Did You Know – 10 Fun Food Facts

Oreo Cookies are vegan, this iconic cookie can be dipped in oat, soy or almond milk. Oreo’s do not have any milk or egg products in them.

Spam is short for “Spiced Ham” which is funny because there isn’t any spice in it. There are six ingredients in Spam which are pork, salt, water, potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrate.

Hummus made with chickpeas and almonds has more protein than steak. 100 grams of steak has up to 25 grams of protein. The same amount of chickpeas contains 21 grams and the almonds have 28 grams! That’s a whopping 49 grams total.

Avocados are a perennial fruit that must be picked when matured in order to ripen which can take 1-2 weeks.

Caesar Salad isn’t from anywhere near Italy. The Caesar Salad was invented in 1927 in Tijuana, Mexico. Hotel Caesar, owner of Caesar Cardini, was making dinner for friends but he didn’t have much to serve. So he threw lettuce in a bowl and tossed it with dressing made from whatever he had on hand.

Pistachios are not a nut. They are a “drupe” which is in the same family that includes cherries, peaches and olives. The omega 3 fatty acids in pistachios can help lower your blood pressure and help reduce your risk for heart disease.

Brussels sprouts may be the most hated vegetable but it is one of the best for you. It is full of vitamins and minerals, has no fat, no cholesterol, it is filling and has an anti-oxidant that has shown to be a anti-inflammatory and could help to fight cancer.

Raspberries are a member of the rose family as are cherries, apricots, plums, pears, apples, quinces, peaches, strawberries and blackberries.

Did you know the word nectarine means sweet like nectar? They are a high source of vitamin A and vitamin C and are abundant in antioxidants. They aid in weight loss, help to regulate blood pressure and help to improve immunity and heart health.

Dark Chocolate can help lower blood pressure and reduce inflammation. Dark chocolate that is 70% cocoa or more contains more caffeine per ounce than coffee.

Source: eatfirst.com.au

Pictures:AI

http://www.InDianesKitchen.com

74 Comments »

  1. Very interesting facts! I’ll have to share the vegan tidbit with T. It makes me feel slightly better about how much Oreos he consumes. 🤣

      • When we got cable and had the Food Network, my mom would look at the TV Guide to see which Unwrapped shows sounded good and we’d tape it and watch later. My favorite was the Thanksgiving show where they showed how they made every aspect of the holiday dinner, from the cranberry bogs to the Durkee onion rings.

      • Yes! We didn’t watch it all the time, but I always enjoyed learning about the origin of foods and fun facts like that. A friend of the family worked in a cake mix factory years before we met her and she said if you could see the conditions in that factory, you’d never buy cake mix again. But I’m sure it is the same for many food manufacturers. My high school friend got a job at Big Boys as a Summer job after high school We were comparing notes as I will say the diner was very clean and my boss, the manager, always worried about flies coming in with deliveries or with customers (now, the same place, over 45 years later, props the front door open, no screen door. My boss would never allow that.

      • We ate at a restaurant on Thursday. There was a fly that tortured my mother in law and then me. I have heard about all the horror stories from an official retired health inspector. Not much would surprise him.

      • Aha – I forgot you would get the scoop on everything … yes, you would. I do follow “The Poison Report” because there are just too many things going on … I’ve followed it for many years, long before there were radioactive shrimp and other such things to worry about.

      • I have not had shrimp in years – really, probably my last time at Long John Silvers, but I also like it cold too, though I don’t recall having it here at the house. I keep reading about how beneficial to your health that sardines are … today I went to Meijer and I thought “I’m going to buy one can, Wild Planet has them in EVOO and I tried their wild tuna with a bean salad in EVOO, thinking maybe I could make that for myself for a change and it is delicious. I looked at the can and thought “maybe not” – I can remember my father eating them on toast and did they have the heads on? I’m not sure, but … I read an article last week that cod liver oil pills are bad for your heart and cause a-fib. Now I don’t know if that’s true and I’ve taken cod liver oil my entire life and after reading that, I’ve temporarily stopped … so I was looking for alternatives and one was sardines. The cod liver oil gel caps I take I order from Amazon as you can’t buy it in the store anymore … they are not fishy. I’ll dwell on it a little longer and buy one can to try them out. I’d rather have spaghetti on toast.

      • Hahaha Spaghetti on toast it is then! I like sardines in oil. I think some come in a mustard too. You made me think but I don’t think the heads are on. That is about as far as I go with liking fish. Sardines used to be pack with small fish now all I ever get is about 3 larger sardines which I eat but don’t really like them.

      • Spaghetti on toast has pizazz and is perfect if you are hankering for something spicy AND crunchy. Sardines fill no hankering except eating them for their health benefits. If heads are still on, they will not see the light of day. I’m reluctant as it is to try them. I would prefer the small ones too … I have to research more into the cod liver oil pills as I’ve taken them for years with no side effects heart-wise as I’d prefer them to sardines. It’s like the green tea. I’ve finally been drinking one cup a day for a year now. I started in the Summer of 2024, after years of buying boxes of green tea, making it and taking one sip down and that’s it. I’m not a tea drinker and to me the green tea has no taste in my opinion, although they had a sample tea bag of an orange spice tea in the box that was very good.

      • I’m learning slowly to be a fan of green tea … Bigelow does have some nice flavors. I was never allowed pop as a kid, so I’ve never been a fan of it and now I find juice way too sweet. I drink water too, so can’t go overboard with drinks or I’d never leave the house. 🙂

      • I didn’t know green tea came in different flavors. I drank diet pop most of my life. Now they say it’s not good to drink diet with the artificial sweeteners. I have a diet pop maybe 1-2 a week at the most. I never thought about drinking before walking being a problem. I must have my coffee the moment I get up. I would never be able to go as early as you do. haha

      • They have all kinds of blends for wellness now. In fact, I got a Bigelow Green Tea infused with Elderberry and Vitamin C. I have not tried it … but I’ve had the Bigelow Green Tea with Lemon and it is tasty. Yes, I have my coffee as soon as I get up too – it’s instant and I mix together the one spoon of instant coffee, one spoon of creamer and one spoon of flavored creamer ahead of time, so it is faster in the a.m. I like the Coffee-mate flavored creamers, but powdered, not liquid as they cool the coffee too much and I like my coffee hot, but for years I used the sugar-free creamers and switched last year due to the artificial sweetener. I know the healthiest way to drink coffee is black, but I don’t like doing that with instant coffee, brewed coffee yes.

      • Ha ha – well, I guess it is a force of habit for me and I make it up when I make my oatmeal as I don’t cook my oatmeal, but make it up in small Rubbermaid containers so I just can add hot water and it’s done. I used to cook the oatmeal for years, then read that you could use the Quaker Old-Fashioned Oatmeal (I don’t like the quick cooking) and add hot water from the tap, stir and eat … I thought “no way” but “yes way” … this works. So I make it up ahead of time, with the oatmeal, raisins, some cinnamon, Flax seed and powdered milk and just add a spoon of crunchy peanut butter when it’s ready. Yes, all about convenient, even with all the time in the world now. 🙂

      • Well it is faster than the old way … actually after I gave the microwave to Marge after seeing the big black spider walking on it where I had it on the old mini-freezer downstairs, I would cook up a few pots of oatmeal and put them in Rubbermaid containers and eat them cold. But I don’t like cold oatmeal. The overnight oats always looks good, but I like hot oatmeal and something that sticks to my ribs if I’m going on a walk or errands. The hot water from the tap cooks it in a minute or two and again, it’s the Old-Fashioned Quaker Oats. I don’t like the Quick-Cooking Quaker Oats – not thick enough.

      • I think it was really big a few years ago, the Overnight Oats. They say to make it in a mason jar and then in the morning you just take off the lid and eat it (or take it to go). I would not like it as a breakfast item – maybe as a desert. My mom made a desert called Swiss Oatmeal – this was before the “Overnight Oats” was a craze. All you did was cooked the oatmeal, then after it cooled, then you mixed it with canned peaches and peach yogurt, cinnamon and nutmeg and a drizzle of honey. I liked it.

  2. Thanx Di! Love them all except the avacados – yuck! Never could get into them. Love brussel sprouts and SPAM is one of my favs. D hates it, Mic & I love it – hahahaha. all the new flavors of SPAM is cool and you should visit their museum. I never knew how much they connected with the military. Awesome.

    • I’m with you, no avacados for me either and of course no guacamole. I still need to try a different flavor with Spam, we get the original now. I did know that about the Spam museum but I forgot what state it is in?

  3. I love these articles that you do, I always learn something new. First off, I LOVE brussel sprouts but you are right, not a lot of people like them. I could eat them every day. I buy Oreos for my daughter-in-law, she is Vegan and she loves them. We did eat a lot of SPAM on our trip this summer, we were gone for 2 1/2 months and it was convenient to use. I did not know pistachios were not nuts. I cannot have any nuts at all so this was interesting as I do like them but stopped eating them. Thanks Diane !

    • I love Brussels sprouts too. The ones we get at the store are never very fresh and I seem to throw away half of the leaves. 2 1/2 months was a long time, but you sure did see a lot! That was a trip of a lifetime. It would be nice if you could eat pistachios. My mother in law knitted an afghan for my brother in law. The entire afghan was made with squares of knitted and stuffed Oreos. Thank you Susan!

Leave a Reply to tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smilesCancel reply