For The King II giveaway. Looking for people to join my whitelist!

Fun food fact:
Did you know that in the game Portal, the cake is a lie? :P

Added you to my whitelist

Hey vkiN,
as you are rather new on Steamgifts, might I suggest you (re)read the rules (FAQ) & guidelines. You have broken one major one already.

One food fact coming up from the UK.

Bangers and Mash (sausage and mashed potato) are so called as they used to ‘bang’.

During the war they used to be filled with so much random meat and water (and other things) that they’d explode in the pan.

I've also joined Steamtrades recently. I never considered it before, but I thought why not try it?

Here's some food facts that I found interesting.

• Honey Never Spoils: Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3,000 years old and still perfectly edible. Honey's low water content and acidic pH create an environment that prevents the growth of microorganisms.
• Bananas Are Berries: Botanically speaking, bananas are classified as berries, while fruits like strawberries and raspberries aren't. This is because berries come from a single flower with one ovary and have seeds inside.
• Apples Float in Water: Apples are about 25% air, which makes them float in water. This is because their density is less than that of water.
• Chocolate and Love: Eating chocolate can trigger the release of phenylethylamine and serotonin, which are chemicals in the brain associated with feelings of happiness and love. That's why it's often considered an aphrodisiac and a mood enhancer.
• The Color Influence on Taste: Studies suggest that the color of tableware, such as plates and cups, can influence how we perceive the taste of food and drinks. For instance, hot chocolate served in an orange or cream-colored cup might taste richer and more aromatic than in a white cup.

The more you know! 😉

Welcome to SG.

This is said to be the fanciest and most expensive restaurant in the world.

Some facts:

Helmed by the esteemed two-Michelin-starred chef Paco Roncero
Pioneering haute cuisine with a price tag of $2,380 per head

Bubble milk tea started in Taiwan

Mac and cheese was considered a really fancy food at one time, during the start of modern-style restaurants in America in the early-mid 1800s, it was the go-to dish to be served to you in a fancy restaurant (because all restaurants were a bit fancy then) in America. Reason was cheese was much more expensive back then because it took longer and could not be massed produced like today

In the past, the Ottoman empire stretched over most of Balkans and Middle East, which is the reason why a lot of staples of Turkish cuisine are shared with many other cuisines in the area: Turkish-style coffee, baklava, lokum (Turkish delight), ayran, kebab, etc. ... It's difficult to find something purely Turkish.

One such example is Turkish tea, which is not present in any of the other regional cuisines. The reason is that it was strongly promoted by the Turkish government as an alternative to coffee after the Ottoman empire collapsed, so it never spread to any of the neighbouring countries.

The lemons float in the water, and the lime sinks. The fact is that limes are denser than lemons, so they sink. I learned about this fact when i read about them due to my allergy for limes.

Corn will always have an even number of rows on each cob.

Apparently in Hawaii both McDonalds and Burger King serve SPAM on the menu.

And workers at the museum of SPAM in Austin, Minnesota are known as Spambassadors.

The existence of the grapefruit was an accident. On Barbados they had planted Asian imports, the sweet orange and the pomelo. An unintended cross happened and ...

• Ramen Soup is the best selling item in Riker's Prison.

• Ramen Soup was the first type of noodle in space. "Space Ram" is vacuum-packed ramen made with smaller noodles and a thicker broth.

As a lover of pain au chocolat, my fun fact is boulangerie-related: despite their association with French cuisine, croissants actually originated in Austria. They were introduced to France in the 19th century by Austrian Princess Marie Antoinette.

This actually made a lot of sense to me when I remembered that one word I commonly saw in bakeries in Paris was Viennoiserie i.e. "things in the style of Vienna" 🤯

• One spaghetti noodle is called a spaghetto.

• Spam is actually just short for 'spiced ham'

• Bananas, pumpkins and lemons are berries... but raspberries aren't!

• The fear of cooking is medically described as mageirocophobia

1) potatoes were the first food planted in space
2) figs aren't fruits, they are flowers
3) cotton candy was created by a dentist
4) carrots are sweeter in the winter
5) ketchup was once used as a medicine

Saffron is the world's most expensive spice by weight. Its high price is due to the labor-intensive process of harvesting the tiny stigmas by hand.

'Curry' is not a dish you can find in India, it's a generic name for all gravies =)

The cuisine of southern Germany includes many dishes with sauces, and the region has it's own version of spaghetti, called Spätzle [SHPETS lah]:

The texture of these noodles is rough instead of smooth. The advantage of this is that the rough texture is better at holding the sauce.

View attached image.

Peanut butter glows in the dark after it's exposed to intense light
Humans share about 50% of their DNA with bananas, and bananas can also float in water

Titanium dioxide is used in foods such as ranch dressing and other creamy salad dressings, where it serves as a whitener. It is the most commonly used inorganic pigment in foods, and may be found in the following products: candies, baked goods, cheese and other dairy products. Titanium dioxide is also used in sunscreen, toothpaste, cosmetics and paint.

Probably the most famous Ukrainian dish, Borsch can be tasted in many restaurants around the world. And when Stalin died, it was a symbol of joy for many emigrants.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/NJJZN7WAW4I6ZNO7D65GDJTMOU.jpg&w=916

The chemical changes of sugar in food when it's being cooked are called Maillard reactions. Louis Camille Maillard was a french chemist trying to find a way to synthesize proteins in the beginning of XX century when he found how browning in baked foods (bread, roasted chicken, etc.) occurred and why it tasted deliciously different.

Browning when baking happens from certain sugars but also aminoacids.

Also, roasted chicken is among the most extended cooked food recipe among both primitive and modern cultures in the world. It exists in pretty much every culture which grows hens.

The original corn was ten times smaller than today's normal corn, and kernels were of different colours: yellow, red, white, black, orange, and more. The original potatoes were also tiny.

Corn kernels must be dried down to 14–15% humidity (considered both water and oil), and to harden the hull so it's waterproof, for perfect explosion and maximum expansion. More moisture means earlier explosion, but the starch hasn't fully gelatinized, resulting in less expansion and a hardened core. Less moisture mostly causes no explosion or low quality popcorn. The gelatinized starch inside the hull can reach 180 celsius degrees and pressures of +900 kilopascals before exploding.

Insects are food in many cultures. They're almost 100% protein, with no fats and barely any carbohidrate.

The quality of protein intake depends of what aminoacides provides the protein. The two best quality protein sources are eggs and soy. However, since soy cointains a form of estrogen, recently it has been pointed as unhealthy for boys' development and men's health, but studies don't see any actual effect in infants (I've not seen any report about effects in men).

Hen eggs are usually white or brown. Multiple studies have shown no differences in quality, flavour or composition between white and brown eggs, given the same food and care to the hens giving each; but each country prefers one of the two main varieties, despising the other, which is usually exported or used for processed food. Some hen varieties produce eggs which are exceptionally dark brown, almost black, or have small black spots. However, the strangest is the green with blue spots egg from a brazilian hen variety. This egg is particularly good as its shell is harder too.

Hens lay larger eggs as they grow older, but they use the same amount of calcium for the shell. Thus, eggs from older hens have thinner shells, and are more prone to crack or be contaminated by salmonella.

Walnut trees also produce larger nuts as they grow older. Centenary walnut trees can give walnuts the size of a small tangerine.

Modern cultivars are not only variations of the same plant, they can contain a mutated gen which makes them edible, different or more productive. Mutant plants we eat normally:

• Banana: the seeds inside the banana are huge, leaving little place for the pulp. A mutation gave seedless bananas which are the ones cultivated for food. The tiny black spots inside the banana are what's left of underdeveloped seeds.
• Cauliflower: a mutation of cabbage which, when growing the flower, doesn't know when to stop producing the inforescence. The actual edible part of the cauliflower is a would-be flower.
• Tomato: most of the tomatoes cultivated today have a mutation that makes them continue to grow after harvested. Original tomatoes didn't do that, and spoiled quickly. Current ones are harvested while still green and immature, and they mature during transportation.

Tomatoes where originally yellow (in italian, tomato = pomodoro, or golden apple), and plants were grown in gardens for decoration, as the fruit was thought to be poisonous.

Caffeine needs 24 hours to be fully metabolized and expelled from a 12 months or less baby. Coffee seeds contain more than 200 alcaloids, and only a small part have been studied; the rest remain as "unknown effects on human body".

Apple seeds contain an organic molecule called amigdaline. Amigdaline is inocuous to most animals including the humans; however we humans metabolize it and release one of its elements: cyanide. You have to eat a lot of seeds to get poisoned, and a lot more for them to be lethal.

The most complex fruit structure is called in in botany multicarpel syncarpous (multiple fully fused carpels) and there's only one plant which produces it: the pomegranate. The pomegranate is technically a nut, despite the amount of liquid surrounding each individual seed. Each pomegranate has from 200 to more than one thousand seeds.

Romans used to pay for truffle with diamonds. They weighted the truffle and gave the same weight in diamonds. Both pigs and dogs can be trained to find them. Attempts to cultivate truffles keep being "infructous".

Caviar is traditionally served or eaten with bone spoons. Caviar reacts to metal and changes flavour.

Tired, going to take a nap.

Spices used to be currency at times! Most interestingly, in the Roman Empire, some workers were paid in salt. The latin word for salt is sal, and that's where salary comes from.

The first cereal was created for a medical purpose of restraining masturbation. The inventors were Kellogg brothers but who started business with this was C. W. Post.