Fun Foodie Facts

One of my stocking stuffers was a book filled with random food facts. I was reading it on the beach this afternoon (it warmed up dramatically…like 65 degrees!!  WOO HOO!) And here are a few that I thought were fun:

1. A row of corn always has an even number

2. McDonald’s is one of the largest owners of real estate in the world and it earns the majority of its profits from collecting rent, not from selling food

3. Nearly 27 million Americans eat McDonald’s everyday

Really?!?

4. The warriors of Attila, king of the Huns, (A.D. 450) preserved their meat by placing fresh meat under their saddles. All the bouncing squeezed fluids from the meat, and the horse’s sweat salted the meat and removed more moisture. When the warrior stopped to eat, they had a dried and salted meal

5. The first soup was made from hippopotamus and dates back to 6000 B.C.

6. Worcestershire sauce is made from dissolved anchovies (including the bones) that have been soaked in vinegar

7. Oysters have often been considered to be aphrodisiacs

Haha...I LOVE raw oysters

8. The banana tree is not a true fruit at all but a giant herb and the banana is actually its berry. A banana plant produces only one bunch or “hand” in its life, but that bunch may have between 100 to 400 bananas. Despite its phallic shape, the banana is sterile and no fertilization takes place in the banana flowers. A banana plant grows when one of its shoots is planted

 9. Kissing may have originated when mothers orally passed chewed solid food to their infants during weaning

10. The agent that gives Twinkies their smooth feel, cellulose gum, is also used in rocket fuel to give it a slightly gelatinous feel

Still want one?

11. The earliest form of eating processed food occurred in early hunting cultures when the men who made a kill would be rewarded with a meal of the partially digested contents of the stomach of their prey

12. In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food. In 2006, the spending rose to nearly $142 billion

13. The Tootsie Roll is named after its creator Leo Hirshfield’s daughter Clara, whose nickname was Tootsie. It was the first penny candy that was individually wrapped. During WWII, Tootsie Rolls were placed in soldiers’ ration kits because it could survive various weather conditions

These were ALWAYS my favorite thing to get at Halloween when I was a kid.

14. The term “junk food” was initially used in the 1960s but was popularized during the following decade when the song “Junk Food Junkie” reached the top of the charts in 1976

Hope you thought this was interesting and fun! 🙂