If you missed Where Your Favorite Foods Come From: Part One, click on the title to read it. And for the rest of your favorite foods? Read on.
Pepperoni Pizza
Well it’s from Italy, right? After all, it’s pizza. So, yes, and no. It turns out the pizza we have been shoveling into our mouths since we first could, isn’t true Italian. Let me explain. While pepperoni pizza is routed in Italian cooking, it’s simply not traditional Italian. Someone must have crossed wires at some point during history because if you order a pepperoni pizza in Italy, you will get a pizza covered in green peppers. Yup. So technically, it’s Italian, but our version of pepperoni pizza is much more American.
Macaroni and Cheese
There are a few tales about how this dish became what it is today, and where it originally comes from but most would agree that president Jefferson had a lot to do with it. Apparently when Jefferson came back from Italy, he brought back a pasta machine with him. His daughter, Mary Randolph, became hostess of the house after the passing of Jefferson’s wife. It’s Mary that is credited with the first of mac and cheese, when she served macaroni with parmesan cheese, which was later replaced with cheddar cheese. Well that is the story, some think that he got the recipe when he was over there and that’s why the dish was served.
Casserole
The story out there is in fact the story you will hear again and again about where casseroles came from. It turns out the come from New Hampshire, kinda. The story goes like this: “In 1866, Elmire Jolicoeur, a French Canadian immigrant, invented the precursor of the modern casserole in Berlin, New Hampshire.” A Kentucky newspaper referenced Elmire Jolicoeur and the opening of a new restaurant, presumably to serve casseroles. A piece by Langdon Reid in a Staunton, Virginia, newspaper says: “History tells us that a French Canadian immigrant Elmire Jolicour is credited with inventing the casserole, this wonderful dish of culinary breakthrough, in Berlin, New Hampshire, in 1866.” He continues, “I’m pretty sure, to date, this is the biggest contribution to the States that New Hampshire has produced!” People of course have their doubts but, who doesn’t these days.
Cheesecake
This delicious dessert originates from Ancient Greece. Did you have any idea? The earliest mention of cheesecake comes from the Greek physician Aegimus, who wrote a book about the art of making cheesecake. The cheesecake was not always sweet, or even of good flavor. Around the 18th century, cheesecake evolved closer to its modern recipe when they removed yeast and added beaten eggs instead. 19th century cheesecakes were made with cheese curd and fresh butter and even one version was thickened with blanched almonds, eggs and cream, and the cakes may have included currants, brandy, raisin wine, nutmeg and orange flower water. The newer, unbaked version of cheesecakes though were thought up in the United States.
What is your favorite food? Personally, a daily intake of pasta would be perfect for me, if not the healthiest.