In 1990, before General Foods had officially become Kraft Foods, Maxwell House was the subject of one of the biggest branding mistakes ever. Okay, maybe not ever, but it was a pretty big booboo. The company launched Maxwell House “Brewed Ready-to-Drink” coffee which was merchandized in the refrigerated section of grocery stores. According to the label, … Read more
Although the commercial production of powdered eggs ramped up sometime in the 1930s, powdered eggs have been around much longer than most people think. It is clear that powdered eggs were invented sometime during the 1880s and commercial production in the U.S. began during that decade. Who Invented Powdered Eggs? We cannot be sure who … Read more
When I was a kid, maybe around the time I was reading How to Eat Fried Worms, there was an urban legend circulating: McDonald’s hamburgers were made with ground worms, meaning, of course, earthworms. Circulating since at least 1978, the rumor originally started about Wendy’s but was switched to McDonald’s, since the chain was so … Read more
A popular question is whether salt ever expires. Cartons of table salt have an expiration date, after all. But salt never expires. It just keeps on being salt, for thousands, and even millions of years. In fact, it was probably sitting in the ground for a couple million years before it was put in a … Read more
Italians sometimes get miffed at the unspeakable creations that we Americans call “Italian Food.” We may get it wrong much of the time, but I would remind Italy that labeling foods Italian, while it is sometimes branding, is more often simple love. We LOVE Italian food! Even though we may mess it up, we mess … Read more
A quick Google search of the origin of the idiom ‘butter someone up’ provides a colorful but unlikely answer. It is claimed that the idea of buttering someone up comes from the ancient Hindu practice of throwing balls of clarified butter at the statues of Gods to ask for favors. As idioms go, this particular … Read more