Did You Know - Food Facts

Milk chocolate was invented by Daniel Peter, who sold the concept to his neighbour Henri Nestlé.

An ounce of chocolate contains about 20 mg of caffeine.

Forks, mostly being two-tined, used to known as "split spoons."

TIP is the acronym for "To Insure Promptness."

The world's oldest existing eatery opened in Kai-Feng, China in 1153.

Coffee is the seed of a cherry from the tree genus Coffea

Melba toast is named after Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931).

Three quarters of fish caught are eaten - the rest is used to make things such as glue, soap, margarine and fertilizer.

The world's most expensive jam (jelly) is Confiture de groselles. It is a redcurrant jam (jelly) from a 14th century recipe made in the tiny French town of Bar-Le-Duc.

In September 1999 Dustin Philips of the US set a Guinness World Record by drinking a 400 ml (14-oz) bottle of tomato sauce through a straw in 33 seconds.

To make one kilo of honey bees have to visit 4 million flowers, travelling a distance equal to 4 times around the earth.

Botanically speaking, the banana is a herb and the tomato is a fruit.

Bananas are the world's most popular fruit after tomatoes. In western countries, they could account for 3% of a grocer's total sales.

Bananas consistently are the number one compliant of grocery shoppers. Most people complain when bananas are overripe or even freckled. The fact is that spotted bananas are sweeter, with a sugar content of more than 20%, compared with 3% in a green banana.

Approximately 44 million tons of bananas are produced annually, compared to more than 60 million tomatoes. Apples are the third most popular (36 million tons), then oranges (34 million tons) and watermelons (22 million tons).

The scientific term for the common tomato is lycopersicon lycopersicum, which means "wolf peach."

There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes. 

The can opener was invented 48 years after cans were introduced.

Over the last 40 years food production actually increased faster than population.

The number of people who starved to death in the last 25 years of the 20th century is less than the number who starved to death in the last 25 years of the 19th century.

In the Middle Ages, sugar was a treasured luxury costing 9 times as much as milk.

Of the more than $50 billion worth of diet products sold every year, almost $20 billion are spent on imitation fats and sugar substitutes.

Over 90% of all fish caught are caught in the northern hemisphere.

In 1994, Chicago artist Dwight Kalb sent David Letterman a statue of Madonna, made of 180lb of ham.

Wine is sold in tinted bottles because wine spoils when exposed to light.

Approximately one billion snails are served in restaurants annually.

Vitamin A is known to prevent "night blindness," and carrots are loaded with Vitamin A. One carrot provides more than 200% of recommended daily intake of Vitamin A.

Carrots have zero fat content.

Maria Ann Smith introduced the Granny Smith apple in 1838.

Tea is said to have been discovered in 2737 BC by a Chinese emperor when some tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water.

The first European to encounter tea was the Portuguese Jesuit Jasper de Cruz in 1560.

Ice tea was introduced in 1904 at the World's Fair in St. Louis.

The tea bag was introduced in 1908 by Thomas Sullivan of New York.

In the 1950's some 80% of chickens in Europe and the US were free-ranging. By 1980, it was only 1%. Today, about 13% of chickens in the West are free-ranging.

An onion, apple and potato all have the same taste. The differences in flavour are caused by their smell.

Americans eat twice as much meat as Europeans, gobbling up some 50kg (110 lb) per capita.

The tall chef's hat is called a toque.

The term "soda water" was coined in 1798.

The soda fountain was patented by Samuel Fahnestock in 1819, with the first bottled soda water available in 1835.

The first ice-cream soda was sold in 1874 in the US.

The first cola-flavoured beverage was introduced in 1881.

Coca-Cola was invented in Atlanta, Georgia by Dr. John S. Pemberton in 1886.

Pepsi-Cola was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1890 as "Brad's Drink" as a digestive aid and energy booster. In was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1989.

In 1929, the Howdy Company introduced its "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Sodas," which became 7 Up. 7 Up was invented by Charles Leiper Grigg.

The first diet soft drink, called the "No-Cal Beverage" was launched in 1952.

Aluminum cans were introduced in 1957 and two years later the first diet cola was sold.

The pull-ring tab was invented in 1962 and the re-sealable top in 1965.

Plastic bottles were first used for soft drinks in 1970.

The Polyethylene Terephthalate bottle was introduced in 1973.

The stay-on tab was invented in 1974.

China uses 45 billion chopsticks per year. 25 million trees are chopped down to make 'em sticks.

Chocolate is the number one foodstuff flavour in the world, beating vanilla and banana by 3-to-1.

Watermelons are 97% water, lettuce 97%, tomatoes 95%, carrots 90%, and bread 30%.