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From the "Things aren't always what they
seem " department:
-- The Jerusalem artichoke is not an artichoke, nor does it come from Jerusalem:
It's from America and is part of the sunflower family.
-- Sauerkraut is not German, it's Chinese. It was eaten in China at least 200 years before Christ.
-- French fries are not French, they're Belgian.
-- Swiss steak isn't Swiss, Russian dressing isn't Russian, English muffins aren't English, and chop suey is not Chinese; they're all
American.
-- Onions, garlic and asparagus are lilies; the sweet potato is a morning glory; and peanuts are beans, not nuts. Got all that?
Throw me a wine sap, I'm in love with Granny Smith:
In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage; catching it was acceptance.
Forget Kathleen Turner, pass me another Goo-Goo Cluster:
Chocolate contains phenylethylamine (PEA), a natural
substance that is reputed to stimulate the same reaction in the body as falling in love.
I'm Chiquita Banana and I'm here to say, I want to take over the world today:
Alexander the Great discovered bananas in his conquest of
India in 327 BC Bananas don't grow on trees, as is commonly believed. They grow on compacted, water-filled leaf stalks that grow up to 25 feet high.
Summer time favorite Unmasked Department:
Watermelon, one of America's favorite fruits, is really a
vegetable. Cousin to the cucumber and kin to the gourd, watermelons can range in size from 7 to 100 pounds. The world record for the largest watermelon is 255 pounds, grown
by Vernon Conrad of Bixby, Okla. Way to go, Vern! Now pass me that machete and a really big salt shaker.
Guess who's coming to dinner--OK, now guess again!
China's Beijing Duck Restaurant can seat 9,000 people at one time.
Maybe our researchers have too much spare time" Department:
The speed at which Heinz catsup travels as it leaves the bottle is a blistering 25 miles per year.
Give it to the Americans--They'll eat anything!
A typical American eats 28 pigs in his/her lifetime. We also
pack away 20.7 pounds of candy per person annually. The Dutch eat three times as much. We could probably eat more candy, but we can't afford it, since we spend approximately $25 billion on beer each year.
But She Does It So Delicately Department:
An etiquette writer of the 1840s advised, "Ladies may wipe their lips on the tablecloth, but not blow their noses on it."
Honey, Those chickens Look Mighty Restless
Tonight!
In 1995, KFC sold 11 pieces of chicken for every man, woman and child in the United States. Fried chicken is the most
popular meal ordered in sit-down restaurants in the U.S. The next in popularity are: roast beef, spaghetti, turkey, baked ham, and fried shrimp.
-- Since the United States has Texas and a McDonald's every 3 feet we lead the world in beef consumption, right? Wrong-
-Argentina and Uruguay lead, with America in third place
-- How about chicken? No, even as hard as that little animated Col. Saunders works, people in Hong Kong eat on
average 103 pounds of poultry per person each year.
-- We do love our Jell-O, though. Worldwide sales of Jell-O are 1,134,239 packages a day, or 13 boxes per second. Most
popular flavor: strawberry.
-- Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ate turkey in foil packets as the first meal on the moon.
-- According to our friends at Butterball, the largest turkey
ever produced weighed in at 75 pounds. Using the recommended cooking time of 15 minute per pound, check for doneness after 18 hours and 45 minutes!
-- The ice cream cone was invented at the 1904 World's Fair by an enterprising ice cream vendor. When he ran out of cups, he sought the help of a nearby waffle vendor, and the rest is
history. The three most popular flavors of ice cream sold in the United States are vanilla, ones with candy pieces mixed in, and chocolate.
-- In the “Hey Hoyt, how'd that work?' department, Coca-Cola
was originally green. And in a somewhat related fact did you know that the people of Iceland lead the world in per capita consumption of Coca-Cola? Maybe it's because they have so much ice.
-- In an effort to cut corners, American Airlines eliminated one olive from each salad served in First Class during 1987. They saved $40,000 that year. In a nonfood note, the number of
people airborne over the United States at any given hour is 61,000.
-- In the fast food department, 7 percent of all Americans eat at McDonald's each day, while 1/3 of all potatoes end up
as French fries. When Americans aren't grazing at the Golden Arches, we consume nearly 16 billion hot dogs each year. No, I don't have the numbers for Pepto-bismol consumption.
-- Grey Poupon mustard was named for two great figures in
mustard history, Maurice Grey and Auguste Poupon. Grey invented a device that made mass production of fine-textured
mustard possible. He joined forces with established mustard-maker Auguste Poupon around
1886, forming the Grey-Poupon firm.
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