The History of Tofu

Tofu, also known as bean curd, is one of the world’s oldest and most versatile plant-based foods. Made by curdling fresh soy milk, pressing the curds into solid blocks, and cooling them, tofu has been enjoyed for over 2,000 years. Today, it is a staple in many Asian cuisines and has become increasingly popular around the world because of its high protein content, mild flavor, and ability to absorb different seasonings.

The story of tofu begins in ancient China. According to Chinese tradition, tofu was invented by Prince Liu An, who lived between 179 and 122 BC in Anhui Province. Although historians cannot confirm this story with certainty, it remains one of the most widely accepted legends about tofu’s origin. The key ingredient, the soybean, had already been cultivated in China for more than 5,000 years, making it one of the earliest domesticated food crops in human history.

Another popular story suggests that tofu was discovered by accident. Around 2,000 years ago, a Chinese cook added a type of seaweed or natural mineral salt to freshly made soy milk. The minerals caused the soy milk to curdle, forming soft white curds. This process is remarkably similar to how cheese is made from dairy milk. Like many famous foods, tofu may have been the result of an unexpected kitchen mistake that turned out to be a delicious success.

During the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), tofu became much more popular throughout China. At first, it was considered a luxury food that was often served to royalty and wealthy families. Over time, however, it became available to ordinary people as well. Ancient Chinese medicine also valued tofu as a nutritious food. It was believed to support digestion, strengthen the body, and provide energy, especially for people recovering from illness.

From China, tofu gradually spread across Asia through trade, cultural exchange, and the influence of Buddhism. Buddhist monks, who often followed vegetarian diets, helped introduce tofu to neighboring countries because it provided an excellent source of plant protein. In Japan, tofu arrived during the Nara period (710–794 AD), and written records mentioning tofu appeared by 965 AD. Japanese tofu makers later introduced nigari, a natural coagulant made from magnesium chloride, which is still widely used today.

Between the 10th and 14th centuries, tofu spread to Korea and Vietnam, where it became an important ingredient in local cooking. It also reached other parts of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar. Each region developed its own tofu dishes, from soups and stir-fries to fried snacks and traditional desserts.

In the 20th century, tofu gained popularity in Europe, North America, and other Western countries. Growing interest in vegetarian, vegan, and health-conscious diets introduced tofu to new audiences. Modern food producers now make many varieties, including silken, soft, firm, extra-firm, smoked, and flavored tofu. 

Today, tofu is enjoyed in countless recipes, from traditional Asian dishes to burgers, salads, curries, and desserts, proving that this ancient food continues to adapt to modern tastes.
The History of Tofu

The Evolution of Breakfast Cereal: A Nutritious Journey

The history of breakfast cereal in America is a tale of innovation, health consciousness, and marketing prowess that has left an indelible mark on the nation's breakfast habits. It all began during the tumultuous times of the American Civil War when Union soldiers found solace in hot breakfast cereals, particularly when logistical challenges left them marching or cut off from supply trains.

Cooks in the army ingeniously concocted "panada," a hot breakfast gruel affectionately dubbed 'bully soup,' using readily available ingredients like watery cornmeal and crumbled hardtack, staples of soldiers' rations. This early experimentation with portable, nutritious meals laid the groundwork for the breakfast cereal revolution to come.

In the late nineteenth century, spurred by the emerging health food movement, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church advocated for a vegetarian lifestyle. This movement highlighted the importance of dietary fiber, addressing widespread digestive disorders prevalent among Americans at the time.

One pivotal figure in this narrative is Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a pioneer nutritionist associated with the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. Kellogg's fervent promotion of vegetarianism and his cereal experiments at the sanitarium propelled Battle Creek to the forefront of the breakfast cereal industry.

While Dr. James C. Jackson's granula laid the foundation for cold breakfast cereals in 1863, it was Kellogg's invention of corn flakes in 1902 that truly revolutionized the industry. Kellogg's initial offerings focused on pure, whole-grain products, setting the stage for the cornucopia of flaked, toasted, and prepared grains that followed.

Not to be outdone, Post Cereals entered the fray with Grape-Nuts in 1898, quickly becoming a commercial sensation. Post's savvy advertising tactics, including the inclusion of premiums and toys in cereal boxes, propelled the brand to meteoric success, netting a million dollars annually by 1900.

As competition intensified, cereal manufacturers began adding sugar and other additives to enhance flavor and appeal to children. This shift towards convenience and taste over pure healthfulness marked a turning point in the industry, as exemplified by Post's introduction of a new version of corn flakes in 1906.

Despite occasional criticisms of their nutritive value, breakfast cereals continued to soar in popularity throughout the twentieth century, with manufacturers responding by fortifying their products with essential nutrients. Unlike many other grain products, breakfast cereals experienced a steady increase in per capita consumption, solidifying their status as a breakfast staple in American households.

In conclusion, the history of breakfast cereal in America is a testament to the intersection of health consciousness, innovation, and marketing ingenuity. From humble beginnings on Civil War battlefields to billion-dollar industry giants, breakfast cereals have evolved to meet the changing tastes and nutritional needs of consumers, leaving an enduring legacy on breakfast tables across the nation.
The Evolution of Breakfast Cereal: A Nutritious Journey

Cumin seeds in Greeks history

Cumin seed or Cuminum cyminum, is another of the herb spices which historically predates the Christian Era. It was one of the main spices use in ancient Greece.

Cumin was certainly grown in Egypt during the time of the pharaohs, where it was used in the embalming process, as well as to flavor many savory dishes. The ancient Greeks probably imported cumin form Egypt.

The ancient Greeks kept cumin at the dining table in its own container, very much like salt and pepper today. Cumin was introduced to Greece from Ethiopia and a spice used to flavor meats by those Greeks who come from Smyrna. Geeks used cumin medicinally as a digestive aid, and in cosmetics to create a wan, pale, pallid complexion.

Greek kitchens of antiquity value cumin as a good substitute for black pepper which was very expensive and not widely available. They also ground cumin seeds with bread, water or wine.

While they enjoyed eating it, the ancient Greeks also considered cumin a symbol of meanness ~ a miserly person was said to be a “cumin splitter”.
Cumin seeds in Greeks history

Chinese history on food preservation

Food preservation methods such as drying, smoking, freezing, marinating, salting and pickling had their beginnings thousands of years ago. The Chinese reportedly preserved vegetables by fermentation in prehistoric times.

The Chinese also used salted fish in their diets. Fermented sausages were prepared and consumed by the people of ancient China as far back as 1500 BC. The Chinese Confucian Analects of 500 BC warned against consumption of sour rice, spoiled fish or eating flesh, food kept too long or insufficiently cooked food.

Fermented vegetables

The Chinese have cultivated rice, millet, sorghum, and other crops for many millennia and they established the sophisticated preservation techniques of salting and fermenting many vegetables, seafood and grains to preserving them.

Many of these techniques are still part of the Chinese culinary repertoire and sauces (soy sauce, oyster sauce, black bean sauce, etc) and other condiments often are produced using these methods today.

Throughout Chinese history fermented vinegar was added to food. Pickling food in vinegar is one of the traditional techniques of food-preservation, and the presence of salt in vinegar frequently enhances the preservative effects.
Chinese history on food preservation

History of cheese

The origins of cheese making stretch back almost to the beginnings of agriculture. The earliest domestication of milk-producing animal probably took place about nine thousand years ago.

Milk becomes a fully reliable resource when it can be converted into a product that will keep; until that was possible farmers needed to rely extensively on slaughtering to maintain a supply of protein through the year.

It is generally believed that cheese was first made in the Middle East. Legend has it that a nomadic Arab accidentally made cheese when a saddlebag filled with milk fermented due to the hot sun and the galloping of his horse.

Early cheeses were not the solid products known today. They were simple curds and whey. The curd is the solid part while the whey is liquid.

Roquefort cheese

Early cheesemakers probably stumbled on coagulation caused by the combination action of acid and heat, which is the principle behind ricotta type cheeses.

The earliest direct evidence for cheese comes from Egypt. The strange substance found in two jars from a tomb of the Egyptian First Dynasty (1300 to 29000 BC), with inscription that were read as rwt of the north’ and ‘rwt of the south’ was eventually pronounced to be cheese. Workmen making cheese are depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphics. In ancient times, the whey was eaten immediately while the curd was salted or dried for preservation.

Attempts at heating partly soured milk, or whey that remained after cheese making, eventually would have produced the right combination of acidity and temperature to cause the coagulation of milk proteins, hence the discovery of acid/heat-coagulated cheeses, which to this day are widely produced in the Near East.

The Roman Legion helped spread the art of cheesemaking throughout Europe and England. The monasteries and feudal estates of Europe made great improvements in cheesemaking during the middle ages.

Many of the classic varieties of cheese enjoyed today were developed by monks. During the Renaissance, cheese dropped in popularity because it was considered unhealthy. By the nineteenth century, sentiment had changed and cheese production moved from farm to factory.

While most cheeses are mass produced today, some artisanal cheeses are still made by hand using old-fashioned techniques.
History of cheese

Early history of dietary standard

During the 1830s, Boussingault in France, Gerrit Mulder (1802-80) in Holland, and Justus von Liebeig (1803-73) in Germany had all proposed that the nitrogen content of food could served as an indicator of its nutritive value.

In 1847, based on studies of Dutch army rations, Mulder recommended 100 grams of protein daily for laborer and 60 grams for a sedentary person. In 1862 Dr, Edward Smith formulated a new dietary standard at the request of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. This was expressed as 4300 gram of carbon and 200 gram of nitrogen daily, and it was exemplified in many dietary formulae.

The first organized attempt at developing a dietary standard came as a result of food shortages during World War I when it became necessary for the United States government to devise a rational basis for shipments of food from this country to its allies in Europe.

With limited knowledge at that time of nutrition in general and of human nutrient needs in particular, recommendations could be made only for energy and with reservations for protein.

Between 1920 and 1940, rapid progress was made in advancing knowledge of the newly discovered essential nutrients. The knowledge needed for establishing dietary standards was becoming available.

Beginning in 1938, Health Canada published dietary standards called Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNIs). In the United States, the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) were first published in 1941.
Early history of dietary standard

Sugar processing during ancient time

The processing of sugar products was one of the first extensive agro-industrial operations in the world.

In ancient and early medieval times, the Mediterranean did not know sugar; sweetening came from honey and fruit juices.  The sugarcane itself had its origin in New Guinea and gradually spread, with human assistance, through Southeast Asia, then gained significance in China and India.

Sugarcane’s early use in Southeast Asia was restricted to chewing and it was cultivated strictly for this purpose. It is believed that the technique of boiling cane juices to make solid sugar was not discovered until the 1st century BC in the Indian subcontinent.  Processing technologies remained simple and cultivation was typically on a small scale, for local consumption.

By 325 BC when the armies of Alexander the Great entered the Punjab, they encountered sugar cane.

Although sugar cane possibly known in the holy land in biblical time only syrups could be obtained from it. In the 7th – 10 th centuries AD, the Arabs spread sugarcane throughout their region of influence in the Mediterranean and eastwards.

Previously, the processing of sugar had been done by crushing the cane, extracting the juice, and boiling it down into a black paste.

Sugar was used as a medicinal agent as well as a sweetener. And then the method of adding potash to clarify the sugar in the refining process was invented. The raw sugar is further refined to produce white and other kinds of sugar.

By the 12th century sugarcane reached Europe and Marco Polo reported advanced sugar refining in China toward the end of 13th century.

Sugar cultivation and processing moved into the Atlantic islands of Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde and Sao Tome, in association the beginning of Portuguese expansion into Africa in the fifteenth century.

The sugar beet extraction was developed late, but sugar cane processing is ancient. When Europeans came to known the product call sugar, it was cane sugar.

The development of the sugar industry from the 16th century onward is closely associated with slavery, which supplied the largest amount of labour used at the time. During the European Renaissance, and for the succeeding two centuries, sugar manufacturing constituted one of the largest pre-modern industrial operations in the world.
Sugar processing during ancient time

Will Keith Kellogg (1860-1951)

Will Keith Kellogg was business manager of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, founder of the Kellogg Company and founder of the W.K Kellogg foundation.

Born on April 7, 1860 to John Preston Kellogg and Ann Janette Stanley Kellogg, he was christened ‘Willie Keith Kellogg’ but he detested his first name, and legally changed it to ‘Will’ in 1898.

Will Kellogg received little formal education, becoming an apprentice broom maker at age 11, and at the age of fourteen Will began working as a salesman for his father’s broom business. He used a horse and buggy to travel from town to town, For longer sale trips Will sometimes took a train.

In April 1880, Will was hired by his brother John Kellogg as his assistant at Battle Creek Sanitarium. In the late 1880s, the brothers established the Sanitas Food Company to market their culinary innovations.

Will Kellogg with his broom 

After many experiments, in 1894 Kellogg brothers perfected the process for flaking grains.  It was first served to the patients as the Sanitarium and later sold by the Sanitas Food Company.

In 1906, Will struck off on his own to form the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. Eventually the renamed Kellogg Company became the world’s largest purveyor of ready-to-eat breakfast cereal.

Kellogg grew his business by masterful and audacious advertising and creative promotions. One campaigns urged housewives to wink at their grocer; those brave enough to do so received a free sample of Toasted Corn Flakes.

The company grew to be the largest manufacturer of ready-to-eat cereals in the world. Will Keith Kellogg passed away on October 6, 1951.
Will Keith Kellogg (1860-1951)

High pressure in food processing

A high pressure food process generally relies on the applications of isostatic or hydraulic pressures in the range from 1o0 to 1000 MPas.

Studies of the effects of high pressures on foods date back over a century. The first data in history on the effects of high hydrostatic pressure on organisms were most likely complied by Certes in 1883 who found viable bacteria in water samples obtained from 5100 m depth.

In 1899, Bert Hite of the Agriculture Research Stations in Morganstown, West Virginia, USA, designed and constructed a high pressure unit to pasteurize milk and other food products.

It was the first time demonstrated in the destruction bacteria. He reported that the high pressure processing of food involves the application of hydrostatic pressure typically in the order of 100 MPa and above. Subsequent work by Hite and co-workers expanded from treatment of milk and meats products to fruit and vegetables.

High pressure processing or pascalization is named after Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist who describes how contained fluids are affected by pressure.

The drawback of this method it is costly to implement.

Scientists reactivated research on high pressure processing from the end of the 1980’s.  In 1989 food related high pressure activities were begun at Kyoto University in Japan. This high pressure process consists of applying an isostatic pressure to a food place in a high pressure vessel.
High pressure in food processing

The Quaker Oats Company in history

The Quaker Oats Company started with The Quaker Mills Company in Ravenna, Ohio when Henry D. Seymour and William Heston registered the Quaker trademark in 1877.  They developed and trademarked a new product: rolled oats.  All consumers had to do was add hot water to the rolled oats and they was ready to eat.

Later Henry Parson Crowell took over the company in 1881, and quickly gained acceptance from the public in part because of his method of packaging the oats in a two pound paper package with cooking directions. This is understandable as the method of packaging by his rivals were in the not-so-handy 180 lb barrels. He was called a cereal tycoon at that time.

In 1882 Crowell launched the first advertisement campaign in national magazines for breakfast cereal. In 1885 he began to use the recently patented folding carton for Quaker Oats packaging.

These developments helped to establish oatmeal as the most popular breakfast item in the United States and as a significant ingredient in many ready to eat cereals and other food products.

The symbol of a man in Quaker dress was registered as a trademark in 1877 by forerunner of the Quaker Oats Company, becoming the first to register a trademark for a breakfast cereal.  This symbol was chosen because it was considered that Quakers represented an image of purity and honesty. This move was seminal, because Quaker Oats was the first cereal to be marketed as a brand rather than a commodity.

Crowell allied with Schumacher in 1888, and the two men formed a monopoly of oat cereal production, which lasted until Cromwell controlled the firm in 1906.

The company’s greatest contribution to kitchen efficiency was a quick cooking Quaker Oats, introduced in 1922.

In August 2001, after one hundred years a publicly traded company, Quaker Oats Company merged with PepsiCo, Inc.
The Quaker Oats Company in history

Food irradiation in history

The generic term ‘irradiation’ appears in the literature only until the 1940s.

Food irradiation history began when the discovery of x-ray by Roentgen in 1805 and radioactive substances by Becquerel in 1896.

Following these discoveries there was much research examining the effects of these irradiations on biological organisms.

In the same year H. Minsch from Germans published a proposal to use ionizing radiation to serve food by destroying spoilage microorganisms.

Soon thereafter, Samuel Prescott, a biology professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, demonstrated that bacteria in food could be killed with gamma rays from radium.

Within a few years patents describing the use of ionizing to destroy bacteria in food were issued in both the United States and Britain.

The first patent on the proposition to apply ionizing to kill bacteria in foods was issued in the UK to Appleby and Banks in 1905.

The finding the ionizing radiation could destroy bacteria occurred in 1904, and the technology was evaluated as early as 1921 for destroying trichinae in pork.

However, radiation sources strong enough for industrial exploitation were not available before the 1950s.

However in the early 1950s, the US government became involve in the development of food irradiation and funded related research. The Atomic Energy Commission started sponsoring programs in 1950, followed by the IS Army in 1953.

In 1958, The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is amended and defines sources of radiation intended for use in processing food as a new food additive.

The worldwide first food irradiation facilities became operational in Germany in 1957 for spices, but had to dismantle in 1959 when Germany banned food irradiation.

In 1986, FDA approves irradiation at specific doses to delay maturation, inhibit growth and disinfect foods, including vegetables and spices.

The Federal Meat Inspection Act also is amended to permit gamma radiation in control Trichinella spiralis in fresh or previously frozen pork.
Food irradiation in history

Pizza Hut – world largest pizza franchise

The first known pizzeria in the United States was established by Italian bakers in New York in 1902. By the 1920s, pizza was a common food served in small outlets and at Italian festivals.

Pizza Hut began in 1958 and was opened by two brothers, Frank and Dan Carney. Their friend suggested opening a pizza parlor they agreed with the idea that it could prove successful, so that they borrowed $600 form their mother to start a business. At that time the original Pizza hut was at Wichita State University with 25 seats.

The concept was relatively new at the time and the brothers quickly saw the potential of this new enterprise.

When making the sign for the restaurant they only had enough room for nine letters and because they made pizza's they wanted pizza in the name, that only left 3 letters and because the restaurant looked like a hut they named it Pizza Hut.

Their first franchise was opened in 1959 in Topeka, Kansas. Their chain started growing up very fast, ten years later Pizza Hut Inc., counted almost 300 restaurants.

The varieties of pizza offered combined with Pizza Hut’s family-friendly atmosphere and strategic opening of restaurants in small and medium sized towns, made it a highly successful enterprise.

The whole history of pizza hut has been achieved through innovation, but the history of pizza hut really took off with amalgamation into the Pepsi Company and more aggressive marketing techniques especially in the take out market.

PepsiCo purchased Pizza Hut in 1977. Pizza Hut began a process to Americanize its image. Its initial logo – an Italian chef tossing a pizza – was change to the red roof that symbolized their ‘hut’.
Pizza Hut – world largest pizza franchise

Food preservation during ancient time

Food preservation is as old as human civilization. Preservation of foods inhibits spoilage cause by bacterial growth, oxidation, insects or desiccation.

Two staples of the ancient armies, wine and beer, were preserved for use as military rations. Some armies, the Sumerian and Egyptians preferred beer, while other Romans, Assyrians, Hittites and Germans preferred wine. Sealed properly in jars or wooden casks, wine could be kept for years.

The earliest recorded instances of food preservation date back to ancient Egypt and the drying of grains and subsequent storage in seal silos.

The stored grain could be kept for several years to insure against famine in case the Nile River flooded. 

People in many parts of the world developed techniques for drying and smoking foods as far as 6000 BC. Microorganisms need water to carry out their metabolic processes.

Smoking was known to the prehistoric inhabitants of Europe. This process not only dries the food but it also changes its taste by decomposition of the fats and so often avoids the use of spices.

It was used by the German tribes and even by the Romans in historic times.

Salting was so important in Roman life that Roman soldiers received “salarium,” or salt, as payment. This is the origin of today’s term, ‘salary.’

Ancient Mesoamericans used salt as a preservative for trade in fish and other food stuff over long distances, as well as for storing food for long periods of time.

Since Phoenician times (from around 1250 BC) the standard practice for preserving fish was to gut it, dry it and pack it in layers with salt. In Egypt, remains of food found in a tomb dating before 2000 BC included salted fish and a wooden container holding table salt.

Ancient peoples living in areas with cold winters would observe that frozen foods remained in good conditions almost indefinitely, whereupon humans developed rudimentary cold storage by cooling the recesses of caves and other shelters with ice and snow.

After the collapse of the ancient societies, the knowledge of food preservation for military rations was mostly lost and not rediscovered by modern armies until the nineteenth century, when it began to be preserved in tins and other methods of storage.
Food preservation during ancient time

History of Avena sativa

Oats are descended from A. Sterilis, a wild oat that spread as a weed of wheat and barley from the Fertile Crescent to Europe.

In the wetter, colder conditions of Europe, in which oats thrive, it was domesticated about 3000 years ago, and soon became an important cereal in its own right on the cooler fringes of Europe.

By the beginning of the seventh century oats were extensively established in Western Europe as a grain and forage crop and by 1024 oats had become an important crop in the British Isles.

Oats were brought to North America from two parts of Europe. They were introduced by the Spain into the southern part of North America, and into the northern part of the continent by the English and North European.

Oats were first planted in the United States on Cuttyhunk, an island of the Massachusetts coast, in 1602. 

Oats are chiefly a European and North American crop. These areas have the cool, moist climate to which oats are best adapted. Russia, Canada, the United States, Finland, and Poland are the leading oat producing countries.

In 1753 Carl Linnaeus described four oat species Avena sterilis, A. fatwa, A. sativa and A. nuda. He classified oats as wild or cultivated and among the cultivated oats he differentiated only the covered from the naked.

During the 1940s and 1950s, the five leading states in production usually were Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. By the 1960's, the main oat producing area began moving somewhat north and westward.
History of Avena sativa

History of Pizza

From the food of the poor and neglected, pizza became the food of everyone. The history of pizza travelling over continents through historical eras, dating back as far as the Syrian period, is a remarkably clear history of a millennial globalization.

Early Greeks baked flat bread on heated stones, topped it with oils and herbs, and called it plankuntos, which loosely translates as ‘edible plate’.

The dish moved to Italy, where the first history of Rome from the third century BC speaks of “flat round dough dressed with live, oil, herbs and honey, baked on stones”.

The plural word ‘pizza’ appeared for the first time in a document of 997, the Codex Diplomaticus Cajetanus, discovered inside the Abbey of Montecassino, Gaeta, south of Rome.

The true “pizza napoletana” as it is understood in Naples is a disc of dough on which tomato is spread. Pizza napoletana made its way around the world as a special culinary product. This use of the term pizza was born after a specific historical event: the discovery in 1492 of the New World by Christopher Columbus. It was precisely the Genoese navigator who brought the tomato plant to Europe.

In 1596, the tomato plant was exported to Naples by Spain where it was used as an ornamental plant. Vincenzo Corrado Oritano an Italian cook, philosopher and literary in his book ‘Cuoco Galante (1773) declares that the tomato was used to top pizza.

Journalist Matilde Serao wrote in II Ventre di Napoli in 1834 about pizza, the common people eat. Serao describes pizza as a food costing only one coin, being both the breakfast and the lunch of most of the poor inhabitants of the city. It is one of the most popular foods of the city.

The first pizzerias, without doubt, were born in Naples and until the middle of the 20th century the product was exclusively a commodity of Naples and its pizzerias.

In 1843, Alexandre Dumas present pizza as the food of the lazzarone, the plebeian who eats pizza in winter and watermelon in summer.

In the early 1900s, migrants brought the dish to New York, and from there it flourished in Italian neighborhood along the East Coast from Philadelphia to Boston.

Italian immigrant Giovanni Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in 1905 in the Little Italy section of New York. By the 1930s, pizzerias had spread across the country.
History of Pizza

Invention of pasteurization process

Pasteurization is named for the French scientist Louis Pasture. He invented the process of pasteurization.

Louis Pasteur was on born 27th December 1822, at Dole, France. He died on 28th September 1895, at Saint Cloud near Paris.

In 1856, at the age of 34 years Louis Pasteur began his fourth year as the Head of Sciences at the University of Lille in France.

His research showed the role that microorganisms play in spoiling milk, beer, wine and other beverages and his invention of the pasteurization process to kill the bacteria that caused so much sickness in human tremendously boosted human longevity.

Although he first experimented with this process in 1862, pasteurization was not put to use until the early twenty century.

In the United States pasteurization was championed by Alice Catherine Evans (1881-1975), a microbiologist who worked for the US department of Agriculture.

Nowadays, most pasteurized milk is produced by processing through plate heat exchangers.
Invention of pasteurization process

Early History of Cocoa

The Olmecs occupied a small area south of Veracruz and were the first cultivators of the cacao pod. The Mayans were next, just south of present day Mexico, to elevate chocolate to status of the Gods. They named the cacao tree Cacahuaquchtl (tree) as they were concerned no other tree was worth naming.

Maya did not sweeten the cacao drink but added spices and crushed chile peppers to make a variety of drinks they prized for their foam.

Cacao played an important role in the economic , ritual and political life of the pre-Hispanic Maya.

They believed the tree belonged to the gods and that the pods growing from the tree were an offering from the gods to man. They Mayans were the originators of a bitter brew made from cacao beans. It was a luxury drink enjoyed by kings and noblemen.

The Maya believed that cacao could cure a variety of ills, including hemorrhoids and nervous tension.

The word cacao beans apparently derived from two Mayan words, ‘kaj’ and ‘kab’ which means ‘bitter’ and ‘juice’ respectively.

Their combination, ‘kajkab’ became ‘kahkah’ in Spanish.

Christopher Columbus, in 1502, reached the island of Guanaja off the coast of Honduras. As legend goes he was greeted by natives that gave him a sackful of cacao beans in exchange for some of his own merchandise.

When Cortes arrived seventeen years later the cacao beans were being used as food and served as a unit of currency and they were an important item of tribute. It was reported that a slave could be bought for one hundred cacao beans. At the time, two hundred small cacao beans were worth one Spanish real.

Cacao in Maya area can be traced back to somewhere between 600 and 400 BC, based on chemical remains from sprouted vessels from Belize.

The Mayan’s ‘cacahuatl’ was a cold beverage prepared without either sugar or milk, but the Spaniards preferred it hot and sweet and mixed with milk.

The Spanish helped develop cacao plantations in Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Jamaica and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Cacao production has since spread all over the world but the cacao from these original regions still produce the most highly prized variety of cacao bean.

Early History of Cocoa

History of Mangosteen

In South East Asia the fruit is known as Fruit of God because of health benefits and delicious taste of fruits.

The fruit has had a long history of use dating back thousands of years.

The place of origin of the mangosteen is unknown but is believed to be in Malay Archipelago.

The fruit is the finest fruit of the Malay Archipelago and often described as one of the world’s best flavored fruit and highly esteemed in Southeast Asia.

It is commonly grown in Malaysia and Indonesia. The wild species of mangosteen are found in Malaysia and India. Mangosteen is derived from G. silvestris Boerl, a species also found growing in both countries.

The mangosteen is also known as the mangostan and ‘maggis’ in Malaysia. The fruit is sweet and juicy and has an excellent flavor profile.

However, there was also a study that indicated that Peninsular Malaysia was probably the area of origin due to original parent having possibly arisen as a hybrid between G. hombroniana and G malleccensis.

There was a suggestion that the tree may have been first domesticated was done in Thailand and Burma at least 2000 years ago and later spread to other tropical area.

In western world it was known as early as 1631.

It is much cultivated in Thailand–where there were 9,700 acres (4,000 ha) in 1965–also in Kampuchea, southern Vietnam and Burma, throughout Malaysia and Singapore.

The mangosteen has been historically considered the queen of tropical fruits, with a delicious, sweetish-tart flavor and mild perfume.

The mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) was named after the French explorer Laurent Garcia (1683-1751) and has been in cultivation for a considerable time in various parts of humid tropics.

The tree was planted in Ceylon about 1800 and in India in 1881.

The plants reached Puerto Rico in 1903 and by 1906 seeds were received in the United States Department of Agriculture also but survival of seedlings was very poor.

Some trees have been located in the Caribbean and recorded as fruiting in Dominica, Jamaica and Trinidad between 1913 and 1919.

The mangosteen is gaining popularity in the international market and recent demands for exported fruit have prompted growers to consider this crop with renewed interest.
Fruit of mangosteen

History of Food Processing Development

The history of chilled and/or refrigerated foods dates to very early times. The first references are to the use of natural ice used to preserve food products for extended periods of time.

Natural ice was being used even by late eighteen century with salmon being packed in ice for transport to London by 1876, and sea fish from Harwich and Grimsby by the end of the century.

While earliest of biological processing include the production of fermented foods and beverages, even though they pre-date any understanding of the nature of the biological agents or the scientific principles involved. Mesopotamians are often given credit for the first brewing process.

The earliest writings from many part of the world indicate that vinegar, produced from fermentation of apple, grape or other fruits, was already known many centuries BC and that it was widely used to preserve fruits, vegetables, fish and other foods.

Technologies developed in the early and middle 20th century allowed the manufacture and distribution of canned, chilled and frozen foods and furnished consumers with electric-driven refrigerators and freezers.

A patent for use of a commercial refrigeration process for first was registered in 1842. The use of refrigeration to reduce the temperature of food below the point of ice crystallization was developed by Birdseye in the 1920s.

The use of high temperature to produce safe food products dates to the 1790s in France. Napoleon Bonaparte offered a prize to scientist to develop preserved foods for the armies of France.

This offer leads to the research of Nicholas Appert and the commercial sterilization of foods. The technique was invented using glass jars for storage.

In 1810, Peter Durand, and Englishman, proposed the use of tin cans, a method that proved successful.

In the 1860s, Louis Pasteur, working with beer and wine, developed the process of pasteurization.

During the 1830s, preservation techniques for milk emerged, with ‘condensed milk’ being patented in 1835, although diffusion came much later.

All developments in food processing have similar and common origins. One common aspect was that of achieving and maintaining microbial safety in the product.

It was quite evident throughout history that foods without some form of preservation could create illness after consumption.

Considerable time elapsed after these observations before an association with the microbial quality of the product was established.

The second common factor associated with the history of food processing is the interest in extending the shelf life of the product.

In most situations, there is a desire on the part of the consumer to have an opportunity to acquire many of the seasonal commodities on a year round basis.
History of Food Processing Development

History of McDonald Restaurant

Raymond Albert Kroc mortgaged his home and invested his entire life savings in making himself the exclusive distributer of the Multimixer, a five spindle milkshake maker.

In 1954, Ray Kroc heard about a MacDonald’s hamburger stand in San Bernardino, California running eight Multimixers at the same time.

It started in 1937, when the MacDonald brothers, Dick and Maurice MacDonald, opened their first restaurant in Arcadia, California selling hot dogs, orange juice, coffee and tea.

When they expanded their operations to Arizona, they began to use two yellow arches to make their building visible from blocks away.

In 1940, barbeque restaurant opened by siblings Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. It’s selling 15 cent hamburgers and 10 cent fries.

In their system, food preparation jobs had been broken down simple repetitive steps easily taught at unskilled labor creating a fast moving assembly line operation.

The menu had been strictly limited to hamburgers, French fries, milkshakes and soft drinks.

The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955, the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall.

Kroc convinced the MacDonald brothers to grant him a licensing agreement and, at the age of fifty-two, set off to spread McDonald’s restaurant throughout the country.

The first of Kroc’s outlets was opened in Des Plaines, Illinois during 1956 and despite a field crowed with competitors, many more soon mushroomed around the United States.

Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and led its worldwide expansion.

MacDonald’s global growth, opening restaurants in Canada, Japan, Australia and Western Europe in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, followed by Latin America, Asia and the former Communist bloc in succeeding decades.
History of McDonald Restaurant