The most celebratory of drinks almost wasn’t invented at all. It was a complete coincidence that Champagne was created by accident in the 1490s. A changing climate in the Champagne region shortened the growing season and caused bottles to undergo a second fermentation when it warmed up in the spring, only to release carbon dioxide gas, popping the weak stoppers on their bottles.
What was once seen as a catastrophe eventually became something to celebrate in its own right. Winemakers managed to keep the bottles intact by adjusting their glassware accordingly, and today, we have something bubbly to celebrate special occasions with!
Fortified Wine
It seems that on long voyages sailing all around the world due to growing trade during the 16th and 17th century, European wines were bound to spoil on the long trip.
The brilliant winemakers were clever enough to fortify the wine and did so by adding a dash of brandy to stabilize it. Therefore, they prepared it to withstand the temperature differences.
Corn Flakes
This iconic breakfast cereal also came about due to a bit of an accidental twist of fate. Corn flakes were invented by brothers William and John Kellogg in the late 1800s; the two worked at a Seventh Day Adventist sanitarium where vegetarianism and healthy nutrition were key values.
Looking for a replacement for bread for their patients in the sanitarium, the Kellogg brothers boiled wheat. However, they unintentionally boiled it too long, and when they rolled it out, it crumbled apart into flakes, which they decided to toast in the oven. Their patients both thought they were tasty, and William had the idea to develop the recipe with corn instead of wheat, leading to the cereal you know of today.
Buffalo Wings
Buffalo wings are the perfect storm of American snacking ingenuity, a bar food forged from Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York.
One of two different versions claims that during the late 1960s, the barkeeper's mother, Teresa Bellismo, received an incorrect shipment of chicken wings when she actually ordered chicken necks. So she took the scraps usually meant for the soup stocks and decided to fry them and toss them in her signature sauce for their friends at the bar.
Chewing Gum
While it may seem like a new invention, people have been chewing gum for centuries, all the way back to when the Mayas and Aztecs chewed on chicle, a natural rubbery substance extracted from sapodilla trees. Sounds tempting, right?
But it wasn't until Thomas Adams Sr. got a supply of chicle through an exiled Mexican President in the mid-1800s that he tried to transform the chicle into an industrial material, only to note that when boiled and formed into pieces, and soon it was sold like chewing gum.