Let’s dive straight in!
1.In the 1700s, pineapples were extremely valuable, and ONE pineapple would sell for a modern day equivalent of around $8000. The high cost was due to the perishability, novelty, exoticism, and scarcity of the fruit.
2. We eat around 250g of insects every YEAR. These are allowable at certain levels in everyday foods such as coffee, flour, vegetables and juice.
3. The Indigenous Australians are believed to be the first to make bread, with evidence of grindstones that date back 36,000 years. They were believed to be used to turn seeds (like native millet and kangaroo grass) into flours for baked goods.
4. Potatoes can absorb and reflect Wi-Fi signals. Because of potatoes’ water content and chemistry, they’re able to absorb and reflect radio wave signals the same way humans do.
5. Between 50–70% of our nitrates come from vegetables, not processed meats, and nitrate levels are dramatically higher in veggies that are grown hydroponically. For instance, a hydroponic lettuce has about 10–20 times more nitrates than a field grown lettuce. This is due to increased nitrification for the health buffs that are keen to know why!
6. Brazil nuts are more closely related to blueberries and persimmons than they are to walnuts or pecans; and they are harvested (with a lot of skill) almost exclusively from GIANT trees in the Amazon rainforest (that can grown up to 50 metres high, and 2 metres wide!)
7. Chocolate was once used as currency.
8. With Vitamin D, roughly 95% is acquired via photosynthesis in the skin (from sunlight), and only 5% through the diet; meaning dietary Vitamin D sources only play a small role in determining circulating levels.
9. There are 100–600 different species of bacteria present in breast milk, transferring about 1 million bacteria per ml 😮
10. The average Australian shopping basket contains food that, when combined, has travelled over 70,000 km. That’s three times around Australia’s coastline.
Bottom Line
No doubt I’ll have a whole new list of fascinating, mind-blowing foodie facts in the future, but for now, I hope you’ve learnt something interesting that might just help in a game of trivia one day! 😉
Until next time,
Stacey.