Food — Page 3
Food curiosities
148 facts
King Gustav III of Sweden used prisoners to test whether coffee was poisonous.
In the 18th century, the king ordered two condemned twins to drink coffee daily to prove whether it was harmful. The…
Scientists have recreated an ancient yoghurt made with live ants.
A team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen and chefs from the Noma restaurant recreated an ancient…
The microwave was invented by accident after a chocolate bar melted in an engineer's pocket.
In 1945, Percy Spencer, an engineer at Raytheon, was working with a magnetron when he noticed that the chocolate bar…
Italian cooking has been declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
In December 2025, UNESCO recognised Italian cooking as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, highlighting its…
The secret to a perfect cacio e pepe sauce lies in starch physics.
A team of Italian physicists won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2025 for studying the science of cacio e pepe sauce. They found…
Cockroach milk has three times more energy than cow's milk.
The cockroach Diploptera punctata produces a milk-like substance to nourish embryos inside the mother's body. The…
Scientists have created an edible biscuit from PET bottle waste.
The µBites project uses microorganisms to transform PET bottle components into proteins, vitamins and other…
The cashew nut grows attached to a fruit, and the part we eat is the seed.
The cashew is a fruit that develops at the tip of a fleshy stalk called a pseudofruit. The nut, which is the seed…
Vanilla is the only widely used spice that comes from an orchid.
Vanilla is extracted from the pods of a climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla, native to Mexico. Natural pollination…
Decaffeinated coffee can still contain a small amount of caffeine.
The decaffeination process removes most of the caffeine, but not all. United States regulations require decaffeinated…
The first plant grown and eaten in space was lettuce.
In 2015, astronauts on the International Space Station grew romaine lettuce in a hydroponic system and ate it in…
The discovery of coffee is attributed to a goat herder in Ethiopia.
According to legend, an Ethiopian herder named Kaldi noticed that his goats became agitated after eating red berries…
The sandwich was invented by an English aristocrat who wanted to eat without putting down his cards.
The Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, liked to play cards for hours. To avoid interrupting the game to eat, he asked…
Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, measured by weight.
Saffron is extracted by hand from the stigmas of the Crocus sativus flower. About 150,000 flowers are needed to…
The Maillard reaction is the process that makes bread golden when toasted.
The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars, which occurs when food is…
The cashew belongs to the same plant family as poison ivy.
The cashew, mango and pistachio belong to the family Anacardiaceae, the same as poison ivy and sumac. The cashew nut…
To produce half a kilogram of honey, bees visit about 2 million flowers.
A colony of bees travels about 88,000 kilometres to produce half a kilogram of honey. Each bee visits between 50 and…
Hot dogs are sold in packs of 10 and buns in packs of 8.
In the United States, hot dogs are traditionally sold in packs of 10, while buns are sold in packs of 8. The…
Wasabi loses its spicy flavour in space.
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata discovered that wasabi loses its spicy flavour on the International Space Station…
Hawaiian pizza was invented in Canada.
Hawaiian pizza, with pineapple and ham, was invented in 1962 by Sam Panopoulos, a Greek who emigrated to Canada. The…
A bottle of champagne contains about 49 million bubbles.
A study from the University of Reims calculated that a bottle of champagne contains about 49 million bubbles. The…
Parmesan cheese contains crystals that are considered a sign of quality.
Parmesan and other aged cheeses develop crystals of tyrosine and calcium lactate during maturation. These crystals…
Cherry pits contain compounds that release cyanide.
Cherry, plum and apricot pits contain amygdalin, a compound that releases small amounts of cyanide when ingested and…
The smell of garlic only appears when the clove is cut or crushed.
Whole garlic contains alliin, an odourless compound. When the clove is cut or crushed, the enzyme alliinase converts…
