Caesar salad. Cherry Garcia. Graham crackers. Have you ever wondered about the naming origins of some meals and desserts?
Click start to play today’s Word Search, where you can find all three of those food favourites, and more.
We deep-dive into history and learn about why certain foods are named after people. Spot them in today’s Word Search!
1. Caesar salad
The Caesar salad is a beloved side option to many Western meals and sandwiches. While many people think it was named after Roman emperor Julius Caesar, this is not true. The salad was invented by an Italian man named Caesar Cardini, who was a restauranteur born in northern Italy. When he settled in North America, he worked as a chef in many restaurants, and even opened two of his own in California, before he accidentally invented the salad. The legend goes, he was cooking at his restaurant when he ran short on ingredients and threw the salad together. His recipe had six components: stalks of lettuce, raw egg, olive oil, croutons, parmesan cheese and Worcestershire sauce (Caesar dressing wasn’t invented yet).
2. Graham crackers
Graham crackers’ reputation for wholesomeness dates back to the mid-19th century, when a minister named Sylvester Graham was looking for a way to live healthily and to encourage temperance in all things. He believed the key was to eat plant-based food and drink water. For Graham, sugar, meat and fat all stimulated desire, and according to Atlas Obscura, bread was “the most miserable trash that can be imagined”. The original graham crackers were entirely hand-ground, and made with whole wheat flour. Today, however, the cracker has undergone huge changes, and often includes ingredients he wouldn’t have approved of – like shortening and sugar. And if you’ve used it to make a s’more, well, let’s just say that’s not what Graham envisioned for his crackers.
3. Cobb salad
Another chef is credited with the creation of the Cobb salad. In 1937, Robert Howard Cobb, who co-owned The Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, found himself at the end of a long day, with a growling stomach. Realising he was famished, he scrounged about the kitchen, found an avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, chicken and celery. He shared his creation with Hollywood promoter Sid Grauman who was at the restaurant at the time, and who loved it and asked for it again the following day. The rest, as they say, is history.
What do you think of these food origin stories? Play today’s Spell It and tell us at games@gulfnews.com.
