Search for the origin of Salisbury Steak, and you will run into a web of confident misconceptions. You may read that it was invented purely as a Civil War treatment for dysentery, served as a bland, unseasoned lump of meat. It’s also claimed that it was created as an “offshoot” of the German Hamburg steak, … Read more
Every few years, the internet goes wild over a “time capsule” discovery inside a suburban shopping mall. A viral video will show a maintenance worker or explorer popping open a door to reveal a fully intact 1980s or 1990s fast-food restaurant, recomplete with retro wood-grain booths, pastel menu boards, and old soda fountains, sitting completely … Read more
We’ve all asked. Why is it that when you take off the lid of your morning take-out trying to get a sip of coffee, your met with a blast of steam that lets you know you’ll be waiting at least 15 minutes before the stuff is even remotely drinkable? Commercial drive-thru coffee isn’t just warm, … Read more
In this age of retroactive cynicism, a popular narrative has taken hold that Patrón tequila is little more than an elaborate marketing scam. The story usually goes that two American entrepreneurs put average, cheap liquor in a hand-blown bottle, gave it a $40 price tag, and scammed the public into believing they were drinking a … Read more
It’s one of the most famous tea blends in the world. It’s also one of the most prestigious. Yet, the origin of Earl Grey tea is murky and subject to myth and storytelling. It’s history is shrouded by competing corporate claims and fanciful tales of appreciate Asians. Even its signature flavoring, bergamot, is open to … Read more
The public is divided on the subject of American cheese. You either have nostalgic affection for a childhood grilled cheese, or intense disgust toward what you believe is “fake, plastic food.” Food purists dismiss it as an industrial chemical creation and many insist that it isn’t real cheese at all. American cheese, however, isn’t a … Read more