Random Famous Foods Discovered by Accident (16 items)

• 

  (#13) Corn Flakes Weren't Supposed to Flake - but They Were Supposed to Stop Masturbation

  In 1894, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will Keith Kellogg were searching for healthy wholesome foods that fit their strict vegetarian diet as Seventh Day Adventists. The forgotten, musty, boiled wheat left out for too long wasn’t a part of their plan, though. But they went for it anyway, and tried to make sheets of dough out of the old, dry wheat. When the wheat came out as flakes, the brothers toasted them.

  The toasted flakes became popular among Dr. Kellogg’s patients in the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, so they experimented with other materials, including corn. In 2015, the company saw a revenue of $13.53 billion.

  Even stranger, Dr. Kellogg originally touted the cereal as a way to decrease sexual passion and curb masturbation.
• 

  (#14) Yogurt

  In Central Asia, more than 8,000 years ago, herdsmen used to carry their milk inside animal stomachs to keep it longer. The natural enzymes from the stomachs had a curdling effect and fermented the milk, giving it a sour taste. The herdsmen continued the practice because they liked the taste, although most people nowadays consume yogurt for its health benefits as much as its flavor.
• 

  (#12) Beer

  If it wasn’t for the Mesopotamians’ misfortune more than 3,000 years ago, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our favorite beers today. At first, the Mesopotamians hated it when their grains, which they had been storing to produce bread, became damp, causing the grains to ferment into a liquid. But hey, why settle for bread when you can have beer? As for now, beer is the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage. 
• 

  (#9) Sandwich

  What’s an easier food to eat than a sandwich? You can eat them with one hand while walking, reading, working, gambling …. Oh wait, that’s how our cherished sandwiches came about.

  One day, in 1762, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, was in the middle of an intense gambling session and wouldn't leave the game for meals. He instructed his cook to prepare a food which he could easily eat without leaving the table. So the cook, whom we unfortunately can’t identify, tossed some beef in between two slices of toast, and sandwiches were invented.
• 

  (#6) Cheese puffs

  In the 1930s, the Flakall Company in Wisconsin had a machine that crushed grains to make feed for livestock, and corn kernels were used to reduce clogging. Somehow, the machine’s heat made the corn kernels puffy as they fell from the machine as waste. Edward Wilson literally picked up these ribbons from the ground, added seasoning... and you know what they say, one machine’s trash is another man’s treasure. Now, more than 100 companies produce different variants of cheese puffs.
• 

  (#5) Nachos

  While not every experiment in the kitchen ends well, one experiment brought us precious nachos. Ignacio Nacho Araya, a manager at the Victory Club Restaurant in Mexico, was visited by 10 hungry military wives who had crossed the border. When his efforts to find the chef failed, Nacho improvised something on his own. He covered tostadas with grated cheese and broiled it. To his surprise, the women loved his creation, the “Nacho’s Special.” Eventually, after gaining much popularity over the years, Nacho opened his own place, Nacho’s Restaurant.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking