Surprising Origins of Popular Foods

Ever wondered if Swedish meatballs are really Swedish, if pasta is really Italian or if Julius Caesar invented salads in his spare time? 

Here are some surprising origin stories behind some of the most popular foods we have today!

Surprising origins of popular foods

Swedish meatballs

It would be a fairly reasonable guess to say that Swedish meatballs are, in fact, from Sweden. But according to Sweden's official Twitter account, that’s just not the case!

This IKEA store staple is actually a traditional Turkish food that’s commonly known as köfte. Sweden’s King Charles XII introduced the meatball recipe to his court after traveling to Turkey in the 18th century, and since then the dish has been munched on all over the country. 

Caesar salad

Does this creamy salad have anything to do with the Roman emperor of the same name? You’d think so, but no, it doesn’t. It’s still connected to Italy, though, so there’s still plenty of Italian credit to the popular dish.

Caesar Cardini was born in Italy somewhere in the 1890s, and by the early 1900s had moved to the West Coast of the United States. He started a few restaurants in Sacramento and San Diego and was looking to expand his restaurant empire until the Prohibition suddenly ground his dreams to a halt.

If you’ve ever looked at your check after a dinner date, you’ll notice that the drinks, refills and alcoholic beverages tend to add up quickly. That's because alcoholic drinks are some of the biggest profit margins in the restaurant industry, and that’s exactly why the prohibition was so devastating to Caesar Cardini’s business ventures. 

To recuperate his losses and try to bounce back from the empty bars in California, Cardini started a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico, where he served alcohol and invented a little salad with what he had available in season. Namely, lettuce stalks, chicken, eggs, parmesan cheese and croutons. 

So yes, the Caesar salad was invented in Mexico, but there’s a wealth of influence behind it that makes it very much Italian.  

Buffalo wings

How did these saucy, messy finger foods made of chicken get the Buffalo moniker? Well, they hailed from the Anchor Bar in none other than Buffalo, New York, in 1977, where they were the result of a mish-mash of leftover ingredients alongside some celery sticks and blue cheese. 

The City of Buffalo now celebrates Chicken Wing Day every July 29 in honor of the popular food. 

French fries

Contrary to what the name implies, French fries are not, in fact, French. Nor are they American! French fries are an element of Belgian cuisine, and boy, do Belgians love their French fries! 

The United States is 32,111% larger than Belgium size-wise, and there are 320 million more people here, too, but Belgium still tops out the list for most French fries consumed per-country!

Potatoes have long been a popular food in Belgium, especially in the cold winter months when the rivers froze and no one could catch fish.  

So why are they called “French fries” despite having no connection to the French? Well, American soldiers who were stationed in Belgium during World War II discovered the fried potatoes and, because most of the locals spoke French, they called them French fries. 

Pasta

This shouldn’t be here, right? We all know that pasta flows in the veins of Italians all over the world, but this very Mediterranean dish has its roots much further away to the east.

Pasta in the form we know it as today is very much Italian, but the idea of creating noodles out of flour, water and eggs was inspired by Marco Polo’s travels to China in the 13th century. Polo arrived back in Italy with tales of noodles created using a ground flour mixed with water and then cooked, and Italians have run with that idea ever since. Now, nearly every country or culture in the world has its own form of pasta and pasta dishes. 

Croissants

What country do you think of when imagining the croissant’s origin? If you thought about France, then you’re in for a surprise!

These crescent-shaped pastries are actually from Vienna, Austria, where their earliest forms were first invented in the 13th century. The recipe has changed over the years, but Austrian bakers are certainly the founders of this tasty treat.

Sauerkraut

While we may be quick to credit the Germans for this pickled cabbage dish, sauerkraut has its roots much further east.

The Chinese started fermenting cabbage over 2,000 years ago, and it was likely through travel and migration that the practice of fermenting cabbage arrived in Europe in the 1500s. Sauerkraut has been declining in popularity in German cuisine, though, and the dish is now more popular in France than anywhere else. 

Chicken tikka masala

If there’s any dish that one can expect at any Indian restaurant, it’s chicken tikka masala. The creamy, spicy tomato-based curry is perfect with any meat or vegetable of choice, and the flavor profile is one that can please any picky curry connoisseur. 

Surprisingly enough, though, chicken tikka masala is not an authentic Indian dish. In fact, it’s probably not even as old as your parents, and it’s origin is closer to Denmark than it is to Delhi. 

Although the exact date, time and place that the dish was first served is still a little hazy, many say that chicken tikka masala was first served in 1970 in Glasgow, Scotland. Apparently, a Bangladeshi chef added some creamy tomato sauce to his chicken tikka at a customer’s request, and the creamy, saucy curry was born!

Since the chicken tikka masala dish was first created by combining a creamy sauce (British) to spicy chicken (Indian), chicken tikka masala is a prime example of fusion cuisine, which is created by combining culinary elements from different cultures into a single dish. 

It is now so inherent to British cuisine that it’s considered to be the unofficial British national dish! It’s even used as an example of multiculturalism in Britain and was praised in a 2001 speech by the foreign secretary.

Who would have thought?

Enjoy!

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/stevepb