ZAP’S FACTS!
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FOOD

What we eat, why we eat it, and the strange stories behind your favorite snacks.

50 facts
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A young ancient cook writes on a clay tablet with cuneiform symbols, surrounded by a pot and a loaf of bread.
ORIGINS

The world's oldest cookbook is about 4,000 years old.

Ancient cooks wrote recipes for stews and bread on clay tablets in what is now Iraq - long before paper existed.

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MORE FOOD FACTS

49 facts
A cheerful cartoon chef in a beret proudly holds a blue cone overflowing with golden, crispy French fries against a bright…
DID YOU KNOW? French fries are probably Belgian. Belgians have been frying potato strips for at least 300 years - long before "French fries" got their American nickname. 2 min read
A golden croissant with a small Austrian flag perched on top, set against a bright blue dotted background.
DID YOU KNOW? Croissants are originally from Austria, not France. The famous flaky crescent pastry was created in Vienna and only travelled to France a century later. 2 min read
A cheerful monk in a brown robe holds a golden pretzel shaped like folded arms, smiling against a bright blue background.
DID YOU KNOW? Pretzels are shaped like a monk's praying arms. A medieval monk supposedly twisted leftover bread dough into the shape of arms folded in prayer - and the pretzel was born. 2 min read
A cheerful trio holds different curry dishes: a boy in a yellow turban with a bowl, a red-haired boy in a suit, and a girl…
DID YOU KNOW? Curry travelled around the world and changed in every country. From its Indian roots to British curry houses and Japanese curry rice, the word "curry" now means something different almost everywhere. 2 min read
A colorful pop-art plate features a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink, with the iconic golden arches towering above.
DID YOU KNOW? There is a McDonald's in over 100 countries. From Iceland to India to the smallest Pacific islands, the golden arches are nearly everywhere on Earth. 2 min read
A cheerful cartoon turkey stands next to a colorful TV dinner tray filled with turkey, peas, mashed potatoes, and cheese.
DID YOU KNOW? The TV dinner was invented because of leftover turkey. A frozen food company had 240 tonnes of unsold Thanksgiving turkey - and a clever salesman saved the day. 2 min read
A hand with a blue knife slices through a loaf of bread, revealing perfectly cut pieces stacked neatly beside it.
DID YOU KNOW? Sliced bread was invented in 1928. Before that, every loaf was sold whole - and you had to slice it yourself, often unevenly, with a knife. 2 min read
A colorful burger with cheese and lettuce sits on a tray next to a box of fries, with a cartoon castle in the background.
DID YOU KNOW? White Castle was the world's first fast food chain. Decades before McDonald's existed, a small Kansas chain was already serving identical little burgers on a production line. 2 min read
A cheerful man in a green hat and suspenders proudly holds a hot dog, grinning against a bright blue background.
DID YOU KNOW? The hot dog was originally a sausage from Germany. German immigrants brought their long, thin sausages to America in the 1800s - and put them in a bun to make street food history. 2 min read
A cheerful cartoon earl with a bowler hat peeks out from between two slices of bread, surrounded by lettuce and cheese.
DID YOU KNOW? The sandwich is named after an actual earl. An 18th-century English nobleman wanted a snack he could eat without getting his cards greasy - and gave his title to a whole food category. 2 min read
A cheerful chef in a white hat holds a delicious pizza topped with tomatoes and basil, with an Italian flag and a ripe…
DID YOU KNOW? Modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy. People had been eating flatbreads with toppings for thousands of years, but pizza as we know it was born in 1700s Naples. 2 min read
A tall mug of frothy root beer stands next to a cartoonish sassafras tree, both set against a bright yellow background.
DID YOU KNOW? Root beer was originally made from the bark of a tree. The classic American fizzy drink got its sweet, spicy flavor from the root of the sassafras tree. 2 min read
Two cheerful astronauts in space suits sip from blue bottles, a rocket and stars visible through a round window behind them.
DID YOU KNOW? Astronauts on the space station drink their own recycled sweat. Water is too heavy to launch into space, so every drop on the ISS is filtered and used again - and again. 2 min read
A cheerful dad and his daughter sip lemonade through straws, surrounded by bright lemons and a sunny blue background.
DID YOU KNOW? People have been drinking lemonade for at least a thousand years. The first lemonade-like drinks were sold in medieval Egypt - long before lemons even reached Europe. 2 min read
A fierce red bull stands confidently on a blue patch, with a bright yellow lightning bolt zapping behind it on a dotted…
DID YOU KNOW? Red Bull is based on a Thai energy drink for truck drivers. The original was a syrupy yellow tonic called Krating Daeng, sold to keep long-distance drivers awake. 2 min read
A cheerful cup of bubble tea with a red lid and blue straw, surrounded by bouncing tapioca pearls and a green leaf.
DID YOU KNOW? Bubble tea was invented in Taiwan in the 1980s. A tea shop manager dropped tapioca pearls into iced tea on a whim - and accidentally invented one of the biggest drink crazes of the modern world. 2 min read
A cheerful boy in a red shirt holds a glass of milk surrounded by a camel, reindeer, yak, and donkey, all smiling.
DID YOU KNOW? Around the world, people drink milk from many different animals. Camels, yaks, reindeer, donkeys, and even moose all give milk that humans drink. 2 min read
A cheerful cartoon champagne bottle with arms and legs pops its cork, sending bubbles flying against a bright yellow…
DID YOU KNOW? A champagne bottle holds about three times the pressure of a car tyre. All those bubbles are trapped carbon dioxide gas, and they push against the bottle hard enough to launch the cork like a bullet. 2 min read
A green glass bottle with a yellow label and a blue water droplet, bubbles rising playfully around it against a bright…
DID YOU KNOW? The world's oldest soda brand started fizzing in 1783. Schweppes has been making sparkling water for over 240 years - back when most of the world had never heard of bubbles in a drink. 2 min read
A cheerful goat herder in a straw hat smiles while holding a branch of bright red berries, flanked by two excited goats.
DID YOU KNOW? Coffee was discovered by a goat herder, according to legend. A 9th-century Ethiopian goat herder noticed his goats getting jumpy after eating red berries from a certain bush - and the rest is history. 2 min read
A cheerful boy in a yellow shirt sips from a large red cup of steaming tea, with a teapot and green leaves nearby.
DID YOU KNOW? Tea is the most popular drink in the world after water. Humans drink more cups of tea each day than coffee, soda, and juice combined - and it has been our favorite drink for thousands of years. 2 min read
A colorful carton of orange juice sits next to a bright orange, a sliced wedge, and a glass filled with fresh juice.
DID YOU KNOW? Most orange juice is artificially flavored to taste the same all year. After being stored for months, juice loses its flavor - so companies add "flavor packs" to make every carton taste identical. 2 min read
A classic Coca-Cola bottle sits inside a bright blue vault, secured with a shiny golden padlock against a vibrant background.
DID YOU KNOW? The Coca-Cola formula is locked in a bank vault. The exact recipe for Coke has been a guarded secret for over 130 years - and is kept inside a giant vault in Atlanta. 2 min read
A cheerful boy with curly hair excitedly holds a shiny red wrapper revealing a delicious chocolate bar, grinning widely.
DID YOU KNOW? The first chocolate bar was made in England in 1847. For most of history, chocolate was a drink - it took an English company to figure out how to mould it into a solid bar. 2 min read
A cheerful cartoon fortune cookie with arms and legs waves happily against a bright blue polka-dotted background.
DID YOU KNOW? Fortune cookies were invented in America, not China. The little folded cookies served at Chinese restaurants in the US are almost unknown in China - and were probably first baked in California. 2 min read
A smiling man in a blue suit holds a chocolate bar while two excited children reach out, with a bright yellow school in the…
DID YOU KNOW? Milton Hershey gave his chocolate fortune to an orphanage. The man who built America's biggest chocolate company left his entire fortune to a school for poor children - and it still owns the company today. 2 min read
A cheerful yellow gummy bear in lederhosen dances joyfully with red, green, and blue gummy bear friends around him.
DID YOU KNOW? Gummy bears were invented in Germany in the 1920s. A German candy maker named Hans Riegel created the first "dancing bear" candies - and the company he started is still selling them today. 2 min read
A cheerful brown horse with a blonde mane leans toward colorful spiral lollipops on a bright yellow polka dot background.
DID YOU KNOW? Lollipops may be named after a famous racehorse. The modern lollipop got its name in the early 1900s - and a popular legend says the inventor named it after his favorite horse. 2 min read
A joyful Persian king with a crown enjoys a colorful bowl of ice cream topped with a cherry, with a snowy mountain in the…
DID YOU KNOW? People have been making ice cream for over 2,500 years. Long before freezers, Persian kings ate frozen desserts made from snow carried down from the mountains. 2 min read
A cheerful dentist in a white coat holds a giant pink cotton candy on a stick, grinning with a dental mirror in his other…
DID YOU KNOW? Cotton candy was invented by a dentist. A dentist co-invented the machine that spins pure sugar into fluffy clouds - the same sugar that rots teeth. 2 min read
A cheerful boy in a yellow shirt blows a huge pink bubble while holding a piece of gum, surrounded by a bright blue dotted…
DID YOU KNOW? Bubble gum is pink because that is all the inventor had left. The first bubble gum got its color by accident - the factory only had pink food coloring in stock. 1 min read
A cheerful cartoon marshmallow waves next to a tall marsh mallow plant with pink flowers, set against a bright yellow…
DID YOU KNOW? Marshmallows were originally made from a real plant. Ancient Egyptians made the first marshmallows from the sticky sap of the marsh mallow plant - sugar wasn't even involved. 2 min read
A swirly soft-serve ice cream cone in creamy white sits atop a classic waffle cone, against a bright polka-dot background.
DID YOU KNOW? White chocolate is not actually chocolate. It contains cocoa butter, but none of the dark cocoa solids that give chocolate its color and flavor. 1 min read
A worried cartoon dog with a red collar sticks out its tongue, eyeing a blue chocolate bar and a big warning sign.
DID YOU KNOW? Chocolate is poisonous to dogs. A chemical in cocoa called theobromine is harmless to humans, but dogs cannot break it down - and it can make them very sick. 2 min read
An Aztec man with a feathered headdress grins while holding cocoa beans in one hand and a turkey in the other.
DID YOU KNOW? The Aztecs used chocolate beans as money. Cocoa beans were so valuable in ancient Mexico that you could trade a handful for a turkey or a slave. 2 min read
A fuzzy brown kiwifruit sits next to a sliced half, revealing its vibrant green flesh and tiny black seeds, on a bright…
DID YOU KNOW? Kiwifruit used to be called Chinese gooseberries. New Zealand growers renamed the fuzzy green fruit in 1959 to make it easier to sell in America. 2 min read
A cheerful farmer in a straw hat waves as ripe cranberries bounce down a wooden ramp into a barrel overflowing with fruit.
DID YOU KNOW? Cranberries bounce when they are ripe. Farmers sort cranberries by dropping them down a wooden ramp - only the bouncy ones make the grade. 2 min read
Two bright, shiny mangoes with vibrant orange skin and a green leaf, set against a playful blue polka-dot background.
DID YOU KNOW? Mangoes are the most eaten fruit on Earth. Forget apples and bananas - humans eat more mangoes worldwide than any other fresh fruit. 1 min read
A cartoon boy with messy blonde hair yelps in surprise as a coconut drops from a tall palm tree above him.
DID YOU KNOW? Falling coconuts hurt more people than sharks every year. A ripe coconut weighs over a kilogram and falls 25 metres from the top of the tree - that is a serious thump. 2 min read
A person in a red shirt grimaces while holding a spiky durian, with green wavy lines indicating a strong smell around them.
DID YOU KNOW? Durian smells so bad it is banned on Singapore buses. The spiky tropical "king of fruits" tastes like custard and onions and can be smelled from a block away. 2 min read
A bright yellow lemon sinks in blue water while a green lime splashes above, with a lemon slice floating nearby.
DID YOU KNOW? Lemons sink in water, but limes float. They look almost the same, but a lime is hollow enough inside to float while a lemon sinks like a stone. 1 min read
A bright red pomegranate is split open, revealing a treasure trove of shiny, jewel-like seeds nestled inside.
DID YOU KNOW? A pomegranate can have over a thousand seeds. Crack one open and you find hundreds of jewel-like seeds packed inside - the count varies wildly from fruit to fruit. 2 min read
A cheerful watermelon slice with a bite taken out holds a glass of blue water, ready to sip through a straw.
DID YOU KNOW? Watermelon is 92% water. Bite into a watermelon and you are basically drinking - there is barely any "fruit" left once you remove the water. 1 min read
A cheerful boy with a big smile bites into a shiny red apple while reaching for another floating apple in a blue tub of…
DID YOU KNOW? Apples float because they are 25% air. Bob for apples without sinking - about a quarter of every apple is empty space inside its cells. 1 min read
A vibrant, sliced avocado reveals a shiny, large brown seed nestled in its creamy green flesh against a bright blue…
DID YOU KNOW? Avocados are berries with the world's biggest seed. That huge stone in the middle of an avocado is one giant seed - making it a single-seeded berry. 2 min read
A vibrant, cartoon-style pineapple with a textured, golden body and a spiky green crown pops against a bright yellow…
DID YOU KNOW? A pineapple takes about two years to grow. Each pineapple is made of dozens of tiny fruits fused together - and the plant only produces one fruit at a time. 2 min read
A cheerful cartoon tomato with arms and legs raises a finger, surrounded by two other tomatoes on a bright yellow dotted…
DID YOU KNOW? Tomatoes are technically a fruit, but legally a vegetable. A US Supreme Court case in 1893 ruled that tomatoes are vegetables - for tax reasons. 2 min read
Three bright yellow bananas sit next to a vibrant red strawberry, all against a playful blue polka-dotted background.
DID YOU KNOW? Bananas are berries, but strawberries are not. Botanists sort fruit by how it grows, not by what it looks like - and the bananas in your lunchbox pass the test. 2 min read
A cheerful cartoon bee buzzes next to a jar of golden honey and a shiny red apple on a bright yellow background.
DID YOU KNOW? Honey is one of the very few foods that almost never spoils. Archaeologists discovered pots of honey in 3,000-year-old Egyptian tombs that were still safe to eat, thanks to honey's unique properties. 1 min read

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