If you’ve ever sat down to a lobster dinner and thought, “I’m the luckiest person in the world,” before vacuuming up the contents of your plate, know that it wasn’t always like that.
When the first pilgrim settlers started landing in what would become America in the early 16th century, the ocean was literally teeming with lobster. So much so, says Great Big Story, that people first lost interest in the food from eating it so regularly, and eventually, soured completely on the clawed crustaceans. They became known as the “cockroaches of the sea,” were used as fish bait and fertilizer, and even served to inmates.
That would all turn around by the 1800s, when canned lobster became a thing in Middle America. Those seeking the source material traveled across country to feast on the fresh-off-the-boat kind. Prices increased exponentially until the food became the delicious delicacy that it is today.
Below are five more mouthwatering snacks that have odd origins.
Nachos: You can thank a bunch of hungry Army wives for this cheesy, meaty delight. In 1943, Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, maître d‘ at The Old Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico, threw together this mixture to feed them. He started a revolución.
Dippin’ Dots: Fun fact: The ice cream truck staple actually began its life as cattle feed. Curtis Jones, a microbiologist, was working on cryogenically freezing cow feed—and also happened to be a huge ice cream fan. You can figure out what happened next.
The Chinese Takeout Box: Those ubiquitous white boxes that make cameos in Law & Order: SVU every other week were actually invented in the U.S. Although inspired by Japanese origami, the box was patented in 1894 by a Chicagoan named Frederick Weeks Wilcox.
Ketchup: If the Chinese Takeout Box’s origin just blew your mind, you might want to sit down for this: the first known recipe for ketchup came from sixth-century China, and instead of being made with tomatoes, it was produced from fish innards. Delicious. The guy who we can thank for making it tomato based? Horticulturist James Mease.
Salmon Sushi: Ah, yes, Japanese food. A decidedly more delicious fish-related food than the original “ketchup.” But it turns out that the salmon brand of sushi isn’t an invention of the Far East—but actually Norway. Its inventor? Bjorn Eirik Olsen, worked tirelessly through the ’80s and ’90s to convince the Japanese that eating raw Atlantic salmon was OK (the Pacific type had been avoided in the country because it’s parasitic). Not until 1995 did it catch on in Japan.
For more on these foods with odd origins, watch the video below.
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