Reels tagged #food
Refrigeration killed a global ice-shipping industry
In the 1800s ships carried blocks of frozen lake ice from New England to India. Mechanical refrigeration wiped out the trade within a few decades.
Canned food arrived 50 years before the can opener
Napoleon's prize for preserving army rations produced sealed tins in 1810. For decades soldiers opened them with a hammer and chisel or a bayonet.
Pasteurisation was invented to save wine
Louis Pasteur was asked to stop French wine spoiling. Gently heating it killed the microbes, and the same trick later made milk safe worldwide.
Italy has more than 350 pasta shapes
Each shape is designed for a specific sauce: ridged tubes grab thick ragu, thin strands suit oil, and shells hold chunky vegetables. Names and shapes change from region to region.
Mexico gave the world chocolate and chilli
Cacao was first cultivated in Mesoamerica and drunk bitter and spiced. Mexico also domesticated chillies, maize, tomatoes, vanilla and avocado, reshaping cuisines everywhere.
Peru grows more than 3,000 kinds of potato
The Andes are the potato's homeland, and farmers still cultivate thousands of native varieties in purple, red, yellow and blue, many suited to specific altitudes.