10 very weird food facts!

Russia Only Classed Beer As Alcohol In 2011!

A hard one to wrap your head around. Before 2011, beer and any alcoholic beverage under 10% ABV was classified as a soft drink. It probably goes without saying that this couldn't go on forever and Russia introduced legislation to control and limit the sale of beer to combat the issues of underage drinking and health.

The Most Stolen Food In The World Is Cheese!

Definitely one of the more surprising facts in this series, the most stolen food in the world is in fact cheese. Around 4% of ALL the cheese made in the world gets stolen. There's even a black market of stolen cheeses, but we didn't tell you that.

Bananas Are Berries, But Strawberries Aren't!

I bet that you didn't know this one. This fact tends to only be known by botanists who apparently get their kicks from misleading the public. Bananas, cucumbers, kiwis are all classed as berries. Strawberries, blackberries and raspberries are not. And now you will question everything you thought you knew.

Lobsters & Oysters Used To Be Working Class Food!

Such is the crazy nature of life that the foods that people pay hand over fist for in restaurants used to be considered barely worthy of human consumption. Lobsters are quite literally sea insects that were a hard sale back in the day. They used to be chucked back in the sea or given to servants. There used to be a law on how much lobster you could serve a prisoner as too much was considered to be cruel. How things have changed.

You Can Hear Rhubarb Grow!

An old method called 'rhubarb forcing' involves putting your rhubarb in a dark shed, tricking it into thinking that it's spring. This will cause the rhubarb to grow unnaturally large at an unnaturally fast pace. So fast that you can hear the rhubarb popping as it grows.

Large Groups Of Pistachios Can Spontaneously Combust!

The oily fibrous materials used to transport pistachio nuts can cause them to break out in flames! Exercise caution whenever you pass a big mound of pistachio nuts.

Fruit Stickers Are Edible!

Now you don't have to freak out when you take a bite into the sticker. Let us be clear about this fact, just because the stickers are non-toxic and edible, doesn't mean you should eat them.

Without Flies, There Would No Chocolate!

That's right, think about that next time you go to swat a fly. Well, actually there's a certain species of microscopic midge that is essential to the pollination of the cacao plant and makes chocolate possible. Still, we'll never hurt a fly again.

Mcdonald's Burgers Don't Actually Rot!

You may have known this one already, but it's not as gross as it sounds. The large surface area of McDonald's burgers means that the burger loses its moisture very quickly. Moisture is required for mould to grow. It's by this method that beef jerky is made. It's still disturbing, though.

Pineapples eat you back!

Pineapple is the only known source in nature of the enzyme Bromelain. Bromelain actually digest proteins… so when you eat pineapple. It's essentially eating you back! But don't worry, once you swallow the pineapple the acids in your stomach destroy the enzymes.


All have been fact-checked.

Add your own!

ii made some home made soup t'other day for the first time ever

i didn't follow any recipe

i did butternut squash, carrot, red onion, red chili flakes, dried mixed herbs, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper

it was the best soup i ever had

i was well chuffed with my efforts but it seemed weird that at my age i never made soup before

gelico wrote:


ii made some home made soup t'other day for the first time ever

i didn't follow any recipe

i did butternut squash, carrot, red onion, red chili flakes, dried mixed herbs, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper

it was the best soup i ever had

i was well chuffed with my efforts but it seemed weird that at my age i never made soup before

Homemade soup is the best. Yours sounds lovely. I love making soup and sauces.
Can’t bake for shit.

eddie wrote:

gelico wrote:


ii made some home made soup t'other day for the first time ever

i didn't follow any recipe

i did butternut squash, carrot, red onion, red chili flakes, dried mixed herbs, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper

it was the best soup i ever had

i was well chuffed with my efforts but it seemed weird that at my age i never made soup before

Homemade soup is the best. Yours sounds lovely. I love making soup and sauces.
Can’t bake for shit.

another one tonight was potato and leek and onion and green chili with the added ginger etc

another amazing soup that scoffed quickly

i can't do pastry. all my pies in the past were naff. hubby used to munch is way through them and declare them delicious but i swear if i took the top of one of my pies and used it as a frizby, it could have seriously sliced someone's head off

and as for the rock cakes,,,

Cakes don’t interest me enough. Probably because I’m not a dessert person really.
Sauces are my forte. Gordon Ramsey can’t hold a candle to my sauces.

If you have a good sauce you have a good dish.

I don't like seafood, but tonight, eddie made a tomato sauce that I enjoyed even though there was salmon and prawns in the dish. Nice creamy tomato flavor at the front and then a chili kick at the back of your throat.

Figs have the body of the insect that pollinated it still in the fruit when you eat it.

vanilla flavouring is Beaver arse fluids.

Honey has a genetic memory. You can test it by pouring a spoonful of honey onto a plate, then a spoonful of water, then jiggling it from side to side. It will form a honeycomb shape. Fake honey won't do this.

If you put lemons and limes in water, lemons will float and limes will sink.

Why was chicken soup given to sick people? Because the boiled bones and cartilage contain minerals that heal the gut, and boost the immune system. Bad guts? You'll always be ill. We are what we eat.

One cup contains contains 7 mg calcium, 0.5 mg iron, 10 mg magnesium, 252 mg potassium, 0.34 mg zinc, and 343 mg sodium.

Kale is the most nutritiously dense vegetable. Just one cup of raw kale has only 33 calories yet it contains 684% of vitamin K, 134% of vitamin C, 206% of Vitamin A as well as iron, folate, omega-3s, magnesium, calcium, iron, fibre and two grams of protein.

eddie wrote:Cakes don’t interest me enough. Probably because I’m not a dessert person really.
Sauces are my forte. Gordon Ramsey can’t hold a candle to my sauces.

If you have a good sauce you have a good dish.

I can't stand sloppy pasta. I hate those tomato sauces that most people slather on it.

We had pasta tonight. Black pepper, butter, parsley, gently fried onions and some cooked minced chicken or pork, and that's it. I also did garlic mushrooms flambéed in Cointreau with double cream and olive bread. Nom Nom

Cant stand tomato sauces on pasta.

I blend cream, white wine and black pepper to make my pasta sauce.
Goes nice with bacon or chicken, add  onion, fresh garlic and mushrooms...fry, quick and easy, my type of food.

HT wrote:We had pasta tonight. Black pepper, butter, parsley, gently fried onions and some cooked minced chicken or pork, and that's it. I also did garlic mushrooms flambéed in Cointreau with double cream and olive bread. Nom Nom

Both sound delicious.

Beer was banned in Iceland until March 1, 1989.

Syl wrote:Cant stand tomato sauces on pasta.

I blend cream, white wine and black pepper to make my pasta sauce.
Goes nice with bacon or chicken, add  onion, fresh garlic and mushrooms...fry, quick and easy, my type of food.

I added some cream to the tomato sauce. I absolutely love tomatoes. I eat them like one would eat grapes.

HoratioTarr wrote:If you put lemons and limes in water, lemons will float and limes will sink.

That’s so weird! I wonder why that is? I love citrus fruits on salad.

eddie wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:If you put lemons and limes in water, lemons will float and limes will sink.

That’s so weird! I wonder why that is? I love citrus fruits on salad.

Just googled it and apparently, lemons are less dense than water while limes are denser than water. I never noticed that much of a difference between them; it's probably pretty subtle.

eddie wrote:

Syl wrote:Cant stand tomato sauces on pasta.

I blend cream, white wine and black pepper to make my pasta sauce.
Goes nice with bacon or chicken, add  onion, fresh garlic and mushrooms...fry, quick and easy, my type of food.

I added some cream to the tomato sauce. I absolutely love tomatoes. I eat them like one would eat grapes.

I love fresh tomatoes, cant stand tinned, and so many Italian restaurants use tinned in their sauces.
I prefer white wine, creamy  sauces.

Syl wrote:

eddie wrote:

Syl wrote:Cant stand tomato sauces on pasta.

I blend cream, white wine and black pepper to make my pasta sauce.
Goes nice with bacon or chicken, add  onion, fresh garlic and mushrooms...fry, quick and easy, my type of food.

I added some cream to the tomato sauce. I absolutely love tomatoes. I eat them like one would eat grapes.

I love fresh tomatoes, cant stand tinned, and so many Italian restaurants use tinned in their sauces.
I prefer white wine, creamy  sauces.

I do like a white creamy sauce but I also like tomato sauces, pepper sauces and creamy tomato sauces.

To be honest, most restaurants don’t impress me too much. I always feel I can make their dishes a little better. Restaurants are lazy, mostly....unless they’re absolutely top-notch, obviously.

It's that long since i (or anyone else) ate out, top notch, little bistro, or local Costa....I cant even remember what their food tastes like.

Syl wrote:It's that long since i (or anyone else) ate out, top notch, little bistro, or local Costa....I cant even remember what their food tastes like.

I eat out almost every day.

Not top notch very often though.

Maddog wrote:

Syl wrote:It's that long since i (or anyone else) ate out, top notch, little bistro, or local Costa....I cant even remember what their food tastes like.

I eat out almost every day.  

Not top notch very often though.  

Lucky you. Everything is closed here, unless it's for takeaway, which I am not into.