24 Food Origins - mental_floss on YouTube - List Show (313)

Hi, I'm John Green. Welcome to my salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube

And did you know that Italian wedding soup is not actually Italian

The dish originated in Spain before it was brought to Italy. Also, our English name for Italian wedding soup is a mistranslation

The soup's actual name means married soup in Italian, referencing the marriage of the ingredients

It has nothing to do with weddings. And that's the first of many foods that don't come from where you think they come from

that you're going to learn about in today's video. Taquito is Spanish for small taco, but it's not Mexican like you might think

It was actually developed in Southern California in the 1930s. Two separate restaurants have to share the credit for the dish, Cielito Lindo and El

Indio Mexican Restaurant. Chicken tikka masala can be found at pretty much every Indian restaurant in the US and

the UK, but it's not actually from India. There are a few different origin stories, but most agree that it's from the UK

One story goes that it was invented in Glasgow by the Asian kitchen staff of a restaurant

who wanted to make something that would be appealing to their clientele. Nashua, New Hampshire is the birthplace of Russian dressing, not Russia

It was invented around 1910 by a caterer and grocer named James E. Colburn

Also, Italian dressing is not Italian. It originated in the United States

And you will not be surprised to learn that French dressing is not French. We don exactly know where it was invented but we do know that it was Kraft first pourable dressing product back in 1925 Our French llama is of course also American Ah actually he was made in Vietnam And speaking of things French people didn invent the baguettes that the French know

and love might be more Austrian than French, although this one is very controversial

In the 19th century, France got steam ovens thanks to an Austrian man, August Zhang

Before that, the French also typically used whole grains rather than white flour for their

bread, so some say that baguettes aren't really French. Like in 2007, the French Poillon Baking Company stopped producing baguettes, arguing that they

were Austrian. Whether or not he's responsible for baguettes, Zhang definitely brought croissants to France

so they are verifiably Austrian. In fact, similar dishes have existed there since the 13th century

Okay, last thing the French didn't invent, French toast. The breakfast food actually dates back to the 4th or 5th century, where it was found

in a book of recipes in Latin. The name French toast probably emerged in England sometime around the 17th century

The US usually gets credit for the modern hamburger, despite the food being named after

the German town of Hamburg. There were many early European predecessors to the hamburger, though, like a beef patty

recipe from early 4th century Rome, then there was the similar Hamburg steak in the late

19th century. But that was a fillet of beef often served raw, so, you know, a far cry from today's

McDonald's experience. We don't know who in the US made the hamburger that we know today, but it emerged sometime

between the late 19th century and early 20th century. French fries, however, are not American. They're probably Belgian, although the French also

like to take credit for them and I not going to get in the middle of that fight But Belgians have uncovered stories from the late 17th century about their ancestors deep fish and then when the river froze over they deep potatoes to look like fish

Pasta Primavera is not Italian. It was actually invented in 1975 by a New York chef named Sirio Maccioni, who was vacationing in Canada

He then brought the dish back to the United States. So it was technically invented in Canada, but by an American

Crab Rangoon is not authentic Chinese food. It was inspired by Burmese cuisine, actually, but invented in the U.S

We know it's been around since at least the 1950s, where it was served at the restaurant Trader Vic's in San Francisco

Speaking of which, the Pupu platter is not Chinese. It's actually from Hawaii, and Hawaiian Pupu means appetizer

And the dish was brought to the rest of the U.S. in 1934, where it was served at a Hawaiian restaurant in California named Don the Beachcomber

Which is not really a restaurant name so much as a person name, but whatever. You know, back then they had weird restaurants

And then eventually American Chinese restaurants also adapted the name. We don't even know for sure that Chinese finger traps are Chinese

My whole worldview just fell apart. Caesar salad sounds like it should be Italian because, you know, Julius Caesar was from

Rome and everything. But it turns out that it's Mexican and also was not named after Julius Caesar

It was, however, invented by an Italian immigrant. His name was Caesar Cardini

He ran some restaurants in the US and Mexico and he started serving his salad in the 1920s

but he's perhaps best known for starring in our very first mental floss video

And speaking of mental floss video and Mexico, if you watch our misconceptions show, then

you probably know that chimichangas were not invented in Mexico The exact inventor is unknown but they probably came from a restaurant worker in Arizona Okay let speed up Mongolian barbecue is not Mongolian

The style of cooking came from Taiwan in the 1950s. Like a lot of American Chinese food, egg rolls are not Chinese

We don't know exactly who invented them, but we do know that they're westernized Chinese food

Spring rolls, however, are Chinese. Fortune cookies were invented in the United States and popularized in the 20th century in California

The Hunanese get credit for General Tso's chicken, but you won't find it in Hunan, China

It probably originated either in Taiwan or New York. Garlic bread is not Italian

It's been part of American cuisine since around 1947. Spaghetti with meatballs wasn't invented in Italy either

It was first made by Italians who were living in New York City in the early 1900s

We invented all of the great foods. Russian dressing, spaghetti with meatballs, but not apple pie

There's a recipe for that dessert from 1381 in England. And finally, I returned to my salon to tell you that fajitas are not actually Mexican food

They were invented in Texas during the 1930s, and the Oxford English Dictionary claims that

the word itself wasn't even found in print until 1971