Food is an integral part of human history, serving as both sustenance and a symbol of culture, trade and power. From the earliest days of hunter-gatherers to modern-day globalization, what people eat has influenced the course of history.
Featured Overview
From spaghetti and meatballs to General Tso's chicken, many dishes Americans associate with international cuisine were actually invented in the US of A! Here are 8 foods you didn't know were invented in in America, in this episode of History Countdown.
Featured Overview
From spaghetti and meatballs to General Tso's chicken, many dishes Americans associate with international cuisine were actually invented in the US of A! Here are 8 foods you didn't know were invented in in America, in this episode of History Countdown.
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Coffee increased energy and alertness on the battlefield, improved morale and was even used by medics to help prevent shock.
Nathan 'Nearest' Green, who taught Jack Daniel the art of whiskey distillation, went unacknowledged for more than 150 years.
The origins of ice cream, sorbet and other chilled dairy treats are difficult to pin down—but span back to antiquity.
Peanut butter. Ice cream cones. Cotton candy. The 1904 St. Louis exposition popularized some of America’s favorite foods.
3 Iconic Food Mascots
Combat Rations
During World War II, feeding thousands of troops in enemy territory wasn't easy. Discover how soldiers carried C and K rations into battle with them and how the U.S. worked to improve the quality of the food.
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Coffee increased energy and alertness on the battlefield, improved morale and was even used by medics to help prevent shock.
Evidence suggests that people were drinking beer as far back as 13,000 years ago, while distilled liquor arrived much later.
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A health scare caused Americans (including President Eisenhower) to forgo serving cranberry sauce at their holiday tables.
From contaminated raw milk to tainted meat, outbreaks have spread rapidly through the country's food supply chain, with deadly consequences.
From Betty Crocker to Ronald McDonald, companies have used human mascots as the 'face' of their products. Not all have stood the test of time.
The origins of ice cream, sorbet and other chilled dairy treats are difficult to pin down—but span back to antiquity.
Peanut butter. Ice cream cones. Cotton candy. The 1904 St. Louis exposition popularized some of America’s favorite foods.
Some confections even played a role in U.S. history.
The origin story of spicy, saucy chicken wings has more than one hero.
Wally Amos parlayed his aunt's chocolate chip cookie recipe into a gourmet snack food juggernaut.
From stirring up coffee house rebellions to supporting the Industrial Revolution, the popular caffeinated brew has fueled global change.
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Before McDonald's pioneered McNuggets for fast food consumption, a Cornell University researcher developed bite-size breaded chicken sticks that could be easily fried and frozen.
From spaghetti and meatballs to General Tso's chicken, many dishes Americans associate with international cuisine were actually invented in the US of A! Here are 8 foods you didn't know were invented in in America, in this episode of History Countdown.
From fire to the air fryer, humans have a remarkable history of innovating in the kitchen. Discover the 10 kitchen inventions that changed food forever, in this episode of History Countdown.
They didn't come from China.
This selection of enduring eateries reflects the nation's mosaic of cultures.
It's complicated.
No beer? No problem. Better refrigeration, together with innovations in making and selling frozen treats, helped steer people toward this 'refreshing and palatable food.'
By the end of the 1920s, more than 40,000 different candy bars were being made in the U.S.
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From applesauce sucked out of a tube to shrimp cocktail and fresh vegetables, space food has come a long way.
The Curtiss Candy Company said it was inspired by a president's daughter. Baseball slugger Babe Ruth disagreed. A patent court decided the case in 1931.
The sandwich's roots trace back to ancient times, but it took on its modern form in the United States.
Find out just how these two delicious (and different) schools of bagel making came to be.
Coffee's importance can be traced across the centuries through the names we’ve come to know it by.
The first fermented beverages most likely emerged alongside the development of cereal agriculture some 12,000 years ago.
Americans eat about a million pounds of the stuff a year.
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Corn became a vital crop for the survival of early civilizations in the Americas thousands of years ago.
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Designing the average food truck kitchen requires specialized engineering.
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