November 26, 2008

Snack food

Originally published December 21,2005

Did anybody besides me watch Snack Food Tech on the History Channel? If you haven't seen it, make it a point to catch that show if you can. It's FULL of amazing stuff about candy, ice cream, pastries and other munchie foods.

Did you know that chewing gum was invented by a guy trying to make a soft tire for buggy wheels? And that he got his first ton of chicle, the "gum" in chewing gum, from Mexican General Santa Anna?

Krispy Kreme makes enough doughnuts every seven minutes to create a stack as tall as the Empire State Building.

120 MILLION pounds of pigskin go into making pork rinds every year. Pigskin also goes into gelatin and Gummy Bears.

If something is rotten in Denmark, it's probably teeth. Danes consume more candy per capita than any other country in the world.

"Moxie" soda is the oldest continuously produced soft drink in the United States. (Not to be confused with the bitter shrew of the same name.)

The program is chock full of trivial information like that. I think I gained weight just watching the show.