Some say that humans cannot exist without love, more daring ones say it's oxygen that we need the most, but we are sure that food is the fuel to human existence. We eat it every day, but how much do you know about it? We put together this series of interesting facts on food for CDA that will blow your mind. You might know some of these facts about food, but we're certain you won't know all of them!
We tried to mix it up a bit. Some of the info we included is interesting, some are weird facts, and some almost seem too crazy to be true. From healthy food prices to the mystical ingredients of junk foods, we have tried to cover it all in our fun facts collection. We hope you enjoy these random facts about interesting foods as much as we did making them.
Enjoy these unusual food facts!
More info: cda.eu
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Russia Only Classed Beer As Alcohol In 2011!
A hard one to wrap your head around. Before 2011, beer and any alcoholic beverage under 10% ABV was classified as a soft drink. It probably goes without saying that this couldn't go on forever and Russia introduced legislation to control and limit the sale of beer to combat the issues of underage drinking and health.
It's just a different approach to selling beer. Until 2011 the beer was a low-alcohol drink and had to be regulated separately from the rest of alcoholic beverages. In 2011 "alcohol" is all products with an ethyl alcohol content of more than 0.5 degrees. Including a non-alcoholic beer
What did they think it was before they decided it was an alcoholic beverage?
The Russians I know drink vodka for breakfast so this is not surprising!
Really? I live in Russia and I don't know anybody who drinks vodka for breakfast.
Load More Replies...Mabye this website https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0720/Why-Russia-finally-decided-that-beer-is-alcohol
Load More Replies...The Most Stolen Food In The World Is Cheese!
Definitely one of the more surprising facts in this series, the most stolen food in the world is in fact cheese. Around 4% of ALL the cheese made in the world gets stolen. There's even a black market of stolen cheeses, but we didn't tell you that.
Bananas Are Berries, But Strawberries Aren't!
I bet that you didn't know this one. This fact tends to only be known by botanists who apparently get their kicks from misleading the public. Bananas, cucumbers, kiwis are all classed as berries. Strawberries, blackberries and raspberries are not. And now you will question everything you thought you knew.
Then you better not confront it with the scientific facts of its actual classification, or you will be shouted at and called a racist, misogynist, homophobic, white supremacist, republican.
Load More Replies...Strawberry is classified as an aggregate (such as raspberry and blackberry) fruit, obviously. Lots of seeds and all. I'd give you a more interesting fact: strawberry's the only fruit with its seeds on the outside of the fruit.
and the banana tree can move around, as in it's not rooted solid to the floor like other trees.
Thanks for sharing Matt, did you also know that the banana tree doesn't actually contain true wood tissue? So it's actually classified as a herb!
Load More Replies...Then why they're called something-berry? Why they're called banana and cucumber instead of banaberry or cucuberry?
People were unsure what they are. Once upon a time, everything was classified according to what it resembled. For example, the degu(my profile picture) was immediately classified as a rat(because really, they are soooo similar, according to people who never use their eyesight properly) once it was discovered. I guess it was a similar story with banana and cucumbers. Their old names stick, though, for an old habit is hard to change. It might be decades before everyone start calling them with their new names, if they were given ones.
Load More Replies...Maybe we all are wrong then and we are not homo sapiens but monkeys are and people are monkeys instead?
more like we share it with them.. doesn't really 'come' from them :P
Load More Replies...MY LIFE IS A LIE! but then again. Whoever says a tomato is a fruit is a part of this debauchery
Fruit and vegetable are not scientific categories.
Load More Replies...Lobsters & Oysters Used To Be Working Class Food
Such is the crazy nature of life that the foods that people pay hand over fist for in restaurants used to be considered barely worthy of human consumption. Lobsters are quite literally sea insects that were a hard sale back in the day. They used to be chucked back in the sea or given to servants. There used to be a law on how much lobster you could serve a prisoner as too much was considered to be cruel. How things have changed.
My grandmother hates lobster because it was one of the few meat sources her family could afford during the great depression
A former prisoner of war at a dinner party got the comment; "You must hate rice after having nothing but rice to eat all that time" He replied; "On the contrary, Madam, I love rice, it kept me alive"
Load More Replies...Crazy that lobsters used to be cheaper than chicken, and chicken was considered gourmet fare.
Ok but imagine having to eat nothing but lobster and oysters every day! Not good.
I read about this in a book long ago, some prisoner was tired of eating lobster ( there was a side not explaining it was the cheapest back then) and he complained and said it was inhumane lol
I absolutely LOVE steak and Lobster! As bad for you as it may be, I order on my birthday as my once a year treat :) :) It costs a fortune, too!!
You Can Hear Rhubarb Grow!
An old method called 'rhubarb forcing' involves putting your rhubarb in a dark shed, tricking it into thinking that it's spring. This will cause the rhubarb to grow unnaturally large at an unnaturally fast pace. So fast that you can hear the rhubarb popping as it grows.
Only Dwight Schrute has actually heard this phenomenon. He made recordings which are available on iTunes.
Large Groups Of Pistachios Can Spontaneously Combust!
The oily fibrous materials used to transport pistachio nuts can cause them to break out in flames! Exercise caution whenever you pass a big mound of pistachio nuts.
This is making me nervous about the giant bag of pistachios I have stashed in my room
Fruit Stickers Are Edible!
Now you don't have to freak out when you take a bite into the sticker. Let us be clear about this fact, just because the stickers are non-toxic and edible, doesn't mean you should eat them.
They might be edible, but they're plastic and not biodegradable. This I know from relatives who have thrown them into my compost heap along with skins/peels, and they remain as-is evern after several years when they're eventually dug up. I loathe and detest these things - they might not affect a human's digestive tract but I'm sure that a pile of these concentrated in the wrong habitat could be a serious burden to an animal that swallowed them. Make them biodegradable and then maybe they could be slightly better-defended.
I feel like edible and non-toxic are different things. Crayons and clean rocks are non-toxic, but are they edible?
The peel of an orange or a banana is edible too. Doesn't mean I'm gonna eat it!
I pretty much doubt that. They might be food safe, but those that I know do not qualify as being edible.
Edible as in biodegradable as elaborately explained by Dian.
Load More Replies...Healthy Foods Cost Up To 10x As Much As Junk Foods.
One of those facts that unfortunately has no upside. Britain is facing an obesity crisis which has resulted in talks about levies and taxes on junk food. How about making healthy food cheaper than junk food? Either way, if you're wondering why there's an obesity crisis, here it is.
In Australia some lines of milk are a dollar a litre, whilst bottled water can be three or four times or more expensive. Work that one out.
I don't like the idea of government subsidies, but I think the government should subsidize fresh fruit and vegetables instead of wheat, corn (maize), and sugar.
I think that is common in western countries.In Kenya, Africa, Pizza cost 10usd. The same amount can buy you all the vegetables that you can mention. That amount can buy you 20 litres of milk. That same amount can buy you 200 tomatoes or 50 apples. Living healthy is cheaper in third world countries compared to developed countries.
This is true and the reason why some kids eat nothing but KFC and McDonald's every day. Even if you made fruit and veg cheaper, how do you match the convenience?
So true, anything organic is almost double the price. My fam back in south America think it's so funny how its backwards, fast food places are more expensive than a bag of oranges which here cost 4-5$
This is such a terrible "slant" on this fact. Yeah by calories junk food is way cheaper but think about it logically. Fruit and vegetables are naturally low in calories. For instance celery has 17 calories in a serving, so maybe a pound of celery costs 4.00 and has 150 calories. Chips on the other hand are fried and calorie dense so only 3 ox has the same amount of calories as the celery. Bad wording of this fact.
Bottled water is the biggest polluter of all, and very over-rated. I always use a reusable bottle, especially while traveling..
I've always been irritated by boxed cereal. If they made the interior bag only about 10% stronger it could easily be the only packaging necessary.
Load More Replies...This is so true. When I turned healthy on my husband and myself, it has upped or grocery bill by 38%. It's sad people would rather see you get ill than be better. It's all about the big companies who run our country. Sad but True. :(
It's not that companies making 'healthy' food are greedy, it's that healthy food often requires much more delicate handling, or that it has a much shorter shelf-life leading to greater losses and lower margin. Junk food is often processed to the point where there is very little waste due to spoilage, or refrigeration is not required, etc. Food becomes much less expensive if it does not require express or direct shipping, and is shelf-stable. Think about how much cheaper any fresh fruit or veg would be if you could just let it sit on a rail car somewhere for two weeks until they get around to unloading it.
Load More Replies...The Invention Of The Sandwich
The sandwich has come to be one of those inventions that shows humans are a smart and savvy species. It's one of those foods that make you think why haven't they been doing this since forever? The story behind its invention is that the Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, was on a 24-hour gambling streak. He wanted to eat but didn't want to put the cards down and out of this the sandwich was born. Did the Earl make it? Did one of his staff? We may never know.
if the earl didn't wanna leave the table, he won't have made it, it was brought to him, others saw it and said 'yeah, give me a sandwich'.
The Earl did not make it he had the idea and he instructed a servant to bring him meat between two slices of bread many inventors have ideas that other people actually produce.
Load More Replies...You Can't Overcook Mushrooms!
If you messed up the mushrooms for dinner, there's no excuse to hide behind now. There's a special polymer in the cell walls of mushrooms that ensure a tender taste. If you manage to overcook mushrooms, we regret to inform you that you're just an exceptionally bad cook!
Not sure what you mean, because I've had tough chewy mushrooms with a charred flavor before.
See Also:
Black Pepper Was A Luxury In The Middle Ages!
Pepper is literally everywhere now but that hasn't always been the case. Granted, living past the age of 30 was a luxury in the Middle Ages but so was the spice that we all use so freely now. It was so expensive in fact, that Portugal's Vasco de Gama became the first man to sail around Africa to get to India. His mission? To look for spices.
Roman soldiers were partly paid with salt. Hence the word salary.
That thing about only living to 30, or even worse, actually being old at 30, is not true. It's a misunderstanding of statistics. The average age was maybe around 30, but that was largely due to kids dying of childhood diseases. Of those that survived the childhood diseases, their average lifespan was not 30, but was more in line with our lifespans (probably at least 65).
Sugar and salt were a luxury back then too. They called it white gold
not sure why, but whenever I put black pepper on anything, I always sing the opening to RamJams Black betty, but with pepper in the lyrics... Wooooah Black Pepper, bam-ba-dam....
Thank goodness it isn't any longer. Between my husband and I, we go through pepper like it is water. We pepper everything. :D!
Wonder if I can mail this picture with a packet of ground back pepper to my landlord as payment?
A Quarter Of The World's Hazelnuts Are Used For Nutella!
Nutella has become such a popular brand that 1 in 4 of every hazelnut on this planet makes its way into those jars of heavenly goodness. The demand for hazelnuts has grown so much that universities are trying to grow them in labs to fight against global shortages.
Not true. The Fererro corporation actually buys 25% of the world hazelnut production (see https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/13/hazelnuts-shortfall-price-rise-harvest-turkey) but they produce a whole range of products containing hazelnuts, although Nutella is probably the most widely known.
invented by an italian during the 2nd world war when chocolate was rationed, he needed to fill up the spread so threw in some hazelnuts and the taste worked and the rest is history.
The European version of Nutella is MUCH better tasting than the American version. I find the American version very greasy. Found a recipe for the European version, and will never go back,
What about all the hazelnuts hidden by squirrels? Have these been taken into account?
It's not nuttella so popular, it's the marketing that makes people want to buy it. That's why they produce so much of it. And most of this product is sugar and plam oil. Not as healthy as handful of hazelnuts itself.
Well, Nutella is basically the only fricking thing that tastes good with hazelnuts
Have you ever tried hazelnut ice cream? It's delicious, almost chocolatey but a bit softer.
Load More Replies...A Corned Beef Sandwich Made The Voyage To Space In 1965!
Astronaut John Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich onto his spacecraft for a six-hour mission. It's a wonder we ever got to the moon! The sandwich didn't do too well in zero-gravity conditions and Young quickly put it back in his pocket after getting it out. This could've had grave consequences. Floating crumbs and debris could've caused damage to the shuttle but luckily, they returned to Earth and NASA took bold steps to make sure that sandwiches never boldly go where no one has gone before.
also corn beef doesn't contain corn, the technique of smushing it is called corning.
Loud Music Makes You Drink More, And Faster!
This was the conclusion from an experiment done in France. The reason for the experiment was to see how our surroundings affect our drinking habits and to encourage bar-owners to think about how the atmosphere at their watering hole could be leading to excessive drinking.
well, chances are, if there's loud music, there's someone yelling "CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG"
Ha ha ha ha. I love it. Though I don't recommend listening to them.
Load More Replies...i was working at the toilet and some guys come in and suck my d**k and drink beer at the sametime. help me you stupid pussy
i was working in the toilet and then some guck my d**k and drink beer at the sametime. help me you f*****g pussy
Without Flies, There Would No Chocolate
That's right, think about that next time you go to swat a fly. Well, actually there's a certain species of microscopic midge that is essential to the pollination of the cacao plant and makes chocolate possible. Still, we'll never hurt a fly again.
There are over 4000 kinds of flys, and those living in the Western world will have pretty little to do with chocolate.
Mcdonald's Burgers Don't Actually Rot!
You may have known this one already, but it's not as gross as it sounds. The large surface area of McDonald's burgers means that the burger loses its moisture very quickly. Moisture is required for mould to grow. It's by this method that beef jerky is made. It's still disturbing, though.
Mickey D's French fries don't deteriorate, either. No wonder I feel ill after eating it.
Unless the burgers are hermetically sealed somehow (vacuum packed) then they would literally have to be jerky for mould not to grow at some stage.
I heard that the McD's logo represents a pair of boobs, suggesting the link from babies to grownups and food provider...??
The Upper Classes Used To Serve 'Surprise Pie'!
Surprises and food tend to be a good combination. We all love being surprised with one of our favourite foods. Or getting a surprise cake on your birthday. But the well-to-do of 16th Century England had a different idea. Putting live animals in your pie. One of those food traditions that we're glad stayed in the 16th Century.
seems like an especially d-bag move on the part of the upper class: make your servants bake a pie crust. for you to play with (and essentially for animals to c**p on). nice responsible use of food.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Also you have a lovely name.
Load More Replies...yah I've played 'surprise pie' once or twice.... it did not end well...
well no one was suppose to eat it , it was a joke, a prank......
Load More Replies...You Can Make Diamonds From Peanut Butter!
You're probably thinking: what's the catch? Well, it's nothing major. Simply put, you have to recreate the conditions of the lower mantle of the Earth for weeks to create a 2/3mm wide diamond. That's only 2,200 degrees centigrade. Our pipe dream of a peanut butter/diamond enterprise disappeared as quickly as it manifested. Oh well.
Given enough heat and pressure diamonds could be made out of just about any food, as it's all carbon-based.
Mcnuggets Always Come In Four Different Shapes!
We think that basically no one will know this fact because who takes the time to look at the shape of your nuggets before you scoff them? They do this so they can ensure they're all cooked evenly and for extra 'dip-ability'. Just keep 'em coming.
and yet if you try and make them into a jigsaw puzzle you get asked to leave the store as you're 'freaking out the other diners', I mean.... what is this?
The Number Of Hot Dogs Eaten On 4th July Could Stretch From Washington Dc To La 5 Times Over!
For anyone that isn't familiar with the sheer size of the USA, it would take approximately 36 days to walk from Washington DC to LA without stopping. To do it five times would take you half a year. Again, without stopping. We'll just leave that one to sink in.
In fact mushrooms need to be very well cooked to get maximum nutritional benefit from them!
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Was looking for some takes regarding this topic and I found your article quite informative. It has given me a fresh perspective on the topic tackled. Thanks! Please check out my blog, relevant to yours:Future: Having Goals in Life Have a nice day!
If you do such posters, always include sources. Otherwise, others will show that you did not get all facts right, misinterpreted whatever you used as sources, or ripped facts out of context. This was a disappointing read. With a short research, I found several mistakes.
Hans, i have seen your comments before and have agreed with them. however, this is not a scientific study, it's Bored Panda. mistakes are expected.
Load More Replies...If you do such posters, always include sources. Otherwise, others will show that you did not get all facts right, misinterpreted whatever you used as sources, or ripped facts out of context. This was a disappointing read. With a short research, I found several mistakes.
Hans, i have seen your comments before and have agreed with them. however, this is not a scientific study, it's Bored Panda. mistakes are expected.
Load More Replies...
