Accidental food inventions: History's most delicious mistakes

[jw5]

Chocolate chip cookies - We all know that chocolate didn’t melt. What resulted was a cookie studded with chunks of chocolate, changing the milk game forever.

 

[jw5]

Beer - No one is sure, but it’s said that thousands of years ago, when Mesopotamia starting making bread, some of the dough must have gotten rained on and forgotten about for enough time...

 

[jw5]

Beer - ...That when they came back to it they found a fermented liquid. Everyone should raise a glass to that first Mesopotamian who was brave enough to sample the strange liquid.

 

[jw5]

The sandwich - The sandwich is attributed to John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich, back in the 1700s, but the stories vary. Some say Montagu couldn’t leave an intense gambling game, and requested that meat be brought to him between two pieces of bread.

 

[jw5]

The sandwich - Others believe that he worked long hours at his desk and required a utensil-free meal. Either way, Montagu's refusal to leave the table resulted in one of culinary history's greatest advances.

 

[jw5]

Champagne - Bubbly wine used to be a problem for people in the 15th century. The climate in Champagne, France, made wine-making difficult as the fermentation process would stop when it got cold, and restart in the spring, creating an excess of carbon dioxide in the bottles, even making some explode.

 

[jw5]

Champagne - Some say Dom Pérignon was tasked with trying to stop the second round of fermentation, but when he couldn’t, he tasted the bubbly drink and famously said, “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!”

 

[jw5]

Toasted ravioli - Also known as the St. Louis T-rav, this dish is believed to be the result of one cook who had a little too much wine near some ravioli and a deep fryer.

 

[jw5]

Toasted ravioli - After knocking ravioli into the bubbling oil, the owner tried to save the food by scooping it out and topping it with some cheese. The rest is history.

 

[jw5]

Coke - John Pemberton, a wounded veteran who had become addicted to morphine, sought to create a drink that would stave off his addiction. He created a tonic using the caffeine-rich kola nut and small amounts of cocaine.

 

[jw5]

Coke - In 1887, another Atlanta pharmacist Asa Candler bought that original Coca-Cola formula from Pemberton, reportedly for just US$2,300. By the late 1890s, Coca-Cola was one of America's most popular fountain drinks. The cocaine was removed in 1903.

 

[jw5]

Slurpees - In 1958, Omar Knedlik, a Kansas-based Dairy Queen owner, had a broken soda machine, so he put his soda bottles in the freezer. Customers started liking the partially-frozen carbonated drinks...

 

[jw5]

Slurpees - So Knedik built a new machine to combine and freeze flavor mixes, water, and carbon dioxide. The ICEE dispenser was born, and by the mid-1960s, 300 companies had bought it.

 

[jw5]

Corn flakes - In 1898, brothers W.K. Kellogg and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg were working in a sanitarium in Michigan. They were trying to make healthy food to serve their patients when they accidentally left wheat berry cooking in the kitchen, causing the kernels to flake.

 

[jw5]

Corn flakes -

They continued to experiment with their newly discovered food, eventually trying the process with corn and creating the cereal we know and love today.

 

[jymifalcon]

Reminds me of how chocolate chip cookies were a mistake too—Ruth Wakefield ran out of baker’s chocolate and used chopped sweet chocolate instead, thinking it would melt. Total game changer.