Saturday, November 2, 2024

Bet You Didn’t Know These 9 Foods Are Named After Real People

It’s not uncommon to scarf down food without giving a second thought to where its name originated. We don’t often do that with people, so why would we do it with food? Business Insider went down the rabbit hole of 21 foods and drinks named after actual people. Here are some of the most surprising.

Bananas Foster

This flaming table-side prepped dish was invented in New Orleans in the 50s at a restaurant where the chef created a dish and named it after Richard Foster, the fiery (get it?) New Orleans Crime Commission chairman.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYxBKt5gIFM

Caesar Salad

This classic salad pays homage to Caesar Cardini, a restaurateur credited with inventing the dish out of necessity when he found himself running out of food during a Fourth of July rush. That explains the anchovies.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZOtJZ9DOdT/

Carpaccio

This dish is said to have been created by Giuseppe Cipriani, a bar owner who named the raw meat specialty after the Italian painter Vittore Carpaccio, who was known for using a similar shade of “flesh” red in his paintings. Yum.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZPG3mjgaIa

Fettuccine Alfredo

The story goes that Italian restaurateur Alfredo di Lelio invented the dish, tossing butter and Parm together to make a pasta sauce, to help ease the morning sickness of his wife.

Once a few “Hollywood elite” tourists took notice, the dish became a national sensation.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZBmISwglBB

German Chocolate Cake

This cake was invented in…America. Surprise! The “German” part of German Chocolate Cake comes from baker Sam German, who patented a baking bar in the early 19th century called “Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate,” which was used in the late 1950s to make this famous cake.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYy1zHbhCLd

Granny Smith apples

The Granny Smith apple is a cross-breed, created when Maria “Granny” Smith dumped a bunch of crab apples onto a compost heap of other apples in Sydney, Australia back in 1868. What grew was a tree sprouting bright green apples. The rest is history.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZRfpCSjGNE

Margherita pizza

This simple Neapolitan pizza made with tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil and olive oil is named after the Italian Queen Margherita, who visited Naples in 1889.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZPPUKAlXYR/

Nachos

Can you believe this bar snack is named after a human being? Ignacio (Nacho, for short) Anaya whipped up a batch of these back in the early 1940s as a way to feed a group of military wives who came into the restaurant he worked at.

Of course, he named his invention after himself. And thank goodness he did. “Rushed Snack” just doesn’t have the same ring at happy hour.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZRTJ6Nh5qH

Tootsie Roll

It’s said that Tootsie Roll inventor Leo Hirshfield named the candy after his daughter, Clara, whose nickname was “Tootsie”. Others allege the taffy-like sweet was named after a child actress. Either way, a little girl was involved. Same same.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZEUGMxlsEi

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