10 Food Facts That should Surprise You

10

Fortune Cookies

The fortune cookie was invented in San Francisco in 1909, at the Japanese Tea Garden Restaurant. In 1916, Los Angeles noodle manufacturer David Jung claimed to be the inventor, but a San Francisco court ruled that Makoto Hagiwara, caretaker of Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden, was the creator of the cookies, which he served to guests of the gardens. [Source]

9

Tonka Beans

The deadly tonka bean (often added to perfume as a cheap alternative to vanilla) is banned outright in the United States as a food additive. Despite its highly poisonous qualities, it is popularly enjoyed in France in high quality pastries (pictured above is Jean Paul Hévin’s famous “Tonka”). Despite its reputation as a killer, only a few countries ban its use in food. The smell of fresh tonka beans is like a combination of bitter almond, vanilla and clove. It is unique in its mix of tastes, which is why it is so highly prized in the best European pasty houses. [Image Source]

8

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken tikka masala, the hugely popular Indian curry, is not Indian. It was invented in Glasgow, Scotland. Yes, one of the most loved Indian dishes comes from the home of haggis and hogmanay. It is, according to statistics, the most popular “Indian” dish in Britain.

7

Korean Table Manners

In Korea, to this day, when a young person is eating with someone older, they must turn their face away from the elder member of the table and shield their lips with their hand when taking a sip of alcohol. This is done as a sign of respect. The importance of respect is found everywhere in Korea: the Korean language has over 600 different word endings to be used in different social situations, depending upon seniority. This makes Korean the hardest language in the world to learn, despite its simple 24 letter alphabet (Hangul).

6

Fish ‘n’ Chips

Shark and Tatties (pronounced “shark and tay-tees”) is the New Zealand slang term for fish and chips – the crispy alternative to the British version, which is usually soggy and served with skin on, accompanied by a side of grey overcooked ‘mushy’ peas (sorry, Brits – but it’s true – NZ fish and chips is always cooked to order). As the name suggests, the most commonly used fish in New Zealand for this delightful dish is shark (rig shark to be exact – pictured here). Due to people possibly being upset, the meat is marketed as “lemon fish”. In a strange meld of rich and poor, equally popular with shark and fries is deep fried battered Bluff Oysters, the best in the world, which are nearly ten times more expensive than the fish. On Facebook, you can see a recent photograph of my dinner of shark, oysters and chips (fries), with homemade ketchup and New Zealand’s Watties Tomato Sauce. Oh – and awful supermarket white bread which lacks flavor and substance, but is particularly favored for fish and chips. (Editors Note: As a Brit I do have to protest the disparaging comments on our Fish and Chips. I also wanted to note, for the uninitiated, that that terrible white bread Jamie mentions is awesome when made in to a sandwich with the chips – a French Fry Sandwich, or “chip buttie” – seriously, try it – you’ll be pleasantly surprised!)

5

Indoor BBQ

Cooking with charcoal inside the house can be deadly, due to the release of carbon monoxide. Despite this, white charcoal (binchotan charcoal) is commonly used inside homes in Japan and Korea, as well as in Asian restaurants all around the world (at least two restaurants in California use 100% indoor charcoal grills). With good ventilation, white charcoal can be safely cooked on, even in close quarters. It produces no smoke due to the manner in which it is made, and consequently it lends a subtle and pure flavor to barbecued meat. The US Center for Disease Control says that charcoal should never be used indoors (including white charcoal) as there is a risk of death by carbon monoxide, but that hasn’t stopped people in Asia from continuing their 1,000+ year tradition of doing so. White charcoal is a special type produced in a very different way to black charcoal. It is as strong as steel, and when you have finished cooking you can dump water on it and use it again, at least three more times.

4

Tea Time

Would you like to come for tea? If you visit the British Empire (and its commonwealth nations) you might be surprised at what you get if you say yes. Tea, for most commonwealthers and many Brits, means the main meal of the day (at night) – not a cup of tea with scones (pronounced like shone – not moan) eaten in the afternoon – as it was known by the upper class English. How has this come about? The most likely explanation can be found in the menu of the Titanic:

Upper class and second class menu involved: breakfast, luncheon, dinner. The third class menu was: breakfast, dinner, TEA (main meal), supper.

Primarily the settlers of the commonwealth were of the third class variety. If you want to see what the different classes actually ate on the Titanic (their final voyage in fact), you can read the menus here.

3

Hot or Cold

Have you ever eaten a peppermint and inhaled at the same time, only to find that your mouth burns? In fact, your mouth is getting cold! Peppermint contains high traces of menthol (making it, and spearmint, the main sources of menthol for other uses) which triggers your mouth’s cold receptors. On the opposite side of the scale chili peppers trigger the mouth’s hot receptors. If you want to try a weird experiment, chew a chili and a peppermint at the same time. Oh – and to make things even more interesting- while the mint makes you think you are eating something cold, the actual temperature of the area affected remains the same before, during and after the consumption.

2

Lobster Color

Lobsters are always red. Before you cook a lobster it looks grey-blue, and when you cook it it turns pink. But this is not because something is changing color- the red pigment is already there. The red pigment in the lobster’s shell is surrounded by other pigments (the grey and blue), and when those pigments are heated they are destroyed, whereas the red pigments can stand the heat and they remain. The red pigment is called astaxanthin. [Image Source]

1

Jelly? Jello-o? Jam? Conserve?

Jelly and jam are different things. Jam is cooked crushed fruit (with sugar), jelly is gelatinized fruit juice (with sugar) but is called Jell-o in the United states (US Jelly is jam without the fruit pulp). And to make matters more confusing we have conserve. Conserve is a whole fruit jam made of one or many fruits cooked with sugar. Making conserve is harder than jam or jelly, as the fruits must remain in their whole shape through the cooking process. Oh – and did you know that gelatine is made from the hooves of animals?

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Top 10 Banned Dog Breeds

In the late 1980s, an epidemic of attacks by Pit Bull type dogs, and other related breeds, led to widespread bans. In 1991, the Parliament of the United Kingdom banned the ownership of Japanese Tosa Inus, Argentine Dogos, Fila Brasilieros and Pit Bulls, with many other countries following suit soon after. Even in areas where having such dogs is legal, it can be nearly impossible for homeowners to get liability insurance if they own one of the breeds below.

10

American Bulldog

Banned in Denmark, Singapore and various municipalities, the American Bulldog’s origins are in the deep south, where it was used as a farm dog. Its specialty is catching feral hogs, which can weigh several hundred pounds and wield savage tusks. When cornered, these razorbacks are nasty fighters, requiring a dog of great strength and athleticism to fight them, battling the hog into submission and holding it down until the hunter arrives. For this reason, they have a very high pain threshold. The American Bulldog can weigh from 70-120lbs., though many have been known to grow even larger.

9

Bandog

The term ‘bandog’ has been in use since the Middle Ages and is used to describe a large dog that was let off its chain at night to guard its property. The modern bandog is not a purebred, and there are various ‘recipes’ to achieve its creation, including American Pit Bull terriers and various mastiffs. The goal is to create a dog with the size of the mastiff and the drive of the APBT. The breed rose to a certain prominence in the late 60s, when veterinarian John Swinford began breeding them. His most famous dog was Bantu – a fierce, hard dog known for his fighting prowess. Weight can vary wildly, but 80 to 150lbs is the general range. Bandogs are generally prohibited anywhere there are restrictions on its parent breeds.

8

Neapolitan Mastiff

The Neapolitan Mastiff or Neo, comes from Italy, where once it was used as a gladiator dog in the bloody spectacles of the Coliseum. They were also used as war dogs by the Roman legion. Today, they are generally protectors of the home. Distinctive in appearance, the largest males can top 200lbs and are covered in loose, wrinkly skin with hanging jowls. A Neapolitan Mastiff was used to portray Hagrid’s pet Fang in the Harry Potter films. They are illegal to own in Singapore, and to own one in Romania you have to be certified psychologically fit.

7

Wolfdog

There are many established breeds of wolves and domestic dogs, including the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog (a mix of German Shepherd and Carpathian wolf) and the Saarloos Wolfhound (German Shepherd and Mackenzie Valley timber wolf). Perhaps the most famous was Jack London’s fictional White Fang. Due to its varied genetic structure the wolf dog is extremely unpredictable, reacting to certain situations like a wolf and others like a dog. It maintains an extremely high prey drive, and is not generally considered a good pet. There have been many attacks on humans, most commonly on small children, which they may view as prey items. It is prohibited in Norway.

6

Boerboel

The Boerboel comes from South Africa, and closely resembles a more athletic Bull Mastiff in appearance. The name roughly translates from Dutch to “farm dog”. It was bred from various native African dogs and guard dogs, and were brought into the country by European settlers, most notably the Dutch. In the late 1920s, the diamond company De Beers brought Bull Mastiffs to South Africa to guard their mines, and they contributed greatly to the modern breed. Excellent home guardians without being overtly aggressive, they are also said to be very fond of children. Easily topping 150lbs, they are banned in Denmark.

5

Dogo Argentino

First bred in Argentina in 1928, the Dogo was taken from the now extinct Cordoba Fighting Dog, which was mixed with various other breeds, including the Great Dane, Dogue de Bordeaux and Irish Wolfhound. Breeder Antonio Nores Martinez developed his dog as a big game hunter, taking on such dangerous prey as the mountain lion. Although it was not its original purpose, the Dogo has also been used for fighting. Generally weighing in at just under a hundred pounds, it is solid white and resembles a larger Pit Bull. The Dogo is banned in at least 10 countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Portugal.

4

Presa Canario

The Presa Canario is a massive fighting dog hailing from Spain’s Canary Islands, generally weighing over a hundred pounds. Of diverse mastiff stock, the breed achieved notoriety in 2001 when a pair named Bane and Hera attacked and killed 33 year old lacrosse coach Diane Whipple in the hallway of a San Francisco apartment building. The dogs were originally bred for an Aryan Brotherhood fighting ring. Bane and Hera’s owner, Marjorie Knoller, was convicted of second degree murder (a landmark judgment at the time) and is currently serving a prison sentence of 15 years to life. Presa Canarios are banned in Australia and New Zealand.

3

Fila Brasiliero

The Fila or Brazilian Mastiff, is a huge dog bred for hunting boar and jaguar, and was even used for tracking down runaway slaves. It has Mastiff, Bulldog and Bloodhound ancestry. It is perhaps the least tractable breed on this list, and is highly prized for its aggressiveness. This personality trait is called “ojeriza”, which translates from Portugese to ‘distrust’. The Fila despises strangers, to the point where Brazilian dog show judges are advised not to touch it, and the standard allows a certain ferocity in the show ring. It is illegal to own a Fila in the United Kingdom.

2

Japanese Tosa Inu

The Tosa Inu can weigh anywhere from 80-200lbs. It is a mix of indigenous Japanese dogs and various Western breeds, such as the Mastiff and Bull Terrier. The Tosa is also a fighting dog – although the Japanese idea of combat is much different than in other locales. There is great ceremony attached to Tosa matches. They are much like sumo wrestling, with the greatest champions achieving the rank of ‘Yokozuna’. The Tosa displays an uncommon stoicism, as they are expected to fight silently, without growling or whimpering. It is illegal to own in Denmark, Malta and Norway, amongst other countries.

1

American Pit Bull Terrier

There is no dog breed on earth more polarizing than the Pit Bull. Much maligned, the Pit Bull was bred from early Bulldogs and Terriers for the purpose of fighting other dogs. At this task, he has no peer. Once a beloved family pet (The Little Rascals’ Petey was a pit bull) the breed began to attract the wrong kind of attention in the 1980s. Prized for its strength and gameness (a somewhat indefinable quality which is identified by a willingness to fight, no matter what the cost), Pit Bulls became an urban symbol of criminal masculinity. Poor breeding and training has caused them to be responsible for attacks on humans, many of them fatal. This is somewhat anachronistic of the breed’s history, as Pit Bulls were never bred to be aggressive towards people. In the old days, dog fighters would bathe each others’ dogs before the match (to eliminate the threat of poison on the fur), and a snappy dog would be culled. Whether one considers them sweet-natured pets or deadly monsters, they are illegal to own in Miami-Dade County, Florida; Ontario, Canada; and many countries throughout the world.

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Atif Aslam's Bol(2011) Movie Free Download Watch Online

Director: Shoaib Mansoor
Release Date: 31 August 2011 (India)
Cast: Atif Aslam, Iman Ali, Mahira Khan, Humaima Malick, Shafqat Cheema &Manzar Sehbai

Desc:’Bol is Shoaib Mansoors second dramatic breakthrough of revealing life with its complexities. After Khuda Kay Liye, that went on to win several international awards, Bol is another gripping story authored by him. Bol is a roller coaster of emotions, yet carries subtleties that make your heartbeat stop.

‘Bol’ shows a family that can barely make ends meet. Based in the heart of Lahore, the story takes place in a house full of daughters, with vibrancy of life, yet restrictions on blooming imposed by their father who subscribes to a set of values that embody contradictions, values that have not been questioned. ‘Bol’ questions these values. Humaima Malick plays a daughter who gets affected the most by the tensions within the family. She respects the norms she has been given by her parents yet is compelled by her intuitive logic and sense of justice to rebel.

Bol takes you through a journey into the life of this family experiencing their troubles, sufferings, resolves and high points. As family members take decisions to solve their problems they step into deeper troubles. The complexity of their circumstances becomes a struggle of life and death.

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4    Part 5  

Part 6    Part 7