DON'T LET THIS BREAK YOUR CULTURAL HEART

 

Who Knew? 6 Foods You'd Never Guess Were American BY BRANDON SPECKTOR.  

Fortune Cookie We thought it was from: China It's actually from: California Tweaking a Japanese recipe, Makoto Hagiwari claims his San Francisco teahouse invented the modern paper-stuffed fortune cookie in 1914; David Jung says it was his Los Angeles noodle shop in 1918. Your fortune says: Only fools go to war over cookies. Garlic Bread We thought it was from: Italy It's actually from: Michigan One tale is that soldiers serving in Italy during World War II were spoiled on bruschetta-a classic dish of toasted bread drizzled with olive oil. Savvy chefs met the returning troops' demand by slathering toasted white bread with garlic and margarine. In 1970, Cole's Breads planted a foodie flag in Michigan by selling the world's first frozen garlic bread. Chimichanga We thought it was from: Mexico It's actually from: Arizona Several chefs claim the chimi as theirs, including the founder of El Charro Café. In 1950, she fumbled a burrito into some frying oil, she says. There were kids around, so she blurted out "chimichanga" instead of the cuss word she wanted to. The name, like the oil, stuck. German Chocolate Cake We thought it was from: Germany It's actually from: Massachusetts The man who invented the sweet, dark chocolate at the core of this cake wasn't German, but his name was. Boston baker Sam German created a new type of baking chocolate for Baker Chocolate Company in 1852; 100 years later, a Dallas paper popularized the recipe for "German chocolate cake. English Muffin We thought it was from: England It's actually from: New York It's not English, and it's not a muffin-what's the deal? Turns out Samuel Bath Thomas actually called his creations "toaster crumpets" when he debuted them at his New York bakery, which opened in 1880. The term English muffins came later, but Thomas' can still be seen on them in grocery stores today. Cuban Sandwich We thought it was from: Cuba It's actually from: Florida There's a beef over this ham: Did it originate in Tampa or Miami? While the cities feud, this much is agreed upon: Cuban sandwiches started as a cheap lunch offered to Cuban immigrants working in Florida cigar factories in the late 1800s, and their popularity grew with the population.