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You may have heard that pizza is an American invention, ice cream is Italian, and The Earl of Sandwich invented the sandwich. Not so! Here’s a look at the origins of some foods you enjoy every day. Some are a lot older than you may think!
The sandwich was named after John Montague, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who was a prominent citizen of 18th century England and who did, indeed, eat meat between two slices of bread. But he was far from the first. The earliest recorded account of what became known as a sandwich was a Passover dish. The ancient sage Hillel was known to put meat from the Passover lamb, along with the ceremonial bitter herbs, inside matzo (unleavened bread). Montague was also not the first sandwich-eater in Britain, as bread was often used as plates during the Middle Ages. Even today, one of the best things about a sandwich is the lack of dishwashing involved.
Pasta is an Italian word, and Italy probably has the highest usage of pasta in the world, as well as the most shapes. But the food that is unleavened dough, extruded and dried, then boiled before eating, is definately Chinese. The oldest known noodles (pictured above) were found in 2005 in northwest China, supposedly 4,000 years old. I’ve occasionally put off cleaning out my refrigerator for a long time, but that’s ridiculous.
More food history, after the jump.
Is ice cream really an Italian invention? That depends on how you define ice cream. Frozen desserts were made in ancient times by mixing various ingredients with snow or ice. In warmer climates, this was a delicacy reserved for the wealthy, as ice had to be brought down from the highest mountains. The Arabs were the first to make ice cream using sugar, and the first to sell such treats from commercial factories. The first ice cream using milk was created in Italy in the Middle Ages. Ice cream was served in the courts of Charles I and Charles II of England in the mid-1600s. Several ice cream recipes appeared in the a French cookbook in 1700. Recipes with actual cream didn’t appear until the 18th century. The earliest known recipe with cream was published in 1751 by a London cookbook author named Hannah Glasse.
You’ve probably been told that pizza is an American invention. Not so, it is quite Italian, but pizza would never be if it weren’t for the Americas. If you define pizza as Mediterranian flatbread cooked with tomatos, then you have your American connection. The tomato is a native American plant, introduced to Europe in the 16th century by Spanish travelers to America. Many Europeans considered the tomato to be poison, but they got over that eventually. By the 18th century, poor people in Italy were making tomato-based pizza, which led to street vendors, then finally the first pizzaria, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba in Naples.
Update: For a much more detailed history of pizza, see David’s Tuesday Turnip!
There’s an old saying, If you love sausage and you love the law, you don’t want to watch either being made. The word sausage covers a lot of different foods, but is usually defined as ground meat packed in casings, often with salt and spices for both flavor and preservation. Traditionally, the casings were the intestines of butchered animals, but now are often made of cellulose or plastic. Almost all populated areas of the world have their own forms of sausage. It was developed to efficiently use all the available meat from an animal, even if it were in parts too small to serve on their own… or too ugly to appear appetizing. The origins of sausage date back to at least 3000 BC, when Sumerians in what is now Iraq invented the technique.
Coffee consumption goes back to Ethiopia in the nineth century. The legend says that shepherds noticed the strange energetic way their goats danced after eating the berries of the wild coffee plant. Whether the story is true or not, it brings up a nice picture. By the 15th century, the beverage was popular all over the Middle East. It spread to Italy and the rest of Europe, and became fashionable after Pope Clement VIII pronounced the “Muslim drink” acceptable to Christians in 1600. Coffee consumption in America rested upon the availability of tea. During the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, coffee gained a significant hold in the US due to trade problems with Britain. Today, the majority of caffeine consumed worldwide comes from coffee.
Hamburgers are indeed named after Hamburg, Germany, where they put pork roast on a bun. However, the sandwich we know as a hamburger, with grilled ground beef, was first recorded in 1885 in the United States. The delicacy seemed to arise in several locations, with Seymour, Wisconsin, Athens, Texas, and Hamburg, New York all claiming the first hamburger. On the other hand, the hot dog has a European origin. Frankfurt maintains the Frankfurter wurst was developed in the city in the 1480s. Vienna claims the hot dog decended from its wienerwurst. The city of Coburg in Bavaria says that a butcher there invented the “dachshund” or “little-dog” sausage. In any event, you have to wonder why people say “as American as hot dogs,” when the hamburger has a better claim.
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German lesson of the day:
Dachshund means literally “Badger dog” and they used to be used to hunt badgers. I’ve always been under the impression that badgers were large, mean creatures and I don’t personally know any Dachshunds that would be tough enough to stand up to one, but perhaps the breed has declined as of late…or maybe the Dachshund has more inner mettle than I’m giving it credit for.
An aside: I have a theory that they’re also called Wiener dogs not because they look like hot dogs, but because of their prevelance in Vienna (or Wien). I’m not sure that this is true, but there were a lot of them there.
posted by Becky Travis on 10-9-2007 at 5:41 am
Growing up, we had a dachshund. And yes, it was a hunting dog. Caught several mice and once, a bird. She had no idea she was a little dog and would bark down the bigger dogs in the neighborhood. I miss that dog.
posted by KJ on 10-9-2007 at 6:45 am
Maybe the dachshund was used because it could fit comfortably in a badger hole, to continue the chase.
posted by Jonathan on 10-9-2007 at 7:31 am
I had a dachshund as a child. To this date, that has been the most cowardly dog I’ve ever had.
posted by Jocelyn on 10-9-2007 at 7:32 am
It is said that the Aztecs invented snow cones. Snow from the mountains was brought down to the towns and served covered with maguey syrup.
posted by Alice on 10-9-2007 at 9:04 am
“American as Deep Fried Oreos” is more appropriate.
posted by goinglikesixty on 10-9-2007 at 9:05 am
I KNOW OF A HOME WITH 3 DACHSHUNDS, ONE IS TIMID, ONE IS FRIENDLY, AND ONE I CALL AN ATTACK SAUAGE. THREE DOGS, THREE CANINEALITIES. Sorry, caps lock was stuck.
posted by gus on 10-9-2007 at 9:07 am
And Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney is worth the trip if you are in Orlando.
posted by Dusty on 10-9-2007 at 1:37 pm
Food origins is a topic that comes up at our table quite often. Like with bread; who figured out that if you add yeast & sugar to bread dough it will puff up & make a lighter bread than the unleavened sort? It’s kind of an odd exercise to try & figure out (after the fact) how people figured out that two things combined would taste better than the two alone, or make something totally unique.
And I had often wondered about coffee; thank you for that segment! I still wonder about some blends though; I read somewhere about some obscure coffee that is made only from beans that have been eaten & traversed the digestive tract of a certain animal species. The trip adds a certain flavor to the bean. Who was it that decided, “I’m gonna dig the coffee beans out of this piece of dung, brew it up & see what it tastes like.” Crazy.
posted by Dave on 10-9-2007 at 2:53 pm
“But the food that is unleavened dough, extruded and dried, then boiled before eating, is definately Chinese”
You misspelled definitely. Sorry, I just can’t help it…I feel an overriding sense of duty to correct spelling errors.
Really cool post, though!
posted by greenstrawberries on 10-9-2007 at 7:26 pm
I bet ‘as american as hot dogs’ has something to do with hot dogs being served at baseball games, or coney island. I guess you would just have to figure out when the term came about.
posted by Art on 10-9-2007 at 8:15 pm
Louis’ Lunch, in New Haven CT, claims pride of first place as the home of the American Hamburger; grilled ground beef served between two slices of toast (no buns, toast).
posted by ELI on 10-26-2007 at 8:49 am
Oh, greenstrawberries, thank goodness you said something, because I feel the same way about misspellings! And, er, pizzeria was misspelled, too… Sorry, OCD kicking in. But this was definitely an interesting post! Thanks, Miss Cellania!
posted by Anonymouse on 10-26-2007 at 1:27 pm
i always figured that most food is the result of someone running out of ingredients. or a person killing time between meals. or…just sheer boredom with the usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich that most men fix for lunch.
posted by mary westcott on 10-28-2007 at 9:36 am
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say “as American as hotdogs”. It is always “as American as apple pie”.
What’s the origin story of applie pie?
posted by J on 4-2-2009 at 4:49 am
I’ve never heard the hot dog comment, but I have heard “As American as hamburgers.”
It reminds me of “As American as apple pie,” which seems ironic as apples are not from America – though I could be wrong.
posted by Matthew Abel on 4-2-2009 at 7:35 am
Y’all are obviously too young to remember “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet”, and old Chevy jingle. The hot dog as an American symbol goes back much further than even that!
posted by Miss Cellania on 4-2-2009 at 10:08 am
When most Americans think of a dachshund, they assume it’s a minature dachshund not the standard dachshund which was the one bred to hunt badgers. BTW, as a child I had a standard, Bobo and a minature dachshund, Nikki. Bobo was friendly and gentle but fierce if he thought I was threatened. Nikki was “all bark and no bite”. Never once had a badger problem when they were around :).
posted by kani on 4-2-2009 at 10:16 am
I’ve heard that they thought tomatoes were poisonous because of their acidity. Back in the day, people used to eat off of lead plates. When they cut and ate tomatoes, the acidity would eat away at the lead, bringing it into the fruit–then the eater would get lead poisoning! I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but it’s a good story.
posted by JenPo on 4-2-2009 at 10:54 am
Although Seymour, Wisconsin, Athens, Texas, and Hamburg, New York all claim the first hamburger, a place called Louis Lunch in New haven, CT is recognized by the library of congress as the origin of the Hamburger in the US. Clearly you should know this.
posted by Sarah on 4-2-2009 at 3:20 pm