Japanese-born chef Hidekazu Tojo claimed he created the California roll at his restaurant in the late 1970s. He insists he is the innovator of the “inside-out” sushi.
Tojo knew sushi would be more appealing to his American customers if he could hide the seaweed, so he concealed the seaweed by placing it on the inside of the roll and called it a “California roll.” And that started the sushi craze we still enjoy today!
Candy Corn
Everyone has their likes and dislikes, and Candy corn is pretty much the sweet version of the love-or-hate food. Nobody is entire 100 percent certain who invented this super sugary treat, but it's been around for a long time. It was first sold as "Chicken Feed," and it was a candy that picked its bright idea from an industry that helped build America: agriculture. There's a bit of irony here, also.
When candy corn was first becoming popular, corn wasn't a dietary staple... at least, not for people. Before the turn of the century, corn was purely meant as animal feed. It wasn't until the time of World War I that eating corn was necessary, and before that, corn-shaped candy would have been a fun novelty.
Orange Juice
Back in the 50s, the All-American thing was to have a white picket fence and a stay-at-home mom who eagerly poured you orange juice for breakfast.
In the early 1900s, drinking orange juice was unheard of. The California Fruit Growers Exchange hired Albert Lasker to help them sell more oranges ... So Lasker thought, why not drink oranges? It was marketed as a cure-all for general lethargy and even an obscure ailment called "acidosis." Sure enough, Americans bought in big time.
Spices
Every country and culture has its own relationship to spices; some are wide and diverse, like Indian or Mexican cuisines, while others are subtle and mild, like Russian or Polish. But if you didn't grow up in a culture with an appreciation for spices, cooking with it may seem to be as intimidating as it is crucial.
Early writings suggest that hunters and gatherers used to wrap their meat in the leaves of bushes, and by doing this, they accidentally discovered that this process enhanced the meat's taste, bringing along some flavors to it as well. Over the years, spices were soon being used for medicinal purposes.
Ketchup
It turns out that ketchup traveled a long, winding, and the sometimes controversial road to becoming the well-loved condiment it is today.
Ketchup was initially made from all sorts of things, like mushrooms and strawberries, and its beginning can be traced back to ancient Asia. The condiment actually started as fermented fish paste. It's impossible to tell who first stumbled on the idea of making ketchup from tomatoes, but we do know one of the first recipes for tomato ketchup dates to 1812, from Dr. James Mease.