There's plenty of food for thought

The following text is originally lifted from the trivia section of The Jakarta Post dated Saturday, 22 March 2008.

~Compiled from various sources~

• The French eat over 200 million frogs a year.
• Italy leads the world in pasta consumption with 28 kilos eaten per person per year. Venezuela comes second with 12.5 kilos consumption per person anually.
• The literal meaning of the Italian word linguine is "little tongues".
• A common custom in Spain is to eat one grape for each of the last 12 seconds of every year for good luck.
• The ancient Greeks thought that if they ate parsley, they would not get drunk.
• Bakers in ancient Rome were required to bake their names into loaves of bread.
• The Bagel gets its name from the German word for "stirrup".
• A piece of French toast that was partially eaten by Justin Timberlake sold on eBay.
• What was margarine was initially called Butterine when it was first marketed in England.
• Cottage cheese was developed after a long camel ride by an Arab trader, who found that milk he was carrying in a goatskin bag had turned.
• Oysters were a major part of life in New York in the late 1800s. They were eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner; they were pickled, stewed, baked, roasted, fried, scalloped and used in soups, patties and puddings. Oystering in New York supported large number of families, and oyster theft was a prevalent problem.
• A bowl of lime Jell-O, when hooked up to an EEG machine, exhibits movement which is virtually identical to the brain waves of a healthy adult man or woman.
• Potatoes were banned in Burgundy in 1910 because it was said, "frequent use causes leprosy".
• Of all the potatoes grown in the United States, only 8% are used to make potato chips. Special varieties referred to as "chipping potatoes" are grown for this purpose.
• In ancient Egypt a man placed his right hand on an onion when taking an oath. Its round shape symbolised eternity.
• The old myth that eating carrots will improve eyesight is true. Carrots contain carotene which body converts to vitamin A.Vitamin A is necessary for the production of visual purple, which helps you see in the dark. Without vitamin A, you could develop night blindness.
• All bananas start out as female flowers on a banana tree. The female flowers turn into bananas. The male flowers don't amount to anything.
• The liquid inside of young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.
• Tabasco Sauce is made by fermenting vinegar and hot peppers in a French oak barrel which has 7.5 cm of salt on top and is aged for three years until all the salt is diffused through the barrel.
• Heinz catsup leaces the bottle at a rate of 25 miles per year.
• It takes 40 minutes to hard boil an ostrich egg.
• Marshmallows were once used to celebrate Easter in China.
• One kilogram packet of sugar has about five million grains of sugar.
• The first bubble gum flavours ever produced were wintergreen, vanilla and cassia.
• It takes the same amount of time to age a cigar as it does wine.
• According to the KJV Bible, the fruit Eve gave to Adam in the garden of Eden was the fruit of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:17)