Although there are several versions of this account, cheese puffs were originally meant as food for animals! In the 1930s, Edward Wilson, from an animal food company, decided to try the puffed corn kernels and realized that it was quite tasty, and with a bit of seasoning, they could make a pretty decent snack.
So together with the founders of the Corporation he worked, they patented the recipe, and that’s the story behind cheese puffs!
Coffee
Coffee is said to originate from a village in Ethiopia; a centuries-old legend has it that a goat herder noticed that his goats would become extremely hyper and not sleep at night after munching the berries from a particular tree. He reported this to a nearby monastery, and pretty soon, everyone was sipping on this energizing drink that inspired them to stay up late.
Eventually, those coffee beans reached the Arabian peninsula and spread all around the globe. Fast-forward to today; we can barely start our day without a jolt of caffeine from our favorite cup of java.
Nachos
It's tough to imagine a world without nachos on the menu, but they're a surprisingly recent addition to Tex-Mex cuisine. According to nacho lore, they came about quite a by accident during World War II. Soldiers and their wives visited Mexico's Piedras Negras and its Victory Club.
Closing time was approaching, a man named Ignacio Anaya took on feeding the hungry guests, and he needed something fast. He found some fried tortilla strips, threw on some toppings, and served it up. That result became a now widely consumed favorite. When they asked what this delicious dish was called, he quickly made up a name, Nacho's Especiales. Today, we just call them nachos.
Ice Popsicles
The Popsicle invention story is an interesting one. One night, in San Francisco in 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was playing with his water and powdered soda mix; he left it out on his porch overnight, with the wooden stirrer still inside. When he returned to the mixture the next morning, the mixture was frozen to the stick, and as any 11-year-old would do, he tasted it, then quickly realizing what a radical discovery he'd made.
Frank had invented the Popsicle, which he presented to the American public in 1922 and then patented in 1924, which he sold to Popsicle sometime after 1929. So each summer, when you quickly eat up a Popsicle to cool yourself down, it's all thanks to Epperson's happy accident.
Worcestershire Sauce
You might have trouble pronouncing it, but it's most likely something you may have used as a condiment or as an ingredient while following a recipe. According to one story, it was first invented by iconic Worcestershire sauce brand, Lea & Perrins. After a nobleman returned to England from a journey to India, he hired John Lea and William Perrins to recreate a sauce he'd tasted while traveling.
Their first attempt proved quite bitter and unpleasant, but the pair kept their concoction anyway. After tasting it again, they realized that maturing it had worked wonders and that now they had formulated something quite unique. It was first bottled in Worcester at the Lea & Perrins pharmacy, imparting it its name.