Over the decades, many foods have become a part of people’s everyday lives. It feels as if popsicles have been around since the beginning of time, and no one can imagine ice cream without the cone. From sauces to chips and sweets to savory, many foods were created unintentionally.
Potato Chips
Although the exact origin of potato chips is unclear, there is one popular story. In 1853, at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York, chef George Crum served a dish with a side of fries. The customer, a wealthy steamship owner named Cornelius Vanderbilt, complained that the fries were not cut thin enough. Annoyed, Crum sliced the potatoes as thin as possible, fried them to a crisp, and served them to Vanderbilt. To Crum’s surprise, Vanderbilt liked them and suggested they should become a signature dish of the restaurant. Soon, people of high status were visiting Moon’s Lake House to try these “Saratoga chips,” which later became known as potato chips.
Popsicles
One day, an 11-year-old named Frank Epperson accidentally left his glass of soda outside with the stirring stick left inside. The next day, he discovered that the drink had frozen overnight due to the cold temperatures. He decided to call it the “Epsicle.” Years later, when Epperson grew up and patented the frozen treat, his kids called it a “popsicle,” so he changed the name to popsicle.
Ice Cream Cones
Like the potato chip, the origin of the ice cream cone is unclear. One story claims that during the St. Louis World’s Fair, two vendors—one selling waffle-like pastries and the other selling ice cream—were involved in an accidental creation. The ice cream vendor had run out of cups, so the pastry vendor offered to roll his waffle pastry into a cone to hold the ice cream, thus creating the ice cream cone.
Dippin’ Dots
A microbiologist was experimenting with a way to make cow feed more efficient by using liquid nitrogen. The experiment involved flash-freezing liquid cow feed to -320 degrees Fahrenheit, which instantly turned it into small dots. The scientist wondered what would happen if he tried this with ice cream, and that’s how the cold, ice cream dots known as Dippin’ Dots were created.
Worcestershire Sauce
John Lea and William Perrins were tasked with recreating an Indian sauce recipe a man had tasted in Bengal. After they made their version of the sauce, it had an overwhelming stench, so they decided to give up and left it in jars in a cellar. Years later, when they opened the jars, they found that the stench had disappeared, and the sauce tasted surprisingly good. This led them to start selling their new sauce worldwide.
Works Cited
- “7 Famous Foods Discovered by Mistake.” Vietravel.com, 2017, www.vietravel.com/en/food-discovery/7-famous-foods-discovered-by-mistake-v11971.aspx. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
- Corusadmin. “Best Popular Foods That Were Invented by Happy Accident.” Food Network Canada, 13 Feb. 2020, www.foodnetwork.ca/article/popular-foods-invented-by-happy-accident/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
- Cravory Cookies. “The History and Origins of Chocolate Chip Cookies.” The Cravory, 27 July 2022, thecravory.com/blogs/the-cookie-corner/history-origins-chocolate-chip-cookies?srsltid=AfmBOoocnZkt-K1RDgD3ydB2Xi3K4u7LmNWMCjeA5GrB6RQ0KuM5n1D7. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
- Myers, Dan. “20 Foods and Drinks That Were Invented by Mistake.” The Daily Meal, 10 Aug. 2018, www.thedailymeal.com/eat/foods-invented-by-mistake-gallery/.
- “The History of the Chocolate Chip Cookie.” The Sugar Association, Mar. 2020, www.sugar.org/blog/the-history-of-the-chocolate-chip-cookie/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
- Walden, Kayla. “10 Famous Foods Invented by Accident – Farm Flavor.” Farmflavor.com, 6 Sept. 2022, farmflavor.com/lifestyle/food-for-thought/10-famous-foods-that-were-invented-by-accident/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
- White, April. “The Story of the Invention of the Potato Chip Is a Myth.” JSTOR Daily, 11 July 2018, daily.jstor.org/story-invention-potato-chip-myth/.