I am a sucker for factoids and useless information, especially when it’s about food or history. When I was researching recipes and flavor mixtures, I stumbled upon this site.

Some of the factoids I already knew, but the ones I didn’t know, I thought I would share.

1.) Turkey – The domestic turkey is a descendant of the wild turkey in Southern Canada. Fossil evidence indicates that turkey’s roamed North America as early as 10 million years ago. Female turkey’s are called hens, male turkey’s are toms, and baby turkey’s are called poult’s. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest turkey ever prepared weighed 86 pounds.
     
 (use that at the Thanksgiving table this year…)

2.) Onion – Onions are one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in the world. Ancient Egyptians took oaths on onions, believing them to be symbols of eternity because of the internal layers forming several spheres. Onions are part of the lily family. One onion provides 15% of the RDA of Vitamin C and contains not fat.

 (don’t you feel bad now for cursing at the onion even though it made you cry….)

3.) Potato Chip – Invented in 1853 by Chef George Crum when a complaining railroad mogul wanted his french fries sliced thinner. In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs twice as much as a pound of potatoes, and we consume more than 1.2 billion pounds of chips each year.

 (I feel dirty after reading that…)

4.) Wild Rice – It really isn’t wild. It is actually a water-grass seed native to North America. It was a staple in the diet of the Chippewa and Sioux Indians. Today, the wild rice grown on Minnesota waters is highly regulated and must be harvested in the traditional Indian way, by hand in canoes.

 (I can only picture Alice Cooper stating this fact…)

5.) American Food – Swiss steak, chop suey, Russian dressing, fortune cookies, sliced bread and hamburgers were all invented in the United States.

 (god bless America…)

Do you know any food factoids? Or useless information? Please share!