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This short piece originally appeared as a sidebar in the mental_floss book ‘In the Beginning: A Mouthwatering Guide to the Origins of Everything.’
Pretzel Logic
One widely accepted account says pretzels were developed in 610 C.E. by an Italian monk. He baked the confections for children as an incentive to memorize scripture. In fact, the shape of the treats reflects this, since the criss-crossed bits are supposed to depict the folded arms of pious children in prayer.
Turning Water Into Welch’s
In 1869, Christian dentist and prude extraordinaire Dr. Thomas Welch invented “unfermented wine.” As the good Doc saw it, drinking in alcohol in church was a bit of a contradiction, so he brewed up a batch of the unfermented stuff to wash down Eucharist. Local pastors weren’t interested, though, and a dejected Thomas was sent back to his teeth pulling. Six years later, his son began marketing the beverage—this time as Welch’s Grape Juice.
Cod is Good, Cod is Great: The Filet-O-Fish Story
In the early 1960s, a McDonald’s in Cincinnati was beginning to notice a pattern: Friday sales were always low. The reason? The city’s large Catholic population couldn’t eat meat on Fridays. Taking a little initiative, franchise owner Lou Groen asked chairman Ray Kroc if he could expand his menu. He eventually gave in, though, and sponsored some research. The McDonald’s team came back with a cod sandwich. But because Kroc hated the word “cod” (probably from drinking spoonfuls of cod-liver oil as a kid), it was marketed as Filet-O-Fish, and became a permanent addition to the menu in 1963.
Comments (10)
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I agree with no using the name “cod” on the sandwich. It makes me think of “cod piece” and the area that the cod piece covered. Not appetizing.
posted by Melissa on 2-1-2010 at 3:59 pm
I agree. I wouldn’t eat a cod sandwich, but I LOVE, LOVE a Filet-O-Fish.
posted by Donna on 2-1-2010 at 4:06 pm
As a long time employee of the Golden Arches Enterprise, I can attest to the increase in Filet-o-Fish sales during the Lenten season. Its quite scary sometimes actually. Being a Protestant by nature, I used to forget when Lent started, and ask myself the first Friday or two why the heck we were selling SO many Fish!!!
As a quickie – during lent many local Wendy’s and Arby’s restaurants sell an OUTSTANDING fish sandwich – both are equally tasty, and unfortunately ONLY offered during Lent.
posted by Justin L on 2-1-2010 at 4:20 pm
A serendipitous consequence of keeping cod out of the name is that, well, you don’t need to use cod in the sammich. Whether the switch was due to declining cod catches or the attendant higher prices, the golden franchise now uses mostly Alaskan pollack and New Zealand hoki. As those fisheries start to reflect the pressure, there is no telling what will end up in the FOF. There’s no fillet involved now, and eventually, we may be dining on sea cucumber or krill.
posted by Tom on 2-1-2010 at 4:40 pm
Don’t forget the Graham Cracker. It was developed by the Reverend Sylvester Graham as a “health food” that helped to curb “carnal urges”.
posted by Michael Setzer on 2-1-2010 at 5:01 pm
weren’t cornflakes also marketed as being able to curb evil temptations etc?
posted by mary on 2-1-2010 at 10:13 pm
Why not use A.D. instead of C.E.? It’s so pathetic that you feel you have to be that politically correct…
Common Era…what does that mean anyway?
posted by graham on 2-2-2010 at 9:30 am
@graham –
Apparently BC/Ad and BCE/CE is apparently the result of the Roman calender being 3 years off. hence why Jesus was quite probably born in approximately 3 BCE.
I’m fuzzy on all the details of how this was realized and the subsequent correction to the calendar however
It doesn’t minimize the fact though the Jesus was still so important to split time in two!
posted by Justin L on 2-2-2010 at 9:36 am
My boyfriend and I were talking about the McDonalds fish sandwich thing over the weekend, actually! He added the detail that the FOF sandwich went into competition with a “hawaiian” sandwich (pineapple, sauce and a bun – that’s it) for those Lenten sales…anybody know if there’s any truth to that? Obvi, HI lost and FOF won…
posted by OkieMelissa on 2-2-2010 at 11:28 am
Yup, because being inclusive is soooo pathetic.
posted by luckyluckygirl on 2-7-2010 at 11:20 pm