Food Fights

Let’s face it, people are opinionated about their food. We are too, to a certain extent (just ketchup on our hot dog if you please). There is hardly a topic that both unites and antagonizes people as much as food. Food is not only a necessity of life, but also a seemingly inexhaustible source of curiosities and unbelievable stories. Beyond our personal preferences lies a world of gastronomic history filled with surprises and oddities.

 Consider this, have you ever said to yourself, “I would kill for a sandwich right now?” Well, historically you’re not alone. Throughout history, wars have been fought over food. Food wars began with recorded time and are still happening in the 21st century. Some were comical and harmless, while others reshaped the world. Some were caused by misunderstandings, while others were used as a convenient excuse in territorial disputes.

At the same time, food is an essential part of culture. Food is not just sustenance, it’s a touchstone that shapes people’s identities and the perceptions of others. Even the names of some foods attest to their national origins. But if someone told you that french fries are Belgian, or that tempura was actually Portuguese, would that change anything?

If you’re hungry for something different, then dig into this menu of some strange foods through the ages, foods whose national origins aren’t what they seem, foods that caused wars, and some just plain interesting food facts that sound too bizarre to be true. But please, we ask you to please bring your own condiments for the feast.

Food Through The Ages

In his novel, “The Go-Between”, author L.P. Hartley said, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” This holds especially true of the food people used to eat.

Melas Zomas: Known for their discipline, warrior culture, fearsomeness in battle and, if the film “300” is to be believed, for killing thousands of Persians while wearing only cloaks, helmets, and leather underpants, the Spartans were a race apart back in the days of Ancient Greece. When they weren’t butchering their enemies or throwing unworthy infants off cliffs, the Spartans liked to sit down to a dish of ‘melas zomas’, or ‘black soup’. Consisting of boiled pig meat and pig blood, black soup was flavored only with salt and vinegar and was, by all accounts, inedible to anyone who wasn’t a Spartan.

'I know now why the Spartans do not fear death,' was the verdict of one outsider who had the misfortune to try this disgusting sounding dish.

Fish Bladder Jam: In the 1800’s, the Victorians just couldn’t get enough of this stuff. The gooey substance they squeezed out of the bladders of sturgeon, and eventually cod fish, was called ‘isinglass’.

Isinglass was commonly used as a thickening agent, having first been used as one of the main ingredients for making glue. How someone looked at glue and thought, 'We could make jam out of this' is a mystery, but that’s exactly what happened, and people happily chewed their way through gallons of fish bladder jam and confectionary until gelatin became a cheaper alternative. Spoiler alert - today, isinglass is used in the brewing industry to speed up the sedimentation process, which might come as a bit of a shock to all those vegans and vegetarians out there who may have been blissfully unaware that they’ve been downing pints of delicious fish bladder ale for years. 

Ambergris: Ambergris has been used as an ingredient in food and drink for hundreds of years. England’s King Charles II’s favorite dish was a mixture of eggs and ambergris, and he insisted it be used to flavor everything from cigarettes to hot chocolate. But what, you may be asking, is ambergris? Sometimes referred to as ‘whale vomit’ or ‘floating gold’, ambergris is formed in the intestinal tracts of sperm whales over many years. Ambergris is a greyish-brown, waxy substance produced by the whales to help ease the passage of objects they have eaten but can’t digest before being expelled the same way whales expel fecal waste. Sort of a natural whale laxative.

Usually found floating in the sea or washed up on beaches, ambergris has not only been the foodstuff of choice for royalty, but also has been a firm favorite of the perfume industry thanks its strong and long lingering scent. Nowadays, ambergris has fallen out of favor as a food additive – possibly because people found out what it was and where it came from – but it is still used in the perfume industry.

The Cockentrice: British royalty never ceases to amaze and amuse. There was once a time when not just real animals, but also imaginary ones were served up in the palaces of the high and mighty. The cockentrice was one such creation that became popular at the courts of the Tudor kings and queens. Two varieties were ‘bred’ in the kitchens of Hampton Court and Whitehall Palace. One was the upper body of a suckling pig sewn onto the bottom half of a turkey;

the other was the front end of a turkey sewed onto the bottom half of a pig. The resulting creature was then roasted on an open spit and presented as the star of the show at Tudor banquets. This unusual delicacy, which has to take the crown as the ultimate culinary chimera, eventually fell out of fashion. But we’re betting it’s pretty safe to assume that cockentrice tasted like chicken. And pork.

Cock Beer: No, no, no, it’s not what you’re thinking. This hilariously named beer was made by tossing a dead cockerel, along with a selection of strong-smelling herbs, into a bag and depositing the bag into a barrel of beer. Sometimes, a live cockerel was used instead, which seems a bit excessive.

Why was this done to lovely, delicious beer? Well, it wasn’t to produce dead chicken-flavored beer (which is why strong herbs were used to overpower the taste of chicken.) The reason for ruining perfectly good beer with a giant chicken teabag stemmed from the belief that the beer would be infused with the cockerel’s characteristics of strength, vigor, and courage. It was therefore mainly drunk by big, manly men who wanted to become even bigger, even more manlier men. Happily, cock beer eventually fell out of favor and now people drink beers that taste of beer instead of dead chickens. 

Well, most people anyways.

Food – Where’d It Come From?

“Food, like language, is a living thing. It evolves, it mutates, it adapts to new circumstances. What we perceive as ‘national’ cuisine is often a mosaic of influences from across the globe, reflecting centuries of trade, migration, and cultural exchange.” Anonymous.

The dish: Tempura

Survey Says: Originated in Japan

Reality Bites: Originated in Portugal

Tempura, battered and fried seafood or vegetables, is considered a Japanese food. But it was actually introduced to Japan by Portuguese Jesuits – traveling on a Chinese ship - during the mid-16th century. Once the Portuguese had their footing in Japan, they remained for nearly a century, exchanging goods, ideas, and recipes. The traditional Portuguese dish, "peixinhos da horta," left an indelible mark on Japan. Translated to "little fish of the garden," peixinhos da horta was made by battering and frying green beans.

The Japanese renamed it tempura, derived from the Latin word "tempora," indicative of prohibitions on eating meat during Lent.

The dish: Sauerkraut

Survey Says: Originated in Germany

Reality Bites: Originated in China

Often served alongside traditional German sausages, sauerkraut is thought to have been brought to Europe during the 13th century. Pickled cabbage made its way into Germany thanks to Genghis Khan and the Mongols, having been eaten in China for centuries.

Sauerkraut, which literally means "sour cabbage," was not the first fermented vegetable present in Europe, however. Greek physician Hippocrates mentioned fermented vegetables in his work, praising them as healthy. Roman scholar Pliny the Elder wrote, "The cabbage helps to provide plenty of milk for breastfeeding mothers, it helps for cloudy eyes, positively affects headaches and is supposed to work as a cure after alcohol consumption." 

The dish: Spaghetti & Meatballs

Survey Says: Originated in Italy

Reality Bites: Originated in USA

Reminiscent of traditional Italian polpettes - meatballs eaten as standalone meals - meatballs were served with tomato-based sauces and pasta only when Italian immigrants came to the United States. As Italian immigrants flocked to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they brought their food preferences with them. The majority of these immigrants were improvished and had only been able to afford meat occasionally in Italy, but it was much more affordable in the US. As Italian restaurants paired starches and proteins to form meatballs, canned tomatoes and dry pasta offered cheap, quick dining options in Italian-American homes. And soon, spaghetti and meatballs was added to the melting pot of American cooking traditions.

The dish: Croissants

Survey Says: Originated in France

Reality Bites: Originated in Austria

The first record of croissants in France didn't appear until the mid-19th century. Austrian baker August Zang opened a shop in Paris in 1838, introducing Viennese croissants to the city. French bakers soon began making Austrian kipfel with puff pastry, heaping innovation upon a long-established bread-baking tradition. 

Bite down into a crescent-shaped Austrian kipfel - a pastry made from butter, sugar, and flour - and it might remind you of a French croissant.

While a modern kipfel resembles a half-moon-shaped cookie, the origins of the croissant - one of France's most identifiable foods - do, in fact, reside in this Austrian treat. Pastry-like breads are thought to have been made by pagans in antiquity as well as by Germanic groups throughout Europe. Documentation from the 13th century indicates that Viennese bakers presented Duke Leopold with kipfel in 1227.

The dish: French Fries

Survey Says: Originated in France

Reality Bites: Originated in Belgium

French fries were most likely the creation of French-speaking Belgians during WWI. According to lore, when American soldiers observed Belgian fishermen frying potatoes, they called the food "french fries" because the men spoke French. In both France and Belgium during the mid-19th century, fried potatoes were a common street food. It's difficult to know exactly who tried it first.

While one of the most common American meals - a hamburger and french fries - may be a giant misnomer, it gets worse. Ground-beef patties were introduced to the United States by German immigrants in the 19th century, indicating that hamburgers aren't entirely American in origin either. But to be fair, the hamburger - beef and bun - was allegedly invented at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904.  

Food Fights

Some scholars suggest that human warfare may have evolved alongside our move from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle into an agricultural one, given that any growing population (even a prehistoric one) will likely strain its available resources sooner or later. As Neil Gaiman mused in 'Good Omens', “civilization is 24 hours and two meals away from barbarism.”

The Pastry War: One might say that the French take their pastries a little too seriously. Following Mexico’s independence from Spain, the country was in a chaotic state as competing leadership factions, European nationals, and just about everybody else struggled for a better place in the new order. Clashes in the street reportedly destroyed the bakery of one French chef. One thing led to another until the French government demanded 600,000 Mexican pesos (including 60,000 for the pastry shop, which was worth about 1,000 pesos) as reparations for his losses and other French businesses that had been destroyed.

French King Louis-Phillippe was already miffed at Mexico over the matter of un-repaid loans, so he allowed these pastries to be the ones that broke the camel’s back. He dispatched his fleet to Veracruz and kicked off what would be a three-month conflict between the countries from 1838 to 1839 with France blockading Mexican ports and ransacking Veracruz and Mexico declaring was on France and conscripting an army. With the help of mediation, Mexico eventually paid France the 600,000 pesos they were demanding.

The Pig War: Often enough, reasons given for the eruption of a war will involve some minute detail or other that leaders have chosen for their "breaking point." In the case of the Pig War, also known as the San Juan Boundary Dispute, an 1859 conflict between British and American forces on the West Coast of what's now Washington state, the "shot heard round the world" was fired at one very special porker.

An uneasy truce existed between American and British inhabitants of a group of islands caught between the coasts of Canada and the state of Washington which made it difficult to determine exactly who belonged where. With tensions running high, representatives of the British Hudson Bay Company suddenly found themselves living next door to U.S. settlers. When a British pig (worth either $10 or $100, depending which party you asked) wandered onto a nearby American's farm, ate some potatoes and was shot for its trespass, both competing powers were ready to throw down. An American commander sent an infantry company to the island and the British responded by sending war ships. Fortunately, no shots were fired, and there were no casualties—except for the pig.

The Lobster War: The Lobster War of 1961-63, though seemingly whimsical in name, reveals the depths of national maritime absurdity. What began as a battle over spiny lobsters (also called rock lobsters) escalated into a geopolitical tango between Brazil and France. As Brazil staked its claim to territorial waters, France's lobstermen, armed with crustacean catchers and a penchant for provocation, ventured into contested seas. The stage was set for a maritime comedy of errors, with lobster boats replacing warships, and diplomatic squabbles over the nature of lobsters – were they fish that swim or crustaceans that crawl?

As tensions bubbled, Brazil placed its navy on high alert and the French dispatched its then state-of-the-art destroyer Tartu to the region adding a dramatic twist to this oceanic opera. Brazil's naval response, coupled with flyovers by B-17 bombers, turned the lobster dispute into a spectacle of international brinkmanship. Beneath the surface, geopolitical currents swirled, with Brazil resenting U.S. influence/interference and asserting its regional dominance, took the matter to the International Court at the Hague. The Lobster War became a symbol of sovereignty and a struggle for control over maritime resources, all entangled within the spindly legs of crustaceans.

Diplomats danced delicately through the churning waters, urging arbitration and negotiation to avoid a full-scale maritime melee. Eventually, sanity prevailed as Brazil expanded its territorial waters and permitted French boats limited access to the disputed lobster grounds.  

The First Sioux War (also known as the Grattan incident):  On August 17, 1854, a cow belonging to a Mormon traveling on the Oregon Trail strayed and was killed and eaten by a member of the Miniconjou tribe (a subdivision of the Lakota Sioux) near Fort Laramie, in what is now Wyoming in the USA. Instead of waiting for a local Indian Agent to settle the dispute (as per regulations of the Treaty of 1851), a trigger-happy recent graduate of West Point, Lt. John Lawrence Grattan, brought 28 soldiers to confront the local Sioux, who were hosting the visiting Miniconjou, and demand that the miscreant be delivered to them. Discussions quickly escalated, and a jumpy soldier fired his gun, mortally wounding the tribal chief. The Sioux responded by killing all 29 soldiers. Thus began the First Sioux War, which lasted for two years. However, some historians suggest that almost a quarter of a century of battles between local tribes and the U.S. military were set off by the Grattan incident.

The Great Emu War: No, this war was not fought over emus — it was fought against them. In the 1930’s, Australian farmers complained that an overabundant emu population had infiltrated their fields and were consuming their crops. Farmers in the region were World War I veterans, granted land by the government in exchange for their service. Facing a potential PR disaster, the Australian government declared war on the flightless birds.

In response, Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Royal Australian Artillery and a small army armed with machine guns embarked on a six-week campaign to rid the region of the flightless birds. As it turns out, giant, conniving birds don’t stand around waiting to be shot. Despite firing almost 10,000 rounds, the soldiers proved no match for the emus, who, capable of running over 50 mph, were faster even than the trucks on which the guns were mounted. The weeks-long effort was later viewed as both a failure and a laughingstock, with many of the birds even surviving being directly struck by gunfire. Major Meredith later stated, "If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds, it would face any army in the world. They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks."

In the end, the army packed up and headed home, leaving ammo in the hands of the farmers so that they could shoot emu for themselves. Alfred Hitchcock, eat your heart out!

The Boston Tea Party: You've probably heard this one before, but it bears repeating. In the 1770s, the British imposed taxes on the American colonies for goods such as stamps, spice, and tea, and the colonials were none too happy about it. So, some guys called the Sons of Liberty decided to show Britain what they really thought of the taxes in the best way they knew how - throwing a bunch of tea into the Boston harbor. One might call it a symbolic act of tea-bagging the British.

Regardless, it was this Boston Tea Party that essentially started the American Revolution. 

Bizarre But True

"I am not a chef. I am not a journalist. I am not a scientist. I am not a critic. I am, however, supremely curious about all of the above. I am, at times, foolishly fearless and, at other times, wisely cautious. I am an insatiable, omnivorous, adventurous eater of all things interesting." Anthony Bourdain.

Lobster Compost: Lobster is a prized dish served at many high-end restaurants, but it wasn’t always a luxury item. When the first European settlers reached North America, lobsters were so plentiful that piles up to two feet high (0.61m) would wash ashore in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, earning lobsters the nickname, “cockroaches of the sea”.

There were so many lobsters that Native Americans would use them as fertilizer and fish bait. Because they were so abundant, they were seen as poor man’s food. In the colonial era, prisoners dined on lobsters. And in Massachusetts, servants even negotiated their contracts to say they refused to eat lobster more than twice per week.

The most edible stolen good: Believe it or not, cheese is the most stolen commodity in the world. Around 4% of the cheese produced worldwide is being stolen. Evidently, there is actually quite a significant black market around for this fermented delicacy.

Moon bacon: After Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin took their history-making first steps on the moon, the pair sat down to eat. The first meal after the ‘Eagle’ had landed included bacon squares, sugar cookies, peaches, a pineapple grapefruit drink and coffee. Bacon is thought to have been the very first food eaten on the moon. One might even say that this was one small step for man, one giant leap for bacon-kind.

Waiter, There’s A Foot in my Pie: Pies date back thousands of years. For much of history, people ate savory meat pies. Instead of crust, the ancient Romans filled reed tubes with pies to hold the filling. But medieval English pies took the food to a whole new level. The English called their crusts a "coffyn" for the filling. And what went inside the pie? Chicken, of course. It was easy for customers to see exactly what flavor of pie they were about to eat, since bakers left chicken feet hanging through the side of the crust. The legs weren't just decorative - they were used as handles.

Bizarre Foods with….Charles Darwin??: Long before Andrew Zimmern came onto the scene, there was naturalist Charles Darwin. He had quite an adventurous taste in food it seems. During his time at the University of Cambridge, Darwin was a member of the Glutton Club, a group of students who met weekly to eat unusual meat, such as hawk and bittern. Darwin’s palette for interesting foods evolved as he travelled around the world for his research, eating pumas, iguanas, armadillos, and even giant tortoises along the way.

Got Frog?: For centuries, before the invention of modern refrigerators, Russians used to put live frogs in their milk to help preserve it and prevent it from going sour. The Russians weren’t sure how this amphibious dairy treatment worked, but they were convinced that it did. Recent research has found frogs have peptides on their skin that has antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Pez to Stop Smoking: With its colorful collectable designs, most people would be surprised to find out Pez was originally created to stop people smoking. In 1927, Eduard Haas III invented the peppermint candy in Austria, which was originally sold in wrapped rolls. It wasn’t until 1949 that the first Pez dispenser was created, designed to look like a cigarette lighter as an alternative to tobacco. The colorful characters found on the dispensers today began in the late 50s and marked a turning point for the candy, from adult mints to a children’s treat.

Vanilla, Fascinating Vanilla: While vanilla has unfortunately become a synonym for “ordinary,” it’s really anything but. For starters, it’s the only edible fruit to come from orchids, even though they’re the largest family of flowers. And the specific orchids that provide the vanilla beans (remember now, they’re not beans, they’re the fruit of the orchids) from which vanilla extract derives from are found in a very small subsection of the world, with 80% coming just from Madagascar alone. Vanilla gets its name from Spanish conquistadors, who named it after the Spanish word for “vagina.” It must be pollinated by hand using a technique developed by an enslaved 12-year-old named Edmond Albius (we're speaking about the orchid here). And it’s the world’s second most expensive spice (around USD $270/pound) behind saffron.

7Up, up, up, and awayyyyyy: Invented in 1929 by Charles Leiper Grigg, the popular soda we now today as 7UP was originally called the very catchy, Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda, and contained lithium. At the time, lithium, a mood-enhancing salt, had long been used to treat bipolar disorder and depression. The soda was marketed as a mood-booster as well as a delicious fizzy drink. In 1948, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of lithium in soft drinks and 7UP was reformulated two years later.

What’s in a Name?: No one was interested in eating Patagonian toothfish. That is until it was rebranded as Chilean Sea Bass in 1994. Now it sells for $29.99 a pound.

Marketing Makes the World Go ‘Round: Spice traders used to make up stories about the exotic origins of spices so they could sell them for more money. Cinnamon, it was said, came from giant bird nests and had to be transported using rafts without oars on a treacherous journey that took five years and was powered by courage alone. Black pepper was said to grow in forests guarded by serpents that had to be scared away by setting the trees on fire, which explained why black pepper pods were the color of ashes.

Honey vs Vinegar: The adage “you’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar” isn’t really true. Rather, catching flies depends on a host of complex variables including the age (driver’s license please), gender, sex drive, mating status (do fly’s wear wedding rings?), thirst, and stress level of each fly (fly’s get stressed??) - as well as the concentration of the vinegar, the time of day, and the season. Even then, some research suggests you’ll catch even more flies with beer or human semen, with one scientist calling semen “the crack cocaine of the fly world.”

And we thought we’d end with that one because, well let’s just say the image of a fly snorting…let’s just say we just figured this was a good place to say “that’s a wrap”.

In the culinary arena, where tastes clash and flavors reign supreme, the battleground is as varied as the dishes themselves. From the illustrious kitchens of royalty to the humble origins of street vendors, food has been both the cause célèbre and the catalyst for some of history's most peculiar conflicts. Who knew that behind the innocent facade of a stray cow, or the humble allure of an afternoon tea, lay the seeds of discord and international intrigue? As we’ve peeled back a few of the layers of culinary history, we find ourselves entwined in a narrative as rich and savory as the dishes we so eagerly devour.

Yet, amidst the tales of lobster wars and pastry battles, there lies a deeper truth: food is not merely sustenance, but a mirror reflecting the intricacies of culture and the complexities of human interaction. Whether it be the bold maneuvers of emus or the diplomatic nuances of lobster disputes, each culinary anecdote unveils a facet of humanity's insatiable appetite for more than just nourishment. As we navigate through the annals of gastronomic lore, we find ourselves tantalized by the endless possibilities and bewildered by the sheer audacity of culinary innovation.

So, as we ask for the check on this weeks’ feast of eccentricities, let’s not forget that the culinary journey is far from over. For in the world of food, where fact blends with fiction and taste transcends borders, every meal is an adventure waiting to be savored. Until next time, may your forks be sharp, your palates adventurous, and your hunger for knowledge insatiable. Bon appétit!

Ever been in a real food fight? Tell us about it or your favorite food or meal in the comments below.

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