What are some mind-blowing facts about food?

1. Chocolate was eaten hot as far back as 1400 B.C.:

Researchers say that the Maya and Aztec cultures came up with the idea of hot chocolate. It has been found that the Aztecs put different herbs and flavors in their chocolate drinks and served them with them. Even though hot chocolate is a comforting winter drink that isn’t always good for you, the Aztecs did their chocolate drink cold. It is suitable for your health in many ways, such as making you feel better when you are sick or tired. It is said that Montezuma II, king of the Aztecs, liked the chocolate drink so much that he drank 50 cups of it every day. When you sit down with a hot mug of cocoa the next time, think about its long history.

2. If you ate an apple every day for the next 21 years, you would have tried every kind of apple:

It could get boring if all you eat every day is one apple. On the other hand, there are 7,500 different kinds of apples, so if you eat a different one every day for 21 years, you will still be interested in the topic. It’s unlikely that people will believe that there are 7,500 different kinds of apples. This is because grocery stores in the Western United States only sell about 2,500 of these kinds.

3. Waste makes up more than a third of all the food that is made in the world:

More than a third of the food that is grown or raised around the world is lost or wasted every year. This loss happens at every step in the process of making food. Getting rid of wasted food costs a lot of money and hurts the environment (1 trillion USD per year) (1 trillion USD annually). By 2050, food production will need to rise by about 60% to accommodate an expanding global population. If we use the food we have better, we can meet our future food needs without making a big jump in production. This can be done by using leftover food in new ways.

Taking care of the food you have at home can help stop food waste. The TotalCtrl Home app shows you a complete picture of your food and gives you an idea of when it will go wrong. You’ll save money and time, and you’ll also help stop more damage to the environment.

4. One food that can make you happy is salmon:

It has been shown that eating salmon makes the brain make more serotonin. This is because it has tryptophan, an essential amino acid that helps make serotonin. Omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial to your health, and salmon is an excellent source of them, which helps lower blood pressure and keep cholesterol levels healthy. Make a nice salmon dinner to cheer yourself up if you’re sad.

5. A quarter of the world’s freshwater supply goes to making food that is never eaten.

Only 1% of the world’s freshwater is available to people, but they use 70% to farm animals and make food, while most of the rest is wasted. 25% of the world’s freshwater supply is lost yearly because food goes bad. If everyone drank the 200 liters of fresh water they needed daily, there would be enough fresh water for 9 billion people.

6. A single plant can give you five different kinds of vegetables:

Brassica oleracea is the name of the plant that grows brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kohlrabi, but not many people know this. If only some of the food wasted stateside, in Great Britain, and across the pond were used, it would be enough to feed everyone on the planet who is hungry:

It is thought that more than 40% of American agriculture has produced food that is never eaten and that Europe wastes 100 million tonnes of food every year. Recent studies show that there are one billion hungry people on the planet. If only a quarter of the food wasted in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Europe were used, it would be enough to feed everyone hungry.

On the other hand, strawberry is a type of berry:

Strawberries are not berries, but bananas are very definitely berries. This has something to do with how the fruits are made. 

Berries must have three layers:

• The skin on the outside
• A soft layer in the middle
• A layer with seeds on the inside
• Fruits like cherries, raspberries, and blackberries, and berries like strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, are often mistaken for berries.

7. There was a time when chocolate was used as money:

The Aztecs used cocoa beans as a form of currency in the past. People used to think cacao came from the gods and was more valuable than gold. Cacao beans can be used as money to buy food and other things.

8. There was a time when not all carrots were orange:

It’s hard to believe that carrots used to be more like a pale white color. The reason carrots are orange now is because of a change in a gene. Over a thousand years of carrot farming, farmers chose the mutation that increased the number of carotenoids in the carrot root, making it orange. Even though this change was not made to make carrots healthier, they now contain a more comprehensive range of nutrients. Because of this change, carrots are now a great way to get vitamins that are good for our eyes, immune systems, and many other organs. No one knows why growers chose to grow the orange carrots that were made by mistake.

9. Nearly half of the food grown in the United States is thrown away because it is thought to be “ugly.”

One-third of the food grown is lost or thrown away before it even goes to the grocery store. This is because the system that moves food from the farm to the store could be better. Some grocery stores won’t deliver food to people’s homes because they think it’s an “ugly” service.

Carrots, for example, have to meet high standards. Sometimes, they are put through machines with cameras to find and eliminate any cosmetic flaws. Even if people can eat them, if they are the wrong color, twisted, have defects, or are broken, they are thrown away or fed to animals. This is true even if they are excellent in every other way. Try to buy fruits and vegetables that seem to be separate when shopping. Both of them taste great.

10. Cheese is stolen more often than any other food by a long shot:

About 4% of all the cheese made in the world is stolen. This is because cheese can cost a lot. One pound can cost up to $600 in U.S. dollars right now. Making cheese is complex and only happens sometimes.