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- Most common sports drinks are the equivalent of sugar-sweetened human sweat. That is, they have the same salt concentration as sweat (but are less salty than your blood). An increase of as little as 1% in blood salt will cause you to become thirsty.
- Under U.S. federal guidelines, there should be 21 to 25 jumbo shrimp in a pound.
- The MAI TAI COCKTAIL was created in 1945 by Victor Bergeron, the genius of rum, also known as Trader Vic. The drink got its name when he served it to two friends from Tahiti, who exclaimed "Maitai roa ae!" which in Tahitian means out of this world - the best!
- Every year, Bavarians and their guests drink 1.2 million gallons of beer during Oktoberfest. The first Oktoberfest was in 1810 and celebrated the marriage of King Ludwig Iof Bavaria.
- Many wonder what the difference is between jelly, preserves, jam, and marmalade. In all cases, jelly is the common denominator. Jelly is fruit juice with added sugar, cooled and congealed, usually by the addition of gelatin or pectin. Preserves preserve the largest percentage of the original fruit, containing whole chunks of it in addition to jelly. Jam is jelly plus fruit pulp. Marmalade has bits of fruit and the rinds in a jelly. Although the orange variety is most common, it is often made from other citrus fruits. Spread either of the four on toast, add a nice cup of tea, and you have one sweet treat.
- Flamingo tongues were a common delicacy at Roman feasts.
- According to Hershey's Chocolate Company, Valentine's Day ranks fourth in candy sales, behind Halloween, Christmas and Easter.
- Chicago, Illinois is the candy capital of the world. Chicago has more chocolate manufacturers within a small radius than any other place in the world. This dates back to the 1800's when Chicago was a national hub for transportation and manufacturing, in addition to being very close to sources for key candy ingredients — milk and corn syrup, it was also convenient to ship candy products to either coast from Chicago.
- Today companies like Brach's Confections, Ferrara Pan Candy Co., Tootsie Roll Industries, American Licorice, and Archibald Candy still call Chicago home. Mars, Inc. and Nestle also have manufacturing plants in Chicago.
- Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.
- Strawberry Pop Tarts may be a cheap and inexpensive source of incendiary devices. Toasters which fail to eject Pop Tarts cause the Pop Tarts to emit flames 10-18 inches in height.
- Dunkin' Donuts serves about 112,500 doughnuts each day.
- Europeans drink more wine than Americans. France and Italy produce over 40% of all wine consumed in the world.
- The "last meal" for Death Row inmates has became embedded in the American death-penalty ritual. Reporters have dutifully recorded the last meal menus: John Wayne Gacy had fried chicken and strawberries; Ted Bundy passed on steak and eggs; James Smith, executed in Texas in 1990, requested a "lump of dirt" (request was denied); Missouri inmate Lloyd Schlup asked for venison and hare (request was granted).
- A tenth of the 7 million tons of rice grown in the U.S. each year goes into the making of beer.
- According to the National Safety Council, coffee is not successful at sobering up a drunk person, and in many cases it may actually increase the adverse effects of alcohol.
- There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples grown in the world. The apples from one tree can fill 20 boxes every year. Each box weighs an average 42 pounds.
- Soy milk, the liquid left after beans have been crushed in hot water and strained, is a favorite beverage in the East. In Hong Kong, soy milk is as popular as Coca-Cola is in the U.S.
- There are professional tea tasters as well as wine tasters.
- There are thousands of varieties of shrimp, but most are so tiny that they are more likely to be eaten by whales than people. Of the several hundred around the world that people do eat, only a dozen or so appear with any regularity in the United States.
- Spinach is native to the area of Iran, but didn't spread to other parts of the world until the beginning of the Christian era.
- There are two types of asparagus: green and white. One of the most popular varieties of green asparagus is named after Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington.
- Thin-skinned lemons are the juiciest.
- Though most people think of salt as a seasoning, only 5 out of every 100 pounds produced each year go to the dinner table.
- Goat milk is used to produce Roquefort cheese.
- Carrots were first grown as a medicine not a food. The Ancient Greeks called carrots "Karoto".
- It takes more than 500 peanuts to make one 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
- In Australia, the Number 1 topping for pizza is eggs. In Chile, the favorite topping is mussels and clams. In the United States, it's pepperoni.
- Over 15 billion prizes have been given away in Cracker Jacks boxes.
- The Chinese developed the custom of using chop sticks because they didn't need anything resembling a knife and fork at the table. They cut up food into bite-sized pieces in the kitchen before serving it. This stemmed from their belief that bringing meat to the table in any form resembling an animal was uncivilized and that it was inhospitable, anyway, to ask a guest to cut food while eating.
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