If you’re a foodie who loves fun facts, we’ve got a treat for you!
From the jaw-dropping to the bizarre, the sublime to the downright silly, here are 20 fascinating facts about your favorite foods, perfect for entertaining or horrifying your guests at your next dinner party.
Enjoy!
1. Cucumbers contain more water than watermelon
Watermelons contain 92% water, while cucumbers are 95% water. Maybe they should be called ‘watercumbers'?
Savor this sublime Cucumber Ribbon Salad, a delicious summer recipe.
2. Chickpeas have almost as much protein as steak
While 100g of steak can contain up to 25g of protein, 100g of chickpeas contains 21g. Extra incentive to eat hummus? Yes please!
Try this delicious Hummus Sandwich recipe.
3. Oreos are vegan
Vegans rejoice! The delicious chocolate cookie with the creamy center contains no milk, eggs, or any other animal product, making them 100% vegan.
If you’re a fan of Oreos, don’t miss this incredible No Bake Oreo Cheesecake.
4. Bananas are radioactive
It’s true! Bananas contain lots of potassium, making them slightly radioactive. In fact, a truckload of bananas would set off a detector looking for smuggled nuclear weapons.
5. It takes more calories to eat a stick of celery than the amount of calories contained in a stick of celery
Studies have shown that a celery stick provides 19 fewer calories than you would normally burn while eating it!
6. The word avocado comes from…
The lovable green ingredient, which hangs in pairs from its tree, was first cultivated by Aztecs, who named it “āhuacatl” in the Nahuatl language, translating into English as “testicles”.
7. Egyptians used bread and beer as a type of currency
As they were staples of the Egyptian diet, poorer workers were paid bread and beer. In fact, the workers who helped build the pyramids were said to have been paid completely in bread and beer.
8. Figs have dead wasps inside them
As part of the fig pollination process, female wasps crawl inside a fig to lay their eggs. Unfortunately, they can’t escape and die during the process. Before you let that put you off figs for life, there are no traces of the wasp left when eating this delicious fruit.
This Fig Chutney recipe is causing quite a buzz!
9. Peanuts can be used to make dynamite
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Quite an explosive fact for your next dinner party, peanut oil can be made to create glycerol, which can be used to make nitro-glycerine, a key component of dynamite.
10. When the Spanish first tried chocolate they were less than impressed
In 1519, Spanish explorer Cortez and his men arrived in the Aztec capital, where cacao was a delicacy. They tried liquid chocolate, calling it pigswill. However, Spanish monks added honey to sweeten the deal and popularized it around 1590.
11. There’s a good reason some people hate sprouts…
Sprouts contain a chemical that only tastes bitter to people who have a variation of a specific gene. To others, it tastes totally normal!
12. Bananas, lemons and eggplants are berries...
The botanical definition of a berry is a fruit that develops from flowers that contain an ovary, a fleshy center, and one or more seeds, making all three berries.
13. …But raspberries aren't!
Despite their name, raspberries don’t fall under the technical term of berries as they grow from a flower with multiple ovaries.
14. Sandwiches are named after an English earl
Yes, we kid you not. In 1762, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, invented the legendary snack while playing cards. He wanted to eat with his hands as he played.
15. Kellogg’s corn flakes were first marketed as a sexual suppressant
Cereal pioneer Dr. John Harvey Kellogg thought that society was too promiscuous and prone to giving in to carnal desires. His solution was to create a product centered on bland flavor that would lead Americans away from sin.
16. Broccoli, carrots and bananas were invented by humans
Broccoli, bred from cabbages, was created during the Greek and Roman empires; carrots were bred to be orange rather than their natural white and purple; and bitter bananas were made sweeter, making them edible and easy to eat in a raw state.
17. Red candies are dyed using bugs
The red coloring in your favorite sweets, yogurts, jellies, and jams? That’s a red dye called carmine made from crushed cochineal insects.
18. You can ‘taste’ garlic with your feet
Talk about ‘sole food’. Studies have shown that the chemical that gives garlic its aroma, allicin, can be absorbed through the skin. Once absorbed into the blood, it travels to your nose and mouth, giving you the sense of garlic.
19. Ketchup was originally a medicine
Dr. John Cook Bennett cooked up a blend of tomatoes that he claimed would cure diarrhea, indigestion, and jaundice. It didn’t catch on, and he later marketed ketchup in pill form before Heinz created the sauce we know and love today.
20. Mushrooms are more closely related to humans than plants
While many people think of mushrooms as types of plants, they’re actually ‘funghi’, which are genetically closer to humans than to plants.
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