Food. Glorious food. In the 21st Century there is an abundance of this stuff. You find it everywhere. And a lot of us just eat it without thinking. But some of us do think. Some of us think about the most random and ridiculous thoughts ever.

Like…who invented crispy potato chips? Where did the Hotdog come from? Why do police-officers eat doughnuts and who invented them? Why is a Baker’s Dozen one more than a real one and why did it take mankind so long to come up with a meal that could be eaten between two slices of bread? This article will look into the whimsical and interesting histories of a selection of famous foodstuffs that are as common to us today in the 21st century as bread, cheese and ale was to Medieval European peasantry in the 1200s.

Crispy Potato Chips

Beloved by all, adored by some, coveted by others, served in glittering, foil-like bags and notoriously difficult to pick out of your teeth afterwards, potato chips, the deep-fried, paper-thin crunchy variety, have been with us for over a hundred years. But who invented them? Which famous person or company came up with the idea of manufacturing and selling wafer-thin slices of potatoes seasoned with salt and packaged into cute little bags? Smiths? Lays? The guy with the moustache on the ‘Pringles’ can?

No! Crispy potato chips were actually invented by a pissed-off chef at an American resort in the mid-1800s. Yes, it’s true!

The unlikely inventor was a man named George Crum (that’s ‘Crum’ without a ‘b’). He was the cook at Moon’s Lake House, a holiday-resort in Saratoga Springs in the State of New York, U.S.A.

The story goes that on the 24th of August, 1853, a patron at the Lake House’s restaurant kept sending his French Fries back to the kitchen, over and over again, complaining that they were too thick and too soggy and too floppy and too much everything-else. The finicky restaurant-patron did this so many times that Crum reportedly lost his temper. Frustrated at having his cooking refused so many times, Crum sliced some potatoes until they were nothing but thin, almost transparent sheets. He dumped them in a sieve and deepfried them until they were so crispy and crunchy that the expectant and probably equally-frustrated customer would be wholly unable to spear them with his fork. Crum sprinkled an abundance of salt on the chips, dumped them in a bowl and sent them back out of his kitchen, probably feeling jolly pleased with himself for showing this picky patron what-for.

To Crum’s surprise, his attempt at revenge was actually met with delight on the part of his target. The salty, crispy chips were a smash-hit and unwittingly, Crum had invented a new snackfood! The new invention were eventually named “Saratoga Chips” in honour of the town where they had been invented. They proved so popular that Crum was able to set up his own restaurant in 1860. For the next eighty years, ‘Saratoga Chips’ remained a regional speciality until a businessman named Herman Lay latched onto the idea of selling these ‘crispy chips’ nationwide. And for the first time, people all over America (and eventually, the world) could eat Crum’s famous mishap invention.

Popular legend has it that the customer that sparked Crum’s invention was Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Bill Gates, Donald Trump and *insert name of another, fabulously rich guy here* of his day. However, this claim or rumor is all that it is. A rumor. Vanderbilt was not the person who so incensed the chef as to make him create something totally new.

Ice Cream Cones

Ah. Ice-cream cones. Like the hotdog-bun, the pie-crust and the crunchy chocolate biscuits that sandwich every single Oreo cookie in existence, the ice-cream cone is one of our most beloved of all the edible food-packaging materials ever invented. But where did they come from?

Believe it or not but the ice-cream cone (the crunchy wafer thing) has only been around for a little bit more than a hundred years. Previous to that, ice-cream was served in waxed paper bowls or cups or in fine glass and ceramic dishes at cafes and restaurants or on street-corners. So, where were ice-cream cones invented and how did they come into existence?

The story of the ice-cream cone is a short one, but is a prime example of the saying that ‘Necessity is the Mother of Invention’.

The year is 1904. The Wright Brothers have perfected the new heavier-than-air flying machine called the ‘aeroplane’, ‘CQD’ becomes the world’s first international radio distress-signal and Trans-Siberian Railroad is completed in Russia.

In the city of St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition is underway. Also called the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Although the story has been disputed by others and may not be entirely true, the popular one is that an ice-cream seller at the fairgrounds ran out of waxed paper cups and wooden spoons with which he served ice-cream. Hearing of his plight, a nearby wafflemaker supposedly rolled a thin waffle into a conical shape and presented it to the ice-cream vendor as a suitable vessel for his frozen treats.

Is this true? Not really.

It is, however, the popular story told by everyone to everyone else.

Although people have been storing ice-cream in weirdly-shaped containers for centuries (yes, ice-cream has been around since the 1700s), research seems to suggest that the ice-cream CONE, that is, the crispy, crunchy ones we eat today, was invented in 1902 by an Italian man living in England. This man was Antonio Valvona, an manufacturer and seller of ice-cream. Valvona, then living in Manchester, England, received a patent on the third of June, 1902 for his “Apparatus for Baking Biscuit Cups for Ice-Cream”. Although no specific mention of ‘cones’ are included, the patent-details state that…

“By the use of the apparatus of this invention I make cups or dishes of any preferred design from dough or paste in a fluid state this is preferably composed of the same materials as are employed in the manufacture of biscuits, and when baked the said cups or dishes may be filled with ice-cream, which can then be sold by the venders of ice-cream in public thoroughfares or other places.”

This then, appears to be when and by whom, the edible, crunchy ice-cream cone was invented. Nice work, Signor Valvona.

Apple Crumble

Sweet, delicious, hot, crunchy and wonderful with cream, Apple Crumble is one of the most beloved desserts in the world, and easy as pie to make.

Or actually, it’s easier than pie to make.

Which was the very reason it was invented.

Apple Crumble was born in the minds of English housewives during the 1940s. During the Second World War, everything was rationed. Coal, tea, tobacco, milk, eggs, butter, water…even the sugar in your coffee was rationed. Due to the significant shortage of food, women were unable to bake the desserts that their families were used to, such as classic apple pie. There simply wasn’t enough butter, milk, eggs, flour and sugar to make the pastry-crust that would both line the tin as well as cover the apple-filling. So, in the spirit of ‘Make Do and Mend’, housewives went thrifty.

Fruits and vegetables were unrationed during the War, and most people grew their own. So filling up the pie was not a problem. It was covering the pie that caused housewives and bakers headaches. Making the best of a bad situation, they simply took sugar, flour and ground cinnamon and mixed it up. This crude, powdery mixture, devoid of both eggs and butter (both of which were nigh unobtainable during the War) was then sprinkled over the top of chopped up apples and the whole thing was shoved in the oven.

Probably because it tasted so good and was so easy to make, the Apple Crumble remains one of the most popular desserts in the world to this day.

Carrot Cake

Like the Apple Crumble, the Carrot Cake was invented during the Second World War. Shortages of almost every kind of food imaginable meant that baking a conventional cake was almost impossible. Because England imported most of its raw foodstuffs, sugar became incredibly scarce and was rationed just as much as everything else. To compensate for the lack of sugar in their cakes, housewives used the natural sugar in carrots (which they probably grew in their own ‘Victory gardens’) to sweeten up their cakes, and the Carrot Cake was born.

ANZAC Biscuits

ANZAC Biscuits are a staple of Australian cuisine. Like the barbeque, the Four’n’Twenty Pie and Streets Ice Cream, no comprehensive look at Australian food would be without a mention of this sweet, crunchy, jaw-breaking confection. But how did it come into existence?

Common folklore will tell you that in 1915, bored Australian soldiers on the frontline in Galipoli mixed up the hodgepodge of rations that they were given, baked the resultant glumpy mess over a fire, and ended up with a sweet, crunchy treat which they called the ANZAC biscuit, naming this new invention after the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).

As fascinating as it may be, this account isn’t true. ANZAC biscuits were made from the rations afforded to housewives, mothers and sisters living back in Australia during the First World War and were designed to be a treat for their brave fighting-boys over in Europe. They were originally called “Soldier’s Biscuits” for this reason.

One defining characteristic of the ANZAC biscuit is that you could probably hammer a nail in with one of them and then eat your hammer for lunch. They were notoriously hard and crunchy (although recipes do exist that produce softer, more jaw-friendly biscuits) and it’s generally accepted that the biscuits were baked so hard and dry so that they wouldn’t crumble during the long voyage from Australia to Turkey.

SPAM

“Don’t make a fuss dear, I’ll have your SPAM. I love it! I’m having SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, baked beans, SPAM, SPAM and SPAM!”

And in one stroke of genius, this mysterious and odius meat-product was launched to stardom and immortality. Or…something like that.

Spam, or properly capitalised “SPAM” (which I won’t do, since it would probably wear out my ‘Shift’ key in no time at all) is the most famous ‘mystery meat’ in the world. Curiously pink and saltier than concentrated seawater, Spam is famous for being the staple food of the British people during the Second World War. But where did it come from?

Spam was invented in 1937 by the Hormel Foods Company and was one of a growing number of convenience foods that started coming onto the grocery market in the early 20th century. Originally called “Hormel Spiced Ham”, the name was changed to “SPAM” soon after. Due to its strange appearance, Spam has been given all kinds of names over the years, a few of the more interesting ones I shall list here.

Spiced Pork and Ham.
Shoulder of Pork and Ham.
Something Posing as Meat.
SPecial American Meat.
Stuff, Pork and Ham.
Surplus Parts Animal Meat.

Spam is synonymous with the Second World War, although it lasted for a long time before and after that event. Due to its long shelf-life and sturdy, metal containers, Spam could be sent almost anywhere in the world. Millions upon millions of cans of the stuff was sent to England starting in the early 1940s, to deal with the shortage of meat due to rationing. Soldiers in the South Pacific survived on Spam for weeks or months on end, unable to get any other food that wouldn’t go bad in the humid, tropical heat.

The Sandwich

It’s impossible to think of life without the sandwich, isn’t it? Where on earth would we be if we didn’t have some nondescript foodstuff crammed between two slices of bread, eh?

And yet, as fantastically convenient, as idiotproof as it is to make, as simple as it is…the biggest history fact about the sandwich isn’t a fact at all.

Popular history will tell you that the Sandwich was invented by a lazy English nobleman who was a gambling addict and who couldn’t be bothered leaving the card-tables under any circumstances…not even for meals. The story goes that the man ordered his valet to bring him meat stuck between two slices of bread so that he might have a meal but at the same time, not get grease on his playing-cards. Other people (probably other card-players) began asking for the same, ingenius and convenient dish to be served to them as well, and a new type of food was invented. The Sandwich!

Is it true?

Not really, no.

The sandwich has existed for centuries. It just wasn’t called a sandwich. Ever since the Middle Ages people had been eating food stuck between two slices of bread. But since back then this type of dish wasn’t called a sandwich…how come it enjoys that name today?

Although he was not the inventor of this dish, this curious and probably hereforto, unnamed delicacy, was finally named after John Montagu…the Fourth Earl of…Sandwich…a village in the English county of Kent, in the late 1700s. The story of the cardplaying artistocrat John Montagu who ordered his manservant to bring him meat between two slices of bread is probably true. It’s also true that this snack was finally named after Montagu’s title as the Earl of Sandwich, but what’s certainly not true is that Montagu was the undisputed creator of the dish…because he wasn’t.

The Hamburger

Related to the Sandwich is the Hamburger, the Sandwich’s American cousin. Or is it?

The Hamburger is a strange thing. Called a hamburger but containing no ham. Where did it come from?

The Hamburger gets its name because it was actually invented in Germany…not America. For centuries, people in the German city of…you guessed it…Hamburg…enjoyed a grilled steak sandwich which had no particular name. It was during the 18th and 19th centuries, when people from Europe started migrating to America, that this simple regional dish was referred to as a Hamburg-style sandwich and eventually…a hamburger.

Fish and Chips

Americans have hotdogs, the Irish have potatoes. Australians have meat pies, the Japanese have sushi. The Chinese have deep-fried cockroaches.

In England, the most famous dish is undeniably…fish and chips.

But when was it invented?

Fish and chips were created in the 19th century. They were a cheap, filling and delicious meal that was often served to lower-class working men, wrapped up in newspapers (printing ink has more protein per drop than concentrated bug-guts). Potatoes were plentiful and were a popular snackfood during the Victorian era. They were filling and cheap. To make them easier to cook, they were chopped up into rough ‘chips’ and deep-fried.

It’s said that the ‘fish’ part of this dish came thanks to Jewish immigrants. In the mid and late 19th century, the Russian Empire was engaged in serious ethnic and religious cleansing. Polish, Russian and other Eastern European Jews escaping pogroms in their homelands fled across Europe to Britain, taking their Jewish culture with them. Because it is against Jewish law to cook or to kindle a flame on the Sabbath, Jews would do all their cooking the day before. They would batter and fry their fish (a method of preserving it) on the day before the Sabbath so that they could eat it cold the next day without cooking. This method of battering, crumbing and frying fish supposedly caught on with the non-Jewish community and the ‘Fish’ was added to chips.

Although once considered a working-class staple, today Fish and Chips are enjoyed by millions of people all around the world. The food-shortages of the Second World War helped spread the dish and increase its popularity. In fact, Fish and Chips was one of very few things that wasn’t rationed by the British Government during the War.

The Baker’s Dozen

A regular dozen is twelve. A Baker’s Dozen is thirteen. Why?

It comes from Medieval law. In the Middle Ages, when bread was a staple of every single person from the king down to the lowest of his serfs, a baker screwing up his bread-count (either deliberately or by accident) was susceptable to harsh punishment. The baker’s dozen was instituted so that bakers couldn’t be accused of shortchanging their customers and holding back on how much food they had produced. Also, thirteen round buns were supposedly easier to pack into a rectangular storage box without the buns bouncing and rolling around.

The Doughnut

Researching the history of the doughnut is like trying to find out who shot President Kennedy. You’re sure there’s only one answer, but everyone has their own opinions.

The same goes for doughnuts.

The most accepted version, however, seems to be that the doughnut was an invention of the Dutch, who brought it with them when they came to the New World and founded a city called New Amsterdam (that’s ‘Manhattan’ to you and me). The doughnut was originally a ball of sweet dough that was deep-fried and were originally called “oilycakes”. They supposedly got the name “doughnut” when it was discovered that by removing a lump (“nut”) of dough from the middle of the oilycake, the confection would cook faster and more thoroughly. This was how the doughnut got its name (and yes, dougnuts still have holes in them for the same reason).

But why are dougnuts associated with police-officers? In the United States, a cop eating a doughnut is as American as the Statue of Liberty or baseball or Apple Pie (which is actually English). The fact is that when they’re out late at night on the beat or stuck in their police-cars, officers had very little to eat and drink. The only places that were open at such ungodly hours were little diners and roadside cafes and sleepy restaurants where doughnuts and coffee were cheap and plentiful. They tased delicious and were easy to handle and so officers took to eating them, and a national stereotype was created.