10 Foods That America Has Given To The World

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Tomatoes in Italy, vanilla in France, potatoes in Ireland - these foods may seem local to any country, but in fact they come from the North and South America. North, Central and South America are home to many foodthat we can connect with cuisines from all over the world, and therefore the whole culinary landscape of the planet would be completely different if it weren't for them.

1. Avocado

From toasts and salads with avocados, to guacamole and sushi, this product has found a place in many cuisines around the world. This fruit is from a tree that is native to Mexico and Central America. There is evidence that it has been cultivated in Central America since 5000 BC. The Maya believed that avocados had magical powers and were an aphrodisiac. Perhaps because of their appearance, the Aztecs call the fruit ahuakat, which means testicle. The amazing texture of avocados is due to the high fat content over 20% (they are of the useful monounsaturated type). The sailors called it an oil pear and actually used it as you would use butter. In the United States, California is the largest producer of avocados. Although many varieties are grown, the most popular variety is Has.

2. Hot pepper

Hot peppers are a common ingredient in almost every major world cuisine. It is especially difficult to imagine Asian cuisine without hot peppers. Their origins began in America more than 10,000 years ago. They are apparently one of the first crops grown by the Indians from Peru to New Mexico. These prehistoric people grew hot peppers for culinary and medicinal purposes. Christopher Columbus joins in calling them peppers because he believes they taste like an Asian spice (Asian pepper). Once brought to Europe, they spread rapidly around the world, especially in the tropics. From Mexican salsa and Thai curry to Buffalo chicken wings, there are thousands of recipes around the world that use hot peppers.

3. Chocolate

It is difficult to imagine a world without chocolate and all its delicious forms such as Belgian chocolate bars, German chocolate cake and French croissants with chocolate. This list sounds as if the chocolate comes from Europe, when in fact it originates in America. Cocoa has been grown for over 3,000 years in Central America and Mexico and is produced from the seeds of the cocoa tree, which is native to South America. Mayan and Aztec cultures used cocoa beans, but not for what we use them for today. They are fermented and the cocoa beans are made into a drink that is often flavored with hot peppers. Modern chocolate is made from cocoa, which is made from roasted and ground cocoa beans.

4. Corn

Photo: Yordanka Kovacheva

Corn penetrates many recipes in Africa, Italy and Japan. This is an American product from cob to sweet corn in a can. Before pilgrims found it in Truro, Massachusetts, it was a thriving culture in Mexico. More than 5,000 years ago, Native Americans grew corn in what is now Mexico. The term corn is an English word most commonly used for cereals. The early English settlers called the main crop of the tribe "Indian grain" and then "Indian corn", which was later shortened to "corn". Corn is vital for the survival of the first European settlers, as it produces much more grain per acre of land than any other crop.

5. Papaya

Although you can associate papaya with the Caribbean, the national dish of Thailand catfish there is a sweet and spicy salad made from green papaya. This fruit was originally grown in tropical America thousands of years ago, but has made its way around the world.

6. Peanuts

There is evidence that peanuts were "domesticated" in South America more than 7,000 years ago. China is now the largest producer of peanuts in the world. They were brought to China by the Portuguese in the 1600s and became a very popular addition to many dishes, as anyone who visits Chinese restaurants knows. These nuts are also used in African cuisine. For chefs, peanuts are certainly a nut, but for botany, it is a technical bean.

7. Pineapple

Although we can connect Hawaii with the birthplace of the pineapple, the fruit did not actually arrive there until 1770 and was not produced until the 1880s. Christopher Columbus discovered the pineapple on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493, but the fruit had already been grown in South America long before that. The word pineapple was originally an old European term for what we now call cones. When researchers discovered this fruit in the American tropics, they called it pineapple because they thought it looked very similar. Today, pineapple is used in Chinese cuisine, is included in Australian recipes and is an ingredient in cakes in Poland.

8. Potatoes

When we hear potatoes, we can immediately think of Ireland, but their origins can be traced back to the prehistoric mountains of Argentina. Eventually, the potato emigrated across all the Americas and came to Europe, where it found a place in many countries, and Ireland is one of the most remarkable. Although only a few varieties were originally grown, today there are over 5,000. Interestingly, the commercial varieties that Americans currently use are actually developed in Europe.

9. Tomatoes

You might think that tomatoes come from Italy because so many of the country's dishes include them, but this is not the case. Most sources agree that tomatoes are native to South America. The Maya were the first people we knew to cook with tomatoes, then spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world through Spanish researchers. It took some time for tomatoes to be eaten in colonial America, where many adhered to the old belief that the plant was poisonous. So, they were usually grown as ornamental plants because of their bright fruits and dark green leaves. Eventually, tomatoes managed to enter American cuisines, and then many others around the world.

10. Vanilla

Vanilla originates from Mexico. The name is derived from the Spanish term for small pod. The French fell in love with vanilla and planted it in their tropical colonies such as Madagascar, where most of the world's vanilla beans are currently grown, along with Tahiti. The Aztecs considered vanilla an aphrodisiac and this reputation has survived to this day. Today it is the most widely used food flavoring worldwide.