Mar 18, 2025
Archaeological evidence suggests that early humans began cooking food with fire over a million years ago. This discovery not only made food easier to digest but also led to the development of more complex flavours and cuisines.
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French chef Auguste Escoffier introduced the brigade de cuisine system, which assigned specific roles to chefs in professional kitchens. This structure is still used in restaurants today to ensure efficiency and consistency.
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Up to 80% of what we perceive as taste actually comes from our sense of smell. This is why food seems bland when you have a cold—your olfactory receptors aren’t detecting aromas properly.
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Saffron is the most costly spice by weight due to its labour-intensive harvesting process. Each saffron flower produces only three tiny stigmas, requiring thousands of flowers to create just a small amount of the spice.
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The human tongue can detect five primary tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. Umami, often described as savoury or meaty, was identified in the early 20th century and is found in foods like mushrooms, aged cheese, and tomatoes.
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The ancient Maya and Aztecs valued cocoa beans so highly that they used them as currency. The beans were traded for food, clothing, and other goods long before chocolate became a beloved treat worldwide.
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Different cooking methods can either enhance or reduce a food’s nutritional content. For instance, boiling vegetables can cause water-soluble vitamins to leach out, while roasting or steaming preserves more nutrients.
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Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is often linked to processed foods, but it also occurs naturally in ingredients like seaweed, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese. It enhances savoury flavours and is a key component of umami.
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Although pasta is strongly associated with Italy, evidence suggests that noodle-like foods were made in China over 4,000 years ago. Many cultures independently developed variations of pasta, making it a truly global dish.
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Ancient Egyptians are believed to have been the first to make leavened bread. Dough left out in warm conditions naturally fermented due to wild yeast in the air, leading to the first risen bread—a happy accident that changed baking forever.
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