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Whose idea was it to eat that? The strange ways 11 everyday foods were discovered.

Whose idea was it to let milk go bad and then eat it?

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Many of our favorite everyday foods have extremely strange origins.

Have you ever stopped to think why we eat the things we eat? Some of it seems natural, of course, like an apple growing from a tree. At some point in history, someone picked one, took a bite, and realized it was delicious.

Hunting and eating animals is similar. It's part of our DNA, even if you choose not to partake, and you can easily trace the path from early hunter-gatherers to packaged chicken nuggets.

But at some point, humans started getting really creative. We picked coffee cherries, removed the seeds, and brewed them into a dark and bitter drink–why?! We smushed up grapes and let them sit around for a while and then drank their juices. We decided to try consuming cow's milk that had gone really, really sour.

Whose ideas was it to try these things? Fascinatingly, many of our favorite foods, even the things we eat everyday, were the result of necessity or pure accidents. Here are some of the weirdest yet most interesting food origin stories.

1. Cheese & Yogurt


food, food history, origins of food, history, funny, fun facts, eating, culture, nutrition, taste, dining Cheese is essentially just spoiled milk! Photo by David Foodphototasty on Unsplash

We know that cheese and yogurt both come from milk, often cow's milk. We also know that milk goes bad extremely quickly and disgustingly. So how did we bridge that gap and come to discover these two amazing foods?

According to the National Historic Cheesemaking Center Museum (in Wisconsin; where else?) cheesemaking dates back thousands of years to Greek mythology and the ancient Egyptians. It's said that milk was often stored in containers made from the stomachs of animals. The only downside of stomach containers is that they contained an enzyme called rennet that triggers coagulation in the milk, allowing it to separate into curds and whey.

Those Greeks and Egyptians must have been mighty surprised when the curds, in particular, turned out to be absolutely delicious. The BBC writes, however, that this accidental process was probably first discovered in the Middle East and Central Asia.

2. Wine

food, food history, origins of food, history, funny, fun facts, eating, culture, nutrition, taste, dining It must have been fun to discover old grapes turned into wine. Photo by Lefteris kallergis on Unsplash

Today, the winemaking process is pretty complex, so much so that some people consider it an art. Or, at the very least, a craft of the highest order.

I've always been curious how we ever came up with the idea that we could get drunk off of grapes, long before the days of perfectly pruned vines and aged-oak barrels. Turns out, the story is not that dissimilar to the origins of cheesemaking, except it goes back even further. Humanity's natural desire for a good party is apparently one of our most ancient traditions!

Early humans would forage large quantities of fruit like grapes and berries. The ones at the bottom, naturally, would get smushed and likely not be eaten for a while. They would have time to ferment, creating an alcohol-like substance, that must have been pretty pleasurable for anyone willing to go digging around at the bottom of the fruit pile.

Beer has a similar origin story, only instead of fruit, it was grains for bread that were left out too long and began to ferment.

3. Coffee

food, food history, origins of food, history, funny, fun facts, eating, culture, nutrition, taste, dining Coffee fruit was making the goats a little too happy. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Coffee is definitely one of the weirder things that we consume. The coffee beans we're used to seeing do not appear exposed in the wild—they're actually tucked away inside something called a coffee cherry. Each cherry contains two seeds, or coffee beans.

The story goes that an Ethiopian goat herder in the year 850 (give or take) noticed that whenever his goats ate the cherries, they would become energetic, playful, and just plain happier. Kaldi, the herder, is credited with being one of the first to forage the cherries. At first, the leaves were used to make tea, and then the berries were eaten directly to get the happy-energy effects. It wasn't until a few centuries later that the beans were made into a beverage for the first time.

4. Tikka Masala

I absolutely love getting Indian food whenever possible and, like a lot of Americans, I adore Chicken Tikka Masala. But I never knew that it was created out of necessity as recently as the 1970s.

The widely accepted legend has it that a Glasgow chef named Ali Ahmed Aslam served a customer some chicken tikka one night and found the patron to be very hard to please. The man insisted that the chicken was too dry. So Aslam scoured the kitchen and whipped up a special sauce made of yogurt and tomato, which helped keep the chicken moist.

Pretty quickly, chicken tikka masala became famous across the globe. The Bristorian writes, "it is widely represented as the quintessential Indian dish despite its origin in the United Kingdom."

5. Tomatoes

food, food history, origins of food, history, funny, fun facts, eating, culture, nutrition, taste, dining Tomatoes were thought to be poisonous until very recently. Photo by Huzeyfe Turan on Unsplash

It doesn't seem surprising at first that most cultures around the world regularly eat tomatoes, with a few exceptions. They grow in the ground and look beautiful. It's not shocking that someone bit into one at some point in history and decided we should all get to enjoy them.

But what is surprising is that, in the Western world at least, tomatoes didn't catch on for a long time. Even in Italy, which is practically synonymous with the tomato, Italians didn't really eat them widely until the 19th century. That's because tomatoes were long thought to be poisonous, a member of the nightshade family which contains many toxic plants.

One story claims that a man named Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson ate tomato after tomato in front of a crowd in New Jersey to prove to the world they were safe. It's probably not a true story, but it's fun to imagine.

6. Tea

food, food history, origins of food, history, funny, fun facts, eating, culture, nutrition, taste, dining Tea is one of civilization's most ancient drinks. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Tea, like coffee, seems odd when you really think about it. Boiling dried up leaves and herbs in water? Whose bright idea was that?

It turns out, it was an Emperor's idea! Tea is truly one of the most ancient beverages, and legend has it that Chinese emperor Shen Nung accidentally discovered the delectable drink in 2737 BC. He was supposedly sitting under a tree while his servant boiled him some drinking water, a common practice at the time. Some leaves are said to have fallen in from the Camellia sinensis tree, which gave the brew a pleasant aroma.

Shen Nung tasted it and was impressed, while also finding that it made him feel great. Tea was initially considered medicinal and didn't become a daily drink until much later.

7. French fries

food, food history, origins of food, history, funny, fun facts, eating, culture, nutrition, taste, dining Fried potatoes began as a replacement for fried fish. Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash

Despite the name, French fries are said to have initially been discovered in Belgium.

In the 1600s, villagers near one of the country's rivers would catch fish to try. Fried fish was an incredibly popular treat, but in the winter months, the river would freeze and catching fish would become impossible.

Out of necessity, they tried cutting up potatoes into a similar shape and frying those, instead. The result was delicious! When American soldiers came through the area during World War I, word spread quickly for obvious reasons.

8. Potato chips

The accidental invention of potato chips is a direct offshoot of French fries, so it deserves a spot on this list.

Some 250 years after the invention of fries, the story goes that a chef named George Crum had another difficult customer on his hands. (Seeing a pattern here?) The man was unhappy that his French fries were too soggy and thick.

Smithsonian Magazine writes, "Furious with such a fussy eater, Crum sliced some potatoes as slenderly as he could, fried them to a crisp and sent them out to Vanderbilt as a prank. Rather than take the gesture as an insult, Vanderbilt was overjoyed."

They were called Saratoga Chips at first, a reference to their birthplace of Saratoga, New York. Experts say the potato chip may have officially been invented before this famous showdown, but George Crum undoubtedly helped popularize the snack.

9. Popsicles

food, food history, origins of food, history, funny, fun facts, eating, culture, nutrition, taste, dining An 11-year-old accidentally invented popsicles. Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

The official Popsicle brand itself says the frozen treat was invented by an 11-year-old boy in 1905.

Frank Epperson allegedly left a cup of soda, complete with a stick for stirring, outside on a cold night and was chagrinned to later find it frozen. However, one lick and he was convinced—frozen meant delicious! Young Frank named the treat after himself: "The Episcle."

An entrepreneurial little bugger, Epperson perfected the popsicle and began selling them around local beaches before patenting the pops in 1924.

10. Cheetos/cheese puffs/cheese curls

food, food history, origins of food, history, funny, fun facts, eating, culture, nutrition, taste, dining Cheetos and cheese puffs have a fascinating accidental origin. Photo by Ryan Quintal on Unsplash

I've always been curious about cheese curls, which are one of my all-time favorite snacks. What even is a cheese puff? The potato chip, though unique, makes sense: It's a deep fried, thin slice of potato. Cheetos and cheese curls are just so far from anything found in nature it boggles the mind how they might have been invented.

Well, boggle no more! In 1935, cheese puffs were accidentally invented in a factory that made animal feed. Corn was ground in a grinder to make the feed, but when it came time to clean the machine, the workers fed moist corn through. The resulting waste product was airy, puffy blobs of corn that would fall to the ground.

A worker named Edward Wilson decided to try some and found them utterly delicious, and thus named them Korn Kurls.

11. Worcestershire sauce

I love a good happy accident almost as much as I love Worcestershire sauce on my burgers and steaks. Luckily, this story has both.

In 1835, drug store owners John Lea and William Perrins were asked to recreate a sauce a local baron had tried during a visit to India. Their creation was an utter failure, smelling horribly and tasting worse. So they hid the batch they created in the basement and forgot about it for nearly two years.

According to Great British Chefs, "When they rediscovered it, it had aged well, turning into the fermented, umami-packed sauce we use today."

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How Japan's '80%' philosophy of eating may help us all be healthier

It's not about losing weight, though that may be a byproduct.

Photo credit: Canva

Japanese food tends to be healthy, but there's more to healthy eating than the food itself.

Many Americans were told to "clean your plate" growing up, meaning to eat everything you were served at mealtime. To leave food on your plate was considered rude, ungrateful or otherwise undesirable behavior, and the habit of eating everything in front of you became ingrained.

Kids raised in Japan may have been brought up with an entirely different philosophy, one that tells them to stop eating before they are full. It's called hara hachi bu (or sometimes hara hachi bun me).

Stop eating when you're 80% full

Hara hachi bu literally translates to "belly 80% full" and on it's face that's literally what it means—stop eating when your stomach feels 80% full. Asako Miyashita, RDN, a New York-based dietitian who grew up in Japan, told Women's Health that the phrase comes from a 300-year-old book by Japanese philosopher and botanist Ekiken Kaibara, "Yojokun: Life Lessons From A Samurai." The book is about listening to your body, and its author lived to 83, which was a remarkably long life at a time when the life expectancy in Japan was 50.

Fast forward to today, and the people of Okinawa, Japan, where hara hachi bu is a popular phrase, have some of the longest life expectancies on Earth. But can eating only until you're 80% full actually help you live longer?

It's possible. One reason may be calorie restriction. According to longevity researcher Dan Buettner, Okinawans eat about 1,900 calories per day on average. Compare that to Americans who eat over 3,500 calories per day on average. Caloric restriction has been shown to increase the lifespan of multiple animal species and has also been shown to slow the aging process in healthy human adults, so simply not pushing our caloric intake by filling our bellies all the way full may be something to consider if we're looking to live a long life.

Hara hachi bu encouraged mindful eating

Another benefit of the 80% full idea is that it forces you to be mindful about how your body's feeling while you're eating, which may contribute to better physical health. According to Harvard University, mindless or distracted eating—the opposite of mindful eating—is associated with anxiety, overeating, and weight gain.

"Hara hachi bu is not a diet, but a lifestyle that can help promote a sustainable approach to eating," dietician Kouka Webb, RN, told Women's Health. "It encourages mindful eating and portion control without the need for strict calorie counting or eliminating certain food groups."

family eating dinner in JapanA family eats dinner in Japan.Photo credit: Canva

Harvard shares that a literature review of 68 intervention and observational studies found that mindfulness and mindful eating slowed down the pace of people's eating and improved people's recognition of when they were full. Mindful eating also reduced binge eating and emotional eating.

Overeating can lead to weight gain, of course, but it can also disrupt your hunger regulation, increase your risk for certain types of disease, cause stomach issues like nausea, gas and bloating, and can even impair your brain function. If you stop eating when you're 80% full means you're far less likely to overeat.

But does that mean you're always left 20% hungry? Not necessarily. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it takes up to 30 minutes for your brain to actually process that your stomach is full, so if you stop when you feel 80% full, you'll most likely feel 100% full just a short while later.

Eat until you're not hungry, not until you're full

“There’s a huge gap between being physically satisfied and realizing in your mind that you’re full,” psychologist Susan Albers, PsyD. tells the Cleveland Clinic. “The connection between them is more like old-school dialup speed than instantaneous WiFi.”

Eating to 80% full is probably closer to the "eat until you're no longer hungry" advice that she gives her patients to feel satiated without actually feeling "full."

“When we think about the word ‘full,’ it’s often like filling up a cup or occupying every inch of a space,” Dr. Albers says. “But the fullness that we can feel and perceive in our stomachs is often being overly full. ‘Satiated’ is different, though. Satiated is meeting a need.”

As Buettner writes, "There is a significant calorie gap between when an American says, ‘I’m full’ and an Okinawan says, ‘I’m no longer hungry.’"

Of course, the traditional Japanese diet also tends to be quite healthy in terms of what they eat, but mindful eating, paying attention to how your stomach feels and stopping before getting full, is worth applying no matter what cuisine you're eating. Next time you sit down for a meal, give hara hachi bu a try and see how you feel. It definitely can't hurt.

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Mom shares simple-but-genius hack for getting kids to try new foods and eat their veggies

"They have discovered they love radishes, bell peppers, salami, cheeses, spicy things, sour things…"

Photo by cottonbro studio

Kids can be finicky eaters.

One of the responsibilities of parenting is making sure our kids are fed nutritious foods. Unfortunately, our kids are not always on board with that idea.

Children's finickiness ranges anywhere from will-eat-anything to will-only-eat-chicken-nuggets and everything in between. Picky eating poses a challenge for parents who want their kids to have balanced, nutritional diet, and all too often it turns into a battle of wills. Unfortunately, food battles can create negative associations with eating and mealtimes, which nobody wants. We do want our kids to try new foods and to learn to enjoy healthy eating, however. So how do we do that?

X user Jeff Thompson posed the question: "Kids picky about food…what’s the strategy to get them to try new things?" and people weighed in with their advice. But one response in particular struck a chord both for its simplicity and effectiveness.

Bethany Babcock wrote, "Ok I actually have a great tip for this. Movie nights the kids get a 'snack plate' for dinner. Like a blend of a charcuterie board and veggie and fruit tray. I put all their favorites and sneak in new foods. All arranged super cute."

"It’s the only time I’m full on Pinterest mom," she added.

She explained that the snacking continues as the movie plays and that the dim lights and semi-distracted state leads the kids to try everything that's on their plate. "The new foods go last but eventually everything is gone," Babcock wrote.

She said she gives them dipping sauces like hummus and dressings to dunk their healthy finger foods in. "The key is to put it all one one big board. The kids eat fast trying things because they are afraid someone else will and they will miss out. They have discovered they love radishes, bell peppers, salami, cheeses, spicy things, sour things…" she shared.

Babcock also shared a photo of how she started with the snack plate idea when her kids were toddlers, opening their "boxes" like they were a surprise.

Some people might take issue with the "mindless eating" aspect of munching in front of a movie, but when the munchies are healthy it's a great way to semi-fool kids into trying something they normally might scoff at. According to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, it can take between eight and 15 tries before a child will accept a new food, but parents often give up after a few attempts. The more opportunities you can find to get kids to taste something, the better.

Of course, there are some foods people just don't like regardless of their age, so if a child has tasted something many many times and still doesn't like it, no need to force it. There's a big, wide world of healthy food options out there, and leaning into the variety and the fun of exploring new foods helps kids expand their palate without the battle.

As KidsHealth.org points out, parents are the ones who control the food offerings, so the key is to provide a range of healthy foods in the home and then encourage kids to explore what's offered. If a little dim lighting and movie distraction helps them do that, all the better.

No need to duke it out with kids to get them to eat their veggies or protein or whatever it is you want them to eat. Just keep offering healthy options, make the food attractive, create a relaxed atmosphere around eating and most kids will inevitably come around to trying almost anything you put in front of them.

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Simple ways to stay healthy even when you’re insanely busy

Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris via couponsnake.com on Unsplash
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Now that life is returning to normal (sort of!), people are finding it hard to fit in healthy meals amid a busy schedule. While the easiest solution may seem like grabbing fast food at a drive-thru or vending machine, that’s certainly not the healthiest choice.

Albertsons makes it easy to avoid falling into the fast food trap by offering O Organics® snacks and easy-to-prepare on-the-go meals, keeping bodies fueled and ready to run. But first? You have to make some sort of a plan, and then actually stick to it. Depending on your schedule and how many people live in your household, it may be beneficial to meal plan every week, making one large grocery list to prep lunches and dinners ahead of time.

If you don’t have time to walk the aisles of the grocery store, there’s the option of grocery pickup and/or delivery, the single most amazing invention of all time. Albertsons offers the option to create a profile based on your location, build shopping lists based on meal plans and recipes (both are available on their website), and a few clicks later, VOILA. Your order is ready for pickup!

Photo courtesy of Albertsons

For days when you know you won’t have much time between appointments to eat an actual meal, keep items in your bag or car like O Organics® mixed nuts, O Organics popcorn, O Organics fresh fruit, or protein bars. That will prevent you from getting hangry and whipping into the closest fast food chain. Items that need to be refrigerated, like string cheese, O Organics yogurt, and frozen meals, can be stowed in a refrigerator at work or school, or an insulated lunchbox.

Baby carrots with individually packaged containers of hummus or veggie dip is a great choice if you’re too busy to cook but also not behind the wheel of a car, because that particular snack requires both hands. Personally, I like to pack crackers and cheese, cucumber slices, and cherry tomatoes to snack on if I’m waiting in a parking lot (I find myself doing this a lot) or sitting at my desk, waiting for a Zoom call to start.

Photo courtesy of Albertsons

Another, more industrious option is to make a double batch of fiber-filled chewy chocolate chip cookies. This particular recipe includes quinoa and applesauce, so obviously they’re healthy. These cookies are delicious fresh out of the oven or for several days afterwards—you can even freeze them!

Main Ingredients

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375º. In a food processor, pulse 1 cup of the oats about 7-8 times to a finer consistency.

Step 2

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except chocolate chips. Mix well. Add chocolate chips and evenly incorporate.

Step 3

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Drop by rounded tablespoon full drops onto baking sheet. Use spoon to slightly flatten the top of the cookies.

Step 4

Bake for 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet for 1 minute before placing on a baking rack to cool.

Hydration! Don’t forget hydration. I have a terrible habit of grabbing a cup of coffee when I feel worn out, when I’m actually on the struggle bus because my body needs water. Keep a refillable water bottle handy—and use it!

In review: the first key to staying healthy when you feel like you’re way too busy to stay healthy is always being prepared with nutritious snacks within reach, both in and out of your home. The second is having items on hand to whip together a homemade meal quickly, and the third key to staying on track is to bake plenty of cookies.

Lucky for you, O Organics, only available at Albertsons and their sister stores— Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME, Shaw’s, Star Market, Tom Thumb, Randalls and Pavilions, can help with with every single one of these, so you can be merrily on your way to your next meeting with a bounce in your step.

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