person to prepare and name the dish chicken cordon bleu.

There are many regional dishes from Europe that share characteristics with Chicken Cordon Bleu. Some of the countries that include roulades, or roll ups of meat, in their cuisine are Germany, France and Italy.

In largely Muslim-populated countries, the halal versions of chicken cordon bleu are also popular, but to cater to the halal requirement for the Muslims, the chicken is rolled around a beef instead of a pork product.

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

  • 1828 Casparus van Wooden of Amsterdam, patented chocolate milk powder.
  • 1871 Mary Florence Potts of Ottumwa, Iowa patented the ‘Mrs. Potts’ pressing iron. It had a detachable handle so several iron bodies could be heated and used in turn as one cooled down.
  • 1883 Peter Cooper died. American inventor and founder of the ‘Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.’ He also obtained the first American patent for the manufacture of gelatin. In 1895, a cough syrup manufacturer, Pearl B. Wait purchased the patent and developed a packaged gelatin dessert. Wait’s wife, May David Wait named it Jell-O.
  • 1884 Adolphe Duglere died. A pupil of Careme, head chef of the Rothschild family, and head chef of the famous 19th century Paris restaurant, the Cafe Anglais.
  • 1887 William Cumming Rose was born. An American biochemist, he researched amino acids, and established the importance of the 8 essential amino acids in human nutrition.
  • 1893 Alphonse Pyrame de Candolle died. A Swiss botanist, author of ‘Origin of Cultivated Plants.’
  • 1899Benjamin F. Jackson patented a gas burner.
  • 1932 Vitamin C is first isolated by C.G. King at the University of Pittsburgh.
  • 1998 A locust plague in Ethiopia was reported that covered almost 4,000 acres

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Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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April 1 is National Sourdough Bread Day

Posted on April 1, 2015

Here are today’s five thing to know about Sourdough Bread:

  • The liquid alcohol layer referred to as ‘hooch’ comes from an Native American tribe called Hoochinoo. The Hoochinoo used to trade supplies with Alaskan gold miners for the ‘hooch’ off the top of their sourdough starters.
  • Barm is the English term for sourdough starter. It is derived from the term ‘barmy’ which means tipsy, or ditzy. This is because of the alcohol!
  • Sourdough likely originated in Ancient Egyptian times around 1500 BC and was likely the first form of leavening available to bakers.
  • Baker’s yeast is not useful as sourdough starter for leavening rye bread, as rye does not contain enough gluten.
  • Most bread is leavened with yeast, but sourdough is leavened with the Lactobacillus bacterium.

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

1582 France adopted the new Gregorian calendar. Prior to that, the new year was celebrated on April 1. (The new year actually started on March 25, which fell during Holy Week – so the celebrations were delayed until the first day of April). One explanation of the origin of ‘April Fools Day’ is that those who failed to accept the new start of the year on January 1 became the object of practical jokes. (Pope Gregory XIII introduced the new Gregorian Calendar in 1582. It is possible that Charles IX of France may have changed the start of the New Year to January in 1564).

1755 Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was born. A French politician and author of the 8 volume Physiologie du goût, ou Méditation de gastronomie transcendante, ouvrage théorique, historique et à l’ordre du jour (“The Physiology of Taste, or Meditation on Transcendent Gastronomy, a Work Theoretical, Historical, and Programmed”) published in 1825. It treats dining as an art form and contains many delightful and witty observations on the pleasures of the table.

1893 The first dishwashing machine became an award winning success at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, which used Josephine Garis Cochran’s hand operated, mechanical dishwashers in its kitchens. (She patented her original version on December 28, 1886.) Her company eventually evolved into KitchenAid.

1911 Seaman Asahel Knapp died. An American agriculturist, he began the system which evolved into the U.S. Cooperative Extension Service.

1932 Actor Gordon Jump was born. The ‘Maytag Repairman’ in commercials, also Arthur Carlson on ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’.

1960 Tiros I, the first weather observation satellite was launched from Cape Kennedy.

1976 Jimmy Buffet’s ‘Margaritaville’ was released.

1976 R.I.P. Carl Peter Henrik Dam. Dam was a Danish biochemist who discovered vitamin K in 1939.

1996 The Taco Bell fast food chain played an April Food joke on the American public by claiming to have bought the Liberty Bell to help pay down the national debt.

1999 The first minimum wage goes into effect in Britain, £3.60 an hour for adults and £3.00 an hour for those under 22 years old.

1999 In April 1999, Restaurant Nora in Washington DC became America’s first certified organic restaurant. This means that 95% or more of everything that you eat at the restaurant has been produced by certified organic growers and farmers.

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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March 22 is World Water Day

Posted on March 22, 2015

Here are today’s five thing to know about Water:

      1. Over 70 percent of an adult’s body is made up of water.
      2. The recommended daily intake of water is 8 cups per day, but it can come through the consumption of food as well.
      3. There’s more fresh water stored under the ground in aquifers than on the earth’s surface.
      4. Drinking too much water too quickly causes water intoxication, caused by reduced sodium (salt) levels in the blood stream.  Some confuse this with a “runner’s high”.
      5. Of all the water on the earth, humans can use about three tenths of a percent of it for drinking water.

Fun Fact:

The world water day is a mean of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

The theme in 2015 is Water and Sustainable Development.

Roughly 75% of all industrial water withdrawals are used for energy production.

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

  • 1841 Cornstarch was patented by Orlando Jones in England.
  • 1960 R.I.P. Agnes Arber the British botanist who wrote ‘Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution‘ (1912) and ‘The Gramineae: A Study of Cereal, Bamboo and Grass‘ (1934).
  • 1975 ‘Lady Marmalade’ by LaBelle is #1 on the charts.  (Marmalade is a French name for Jam or Jelly.)

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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 16 is National Artichoke Heart Day

Posted on March 16, 2015

Here are today’s five thing to know about Artichoke:

  1. The artichoke is the unopened “flower” bloom of a thistle plant.
  2. A medium sized globe artichoke is fat free and has only 25 calories.
  3. 3% of the world’s herbal tea consumption is dried artichoke tea.
  4. 40% of the world’s artichokes are canned or jarred.
  5. California is known as the artichoke capital of the world.  They supply nearly 100% of North American fresh artichokes.

Fun Fact:

The first mention of artichokes in literature was around 40-70 AD in a book on the medicinal uses of plants called The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides.

Artichoke was first  introduced the artichoke to France in the 16th century by King Henry II’s wife, Catherine de Medici. She said, “If one of us had eaten artichokes, we would have been pointed out on the street. Today young women are more forward than pages at the court.”

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

  • 1915 Absinthe is outlawed in France and several other countries. Absinthe was a licorice/anise flavored liqueur that contained wormwood, and was 132 proof. The high alcohol content, and the presence of the toxic oil thujone from the wormwood, often causing hallucinations, convulsions, and severe mental problems amongst hard core absinthe drinkers.  Absinthe is now legal in the European Union.
  • 1975 RIP T-Bone Walker, blues guitarist
  • 1990 A Third Michelin star was awarded to Restaurant Louis XV in the Hotel de Paris. Chef Alain Ducasse, 33, is the youngest chef ever to have his restaurant receive 3 stars.
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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 15 is National Peanut Lovers’ Day

Posted on March 15, 2015
pecangirl.wordpress.com

pecangirl.wordpress.com

Here are today’s five thing to know about Peanut:

  1. Nuts are most healthy in their raw form.  The reason is that over 15% of the healthy oils are lost in the roasting process.
  2. Studies show that people who eat nuts regularly live 2-3 years longer than those who don’t.
  3. The nut allergy is among the most common food allergies.
  4. Roasted nutshells were used as a coffee substitute during the civil war.
  5. Half of the world’s nuts are inedible or poisonous to humans.

Fun Fact:

Peanuts account for two-thirds of all snack nuts consumed in the USA.

Archibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.

Everybody loves peanuts; so much so, that there’s a saying: “Will power is the ability to eat one peanut!”

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

  • 1858 Liberty Hyde Bailey was born. He was a world famous American botanist who studied cultivated plants. He was dean of Horticulture at Cornell University for 15 years.
  • 1891 Sir Joseph William Bazalgette died. A British civil engineer, he designed the main sewer system for London. Allowing for running water .
  • 1980 McDonald’s test marketed Chicken McNuggets in Knoxville, Tennessee. They are so popular that they have to look for a second supplier.

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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 14 is National Potato Chip Day

Posted on March 14, 2015
www-partyexcuses-com

www-partyexcuses-com

Here are today’s five thing to know about Potato Chip:

  1. 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”
  2. Native American chef, George Crum is credited with creating & first serving the “Saratoga Chips”
  3. The average potato chip is .04 to.08 of an inch thick.
  4. During WWII production of potato chips halted because they were deemed an “unessential food”
  5. in Great Britain and many other parts of the world Potato Chips are referred to as “crisps”. Chips, to them are French Fried potatoes.

Fun Fact:

 George Crum created the first potato chip from being  annoyed by a customer’s  complain on  his thick french fries.

It takes 1,000 pounds of potatoes to make 350 pounds of potato chips.

 The most popular US Potato Chip flavours are Regular, Barbecue and Sour Cream and Onion.

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

  • 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.
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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 12 is National Milky Way Day

Posted on March 12, 2015
blindenreport.de

blindenreport.de

Here are today’s five thing to know about Milky Way:

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

Fun Fact:

The European version the Milky Way has no caramel topping and low density that it floats in milk.

There was vanilla flavored Milky Way called “Forever Yours” until 1979.

The first slogan of Milky Way was “The sweet you can eat between meals.”

The most recent slogan is “Life’s Better in the Milky Way.”

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

  • 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.

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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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December 17 is National Maple Syrup Day

Posted on December 17, 2014
bakingsoda1.blogspot.com

bakingsoda1.blogspot.com

Here are today’s five thing to know about Maple Syrup Day:

  1. Maple syrup is boiled even further to produce maple cream, maple sugar, and maple candy.
  2. Usually a maple tree is at least 30 years old and 12 inches in diameter before it is tapped
  3. The maple season may last eight to 10 weeks, but sap flow is heaviest for about 10-20 days in the early spring.
  4. It takes 30-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
  5. It takes one gallon of maple syrup to produce eight pounds of maple candy or sugar.

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Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

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Today’s Food History

  • 1843 Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ was published. It contains numerous and elaborate descriptions of Christmas food and dinners.
    “Oh! All that steam! The pudding had just been taken out of the cauldron. Oh! That smell! The same as the one which prevailed on washing day! It is that of the cloth which wraps the pudding. Now, one would imagine oneself in a restaurant and in a confectioner’s at the same time, with a laundry nest door. Thirty seconds later, Mrs. Cratchit entered, her face crimson, but smiling proudly, with the pudding resembling a cannon ball, all speckled, very firm, sprinkled with brandy in flames, and decorated with a sprig of holly stuck in the centre. Oh! The marvelous pudding!”
  • 1892 The first performance of Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Nutcracker’ in St. Petersburg.
  • 1940 ‘Corn Silk’ was recorded by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.
  • 1948 Jim Bonfanti of the music group ‘The Raspberries’ was born
Categories: December Food Holidays, Food Facts, Food Holidays

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April 6 is National Caramel Popcorn Day

Posted on April 6, 2014

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Interesting Food Facts about Caramel Popcorn

  1. Popcorn is made by boiling the water inside the corn kernel.  As the liquid water becomes gaseous, it occupies much more volume and therefore causes incredible pressure in the kernel that causes it to explode into being inside-out.
  2. Unpopped popcorn kernels are called “old maids.”
  3. Americans consume 17 billion quarts of popped popcorn annually, or 54 quarts per man, woman and child.
  4. United States citizens consume more popcorn than any other country’s.
  5. Being corn, popcorn that is unsalted, unbuttered, and otherwise unaltered is a very healthy snack.

Fun Fact:

 Caramel popcorn or “caramel corn” used to be directly associated with Halloween for trick or treaters.

Popcorn is scientifically known as Zea mays everta.

The Wyandot Popcorn Museum is the largest collection of restored popcorn antiques.

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Today’s Food History

  • 1859 Massachusetts created the first Inspector of Milk position in the U.S.
  • 1869 John Wesley Hyatt patented celluloid, the first synthetic plastic.
  • 1896 Opening day of the first modern Olympic games. The last Olympics were held 1,500 years ago.
  • 1930 ‘Twinkies’ go on sale for the first time.
  • 1932 C. Glen King, at the University of Pittsburgh, isolated vitamin C from lemon juice.
  • 1938 Roy J. Plunkett accidentally discovered Teflon.
  • 1947 John Ratzenberger, actor, was born. He played ‘Cliff Clavin, Jr.’ on the TV series ‘Cheers.’
  • 1954 TV dinners are introduced. C.A. Swanson & Sons introduced the first TV dinner: roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes and peas. It sold for 98 cents and came in an aluminum tray, so you could just open the box and heat the dinner in the oven. (No microwave ovens back then).
  • Supposedly executive Gerald Thomas came up with the idea when the company had tons of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving (Didn’t we all?). The idea for the aluminum trays came from the trays used for airline food. They were an immediate success, and Turkey dinners are still the most popular Swanson frozen dinner. Swanson stopped calling them TV dinners in 1962.
  • 1988 McDonald’s opened its 10,000th restaurant in Dale City, Virginia.

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Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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April 5 is National Raisin and Spice Bar Day

Posted on April 5, 2014

pumpkin-bar-COMP-499136

Interesting Food Facts about Raisin and Spice Bar

  1. Raisin spice bars are typically made with cinnamon, allspice, chopped pecans or walnuts, and raisins.
  2.  The the creator and origin of National Raisin and Spice Bar Day is not clear. 
  3. Raisin – comes from the Latin racemus and means “a cluster of grapes or berries”.
  4. Raisin grapes were grown as early as 2000 bc in Persia and Egypt, and dried grapes are mentioned in the Bible (Numbers 6:3) during the time of Moses. David (Israel’s future king) was presented with “a hundred clusters of raisins” (1 Samuel 25:18), probably sometime during the period 1110–1070 bc.
  5. Raisin colors vary by drying process. For example, a dark purplish/black raisin is sun-dried. A light to medium brown raisin is mechanically dehydrated in special drying tunnels.

Recipe of Raisin and Spice Bar

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Today’s Food History

  • 1764 The Sugar Act passed in Britain, placing new restrictions on the import of molasses to America.
  • 1806 Isaac Quintard patented the apple cider mill.
  • 1858 W. Atlee Burpee was born. Founder of the world’s largest mail-order seed company in 1876.
  • 1881 Edwing Houston and Elihu Thomson patented a centrifugal separator, which could be used in separating milk.
  • 1981 Bob Hite died. Singer with Canned Heat.
  • 1994 Andre Tchelistcheff died. Tchelistcheff was a Russian-born U.S. enologist, was a pivotal figure in the revitalization of the California wine industry following Prohibition (1919-33) and used his Paris training in viticulture and wine making to pioneer such techniques as cold fermentation and the use of American oak barrels for aging. He was also an authority on the types of soil suitable for growing various grape varieties.
  • Encyclopedia Brittanica (CD-2002)
  • 1998 The Spice Girls first U.K. concert in Glasgow

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Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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April 4 is National Cordon Bleu Day

Posted on April 4, 2014
SFS_ChickenCordonBleu-10_276188

Interesting Food Facts about Cordon Bleu

  1. The phrase “Cordon Bleu” means “Blue Ribbon” when referring to the dish.
  2. Another use of the phrase “Cordon Bleu” comes from a distinguished order of sixteenth-century French knights, who apparently wore blue sashes and were therefore popularly referred to as the “Cordon-bleus.”
  3. Cordon Bleu is a thinly pounded piece of meat (most often chicken, but also veal or pork) stuffed with ham and cheese, then breaded and fried.
  4. Chicken Cordon Bleu is a relatively recent American creation, first found mentioned in the written word in 1967.
  5. Common variations on this recipe include baking instead of frying, skipping the breading, and switching the order of the meats.

Fun Fact:

The dish did not originate at any of the prestigious Cordon Bleu cooking schools of Europe as often thought. It is not exactly clear who was the first person to prepare and name the dish chicken cordon bleu.

There are many regional dishes from Europe that share characteristics with Chicken Cordon Bleu. Some of the countries that include roulades, or roll ups of meat, in their cuisine are Germany, France and Italy.

In largely Muslim-populated countries, the halal versions of chicken cordon bleu are also popular, but to cater to the halal requirement for the Muslims, the chicken is rolled around a beef instead of a pork product.

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Today’s Food History

  • 1828 Casparus van Wooden of Amsterdam, patented chocolate milk powder.
  • 1871 Mary Florence Potts of Ottumwa, Iowa patented the ‘Mrs. Potts’ pressing iron. It had a detachable handle so several iron bodies could be heated and used in turn as one cooled down.
  • 1883 Peter Cooper died. American inventor and founder of the ‘Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.’ He also obtained the first American patent for the manufacture of gelatin. In 1895, a cough syrup manufacturer, Pearl B. Wait purchased the patent and developed a packaged gelatin dessert. Wait’s wife, May David Wait named it Jell-O.
  • 1884 Adolphe Duglere died. A pupil of Careme, head chef of the Rothschild family, and head chef of the famous 19th century Paris restaurant, the Cafe Anglais.
  • 1887 William Cumming Rose was born. An American biochemist, he researched amino acids, and established the importance of the 8 essential amino acids in human nutrition.
  • 1893 Alphonse Pyrame de Candolle died. A Swiss botanist, author of ‘Origin of Cultivated Plants.’
  • 1899Benjamin F. Jackson patented a gas burner.
  • 1932 Vitamin C is first isolated by C.G. King at the University of Pittsburgh.
  • 1998 A locust plague in Ethiopia was reported that covered almost 4,000 acres

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Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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April 1 is Soylent Green Day: “For the people, by the people.”

Posted on April 1, 2014

 

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Interesting Food Facts about Soylent Green

  1. Soylent Green, introduced 1966, is usually considered the original “green” food.
  2. It was first marketed as a, “Miracle food of high-energy plankton gathered from the oceans of the world.”
  3. Throughout the years the company has adopted many slogans:
    • “Food for the people, by the people.”
    • “Make room, make room for green.”
    • “It’s easy being green.”
    • “You’re in good hands with Soylent.”
  4. You can find many recipes for homemade Soylent Green, but there’s nothing like the real thing.
  5. It is said that Charlton Heston was this snack’s #1 fan, keeping mass quantities in his home.

Fun Fact:

The Soylent Green Biscuit Co. is planning on world distribution by 2022.

The Soylent Green Biscuit Co’s famous snack has been a cult classic since its inception in 1973.  People everywhere were delighted to have this affordable snack that “tastes just like grandmas.”

Charlton Heston says that, “When April 1st heralds the coming of Spring, I always think fondly of Soylent Green.”

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Today’s Food History

  • 1582 France adopted the new Gregorian calendar.  Prior to that, the new year was celebrated on April 1.
  • 1755 Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was born.  In his books, dining is treated as an art form and contains many delightful and witty observations on the pleasures of the table.
  • 1893 The first dishwashing machine became an award winning success at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, which used Josephine Garis Cochran’s hand operated, mechanical dishwashers in its kitchens.  (She patented her original version on December 28, 1886.)  Her company eventually evolved into KitchenAid.
  • 1911 Seaman Asahel Knapp died.  An American agriculturist, he began the system which evolved into the U.S. Cooperative Extension Service.
  • 1932 Actor Gordon Jump was born.  The ‘Maytag Repairman’ in commercials, also Arthur Carlson on ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’
  • 1960 Tiros I, the first weather observation satellite was launched from Cape Kennedy.
  • 1976 Jimmy Buffet’s ‘Margaritaville’ was released.
  • 1976 Carl Peter Henrik Dam died. Dam was a Danish biochemist who discovered vitamin K in 1939.
  • 1994 Ray Geiger died (born Sept 18, 1910).  Editor of theFarmers’ Almanac from 1934-1993, and editor of American Farm & Home Almanac from 1964-1990.
  • 1996 The Taco Bell fast food chain played an April Food joke on the American public by claiming to have bought the Liberty Bell to help pay down the national debt
  • 1999 The first minimum wage goes into effect in Britain, £3.60 an hour for adults and £3.00 an hour for those under 22 years old.
  • 1999 In April 1999, Restaurant Nora in Washington DC became America’s first certified organic restaurant.  This means that 95% or more of everything that you eat at the restaurant has been produced by certified organic growers and farmers.

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Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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March 22 is World Water Day

Posted on March 22, 2014

world-water-day

Interesting Food Facts about Water

      1. Over 70 percent of an adult’s body is made up of water.
      2. The recommended daily intake of water is 8 cups per day, but it can come through the consumption of food as well.
      3. There’s more fresh water stored under the ground in aquifers than on the earth’s surface.
      4. Drinking too much water too quickly causes water intoxication, caused by reduced sodium (salt) levels in the blood stream.  Some confuse this with a “runner’s high”.
      5. Of all the water on the earth, humans can use about three tenths of a percent of it for drinking water.

Fun Fact:

The world water day is a mean of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

The theme in 2014 is Water and Energy.

Roughly 75% of all industrial water withdrawals are used for energy production.

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Today’s Food History

  • 1841 Cornstarch was patented by Orlando Jones in England.
  • 1960 R.I.P. Agnes Arber the British botanist who wrote ‘Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution‘ (1912) and ‘The Gramineae: A Study of Cereal, Bamboo and Grass‘ (1934).
  • 1975 ‘Lady Marmalade’ by LaBelle is #1 on the charts.  (Marmalade is a French name for Jam or Jelly.)

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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 16 is National Artichoke Heart Day

Posted on March 16, 2014
Sunset

Interesting Food Facts about Artichoke

  1. The artichoke is the unopened “flower” bloom of a thistle plant.
  2. A medium sized globe artichoke is fat free and has only 25 calories.
  3. 3% of the world’s herbal tea consumption is dried artichoke tea.
  4. 40% of the world’s artichokes are canned or jarred.
  5. California is known as the artichoke capital of the world.  They supply nearly 100% of North American fresh artichokes.

Fun Fact:

The first mention of artichokes in literature was around 40-70 AD in a book on the medicinal uses of plants called The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides.

Artichoke was first  introduced the artichoke to France in the 16th century by King Henry II’s wife, Catherine de Medici. She said, “If one of us had eaten artichokes, we would have been pointed out on the street. Today young women are more forward than pages at the court.”

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Today’s Food History

  • 1915 Absinthe is outlawed in France and several other countries. Absinthe was a licorice/anise flavored liqueur that contained wormwood, and was 132 proof. The high alcohol content, and the presence of the toxic oil thujone from the wormwood, often causing hallucinations, convulsions, and severe mental problems amongst hard core absinthe drinkers.  Absinthe is now legal in the European Union.
  • 1975 RIP T-Bone Walker, blues guitarist
  • 1990 A Third Michelin star was awarded to Restaurant Louis XV in the Hotel de Paris. Chef Alain Ducasse, 33, is the youngest chef ever to have his restaurant receive 3 stars.
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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 15 is National Peanut Lovers’ Day

Posted on March 15, 2014
SouthernLiving

Interesting Food Facts about Peanut

  1. Nuts are most healthy in their raw form.  The reason is that over 15% of the healthy oils are lost in the roasting process.
  2. Studies show that people who eat nuts regularly live 2-3 years longer than those who don’t.
  3. The nut allergy is among the most common food allergies.
  4. Roasted nutshells were used as a coffee substitute during the civil war.
  5. Half of the world’s nuts are inedible or poisonous to humans.

Fun Fact:

Peanuts account for two-thirds of all snack nuts consumed in the USA.

Archibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.

Everybody loves peanuts; so much so, that there’s a saying: “Will power is the ability to eat one peanut!”

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Today’s Food History

  • 1858 Liberty Hyde Bailey was born. He was a world famous American botanist who studied cultivated plants. He was dean of Horticulture at Cornell University for 15 years.
  • 1891 Sir Joseph William Bazalgette died. A British civil engineer, he designed the main sewer system for London. Allowing for running water .
  • 1980 McDonald’s test marketed Chicken McNuggets in Knoxville, Tennessee. They are so popular that they have to look for a second supplier.

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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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March 14 is National Potato Chip Day

Posted on March 14, 2014

Bag Potatoe chips, Kartoffelchips

Interesting Food Facts about Potato Chip

  1. 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”
  2. Native American chef, George Crum is credited with creating & first serving the “Saratoga Chips”
  3. The average potato chip is .04 to.08 of an inch thick.
  4. During WWII production of potato chips halted because they were deemed an “unessential food”
  5. in Great Britain and many other parts of the world Potato Chips are referred to as “crisps”. Chips, to them are French Fried potatoes.

Fun Fact:

 George Crum created the first potato chip from being  annoyed by a customer’s  complain on  his thick french fries.

It takes 1,000 pounds of potatoes to make 350 pounds of potato chips.

 The most popular US Potato Chip flavours are Regular, Barbecue and Sour Cream and Onion.

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Today’s Food History

  • 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.
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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

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