North AmericanBritish
Butter Tart History: The Two-Line Barrie Recipe of 1900
The earliest printed butter tart recipe is a two-line filling in a 1900 hospital fundraiser cookbook from Barrie, Ontario. Everything before it is theory.
6 min read
All Stories
The histories, migrations, and moments behind the world's favorite dishes.
JapaneseNorth AmericanWar & Famine
Why Is Spam So Popular in Hawaii? Start With the Fishing Ban
GIs brought the cans, but martial law kept Hawaii's Japanese fishermen ashore in 1941, and a plantation habit of rice with salty canned meat gave Spam somewhere to stay.
8 min read
Latin AmericanMigration
Argentine Pastry Names and the Anarchist Bakers
Bolas de fraile, vigilantes and cañoncitos are said to be jokes by anarchist bakers in 1888. The strike is documented. The joke itself is harder to prove.
6 min read
ItalianMigrationRitual Foods
The Real Origin of the Feast of the Seven Fishes
The meatless Christmas Eve supper is southern Italian and in print by 1847. The name and the fixed seven are Italian American, and nobody has found them in print before 1983.
8 min read
North AmericanInventions
Who Invented the Brownie? The Palmer House Claim Tested
Chicago's Palmer House says it made the first brownie for the 1893 World's Fair. The printed record shows a molasses cake in 1896 and chocolate recipes after 1900.
6 min read
Trade RoutesFermentationKorean
When Did Kimchi Become Spicy? The Chili Arrived Late
Korea first wrote about the chili in 1614 and called it poisonous. Chili kimchi took another century and a half to fill the cookbooks, and red napa-cabbage kimchi is younger still.
8 min read
BrazilianStreet Food
The Coxinha Origin Story and the Princess Isabel Legend
Brazil's teardrop chicken fritter is said to have been invented for a picky prince. The story rests on one book, and the written record points somewhere humbler: the streets of industrial Sao Paulo.
7 min read
North AmericanMigrationChinese
Why Jews Eat Chinese Food on Christmas, and Since When
In 1899 a New York Jewish weekly scolded readers for eating in Chinese restaurants. By 1935 chow mein was arriving at a Newark children's home on Christmas Day.
9 min read
ColonialismRitual Foods
Kalinago Cassava Bread and the Territory of Dominica
Kalinago cassava bread is a squeezed, griddle-baked flatbread older than Columbus. Here is how it is made and how the Kalinago Territory of Dominica came to exist in 1903.
6 min read
ItalianInventionsModern
Who Invented Tiramisu? Treviso, Friuli and a Baltimore Baker
Tiramisu is younger than most of the people who eat it. The best evidence points to a Treviso restaurant around 1970, but Friuli has a 1959 bill and a Baltimore baker has a story.
8 min read
Latin AmericanColonialism
Sancocho in Panama: A National Soup With No Known Origin
Panama's chicken and ñame soup is called the national dish, yet its origin is still argued over. Here is what a 2019 documentary, the Canary Islands and the word itself suggest.
6 min read
JapaneseModernRitual Foods
Why Japan Eats KFC on Christmas, and Who Really Started It
KFC Japan ran its first Christmas campaign in December 1974. The manager who claims the idea admits a white lie, and NHK was teaching Christmas roast chicken in 1959.
9 min read
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