Fun food facts for you to chew on
Here’s an exciting food fact: When you are biting into your favorite food, it is unlikely that you are thinking about its nutritional value. Why? Because some food facts are not so appetizing to digest and can make us second-guess the quality of our food. Take, for example, the fact that one burger patty can contain meat from hundreds of cows! Or the fact that titanium dioxide, a substance found in paint, sunscreen, and laundry detergent, can also be found in Ranch dressing and coffee creamer. Not such a delightful thought is it?
Food is sustenance but it can also be a guilty pleasure, especially when it comes to some foods which may not be all that good for us. We’ve prepared some food facts for you to chew on and also some food knowledge for you to share with family and friends over dinner.
You need 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter!
This food fact might startle you! It takes 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter. By law, if something is labelled “peanut butter” it should contain at least 90% peanuts. Americans love peanuts so much, that even astronaut Alan Shepard brought a peanut with him to the moon!
Nutritional school lunches are a norm in Japan!
Japanese schools are famous for providing children with a nutritional daily lunch – known as "kyushokku." Education authorities ensure all children are fed a varied and healthy diet on a daily basis. Popular dishes include natto (fermented soybeans, an acquired taste), miso soup, Japanese curry and on special occasions – whale meat!
Do you know where some “Tex-Mex” flavors are from?
"Tex-Mex" cuisine is a fusion of Mexican and American dishes primarily coming from the Tejano people living in Texas. You might be surprised to know that Tex Mex has imported flavors from other spicy cuisines, such as those from the Canary Islands.
Yes, there is such a thing as “Chocolate Day”!
July 7th is "Chocolate Day" so make sure you eat plenty of it this year! Chocolate was first officially brought to Europe on July 7th, 1550. However, some sources suggest it hit the continent’s shores as far back as 1504 thanks to a certain sweet-tooth by the name of Christopher Columbus.
How many baguettes do you eat a day?
The traditional baguette only has 4 ingredients – flour, yeast, salt and water. During the 19th century people ate 3 baguettes a day. That’s a whole lot of bread! Nowadays, diets have changed, and people eat more pasta than bread.
Why are gummy bears so shiny?
How do they get gummy candies to shine with that ever-so-appetizing glossy sheen? Well, we hate to be the bearer of ... unappetizing news, but the candies are actually coated with carnauba wax, just like cars are! Still, it's hard not to indulge in a few gummy bears every now and then!
The real color of salmon will surprise you!
If you like fish, think about this! Farm-raised salmon is usually white, so salmon farmers add carotenoids, a type of plant pigment, to the fish feed to produce the natural pink color that wild salmon exhibit.
Ketchup used to be medicinal
Do you like smothering your French fries in ketchup? You might not know it, but ketchup was actually once used to cure some medical ailments such as diarrhea and indigestion. A doctor in Ohio even once invented a concentrated ketchup pill!
More nutty facts!
This is pretty cool. Scientists in Germany have concluded that peanut butter can be turned into diamonds because it is so rich in carbon. All one would have to do is extract the oxygen from the carbon dioxide and then apply immense pressure on the carbon left behind. And then voila! Diamonds!
