A Brief History
On July 7, 1550, chocolate is thought to have been introduced to Europe from the Americas. In the following article, the author will list the foods native to either the North or South American continents that had the most significance on a culinary scale when finally exported to Europe, Asia and Africa. These will be in no particular order of ranking but merely alphabetical. Honorable mentions go to the grains/seeds: Quinoa and Amaranth. This is because these two foods are gaining in popularity due to growing health-food trends that involve going gluten-free and vegan, however, they have not yet gone mainstream. Tobacco is not included as this is not a food (though some people disgustingly like to chew it…).
Digging Deeper
1. Avocados
Native to Mexico and Central America, this fruit, or rather large berry commonly made into guacamole is one of the most nutrient-dense foods. It offers a respectable amount of vitamin E, has nearly twice as much potassium as a banana and with its 18 amino acids, meets much of a person’s daily protein requirement. On an interesting side note, avocados were originally called alligator pears due to their color, shape and rough skin.
2. Beans
Although broad beans, also known as fava beans, grew in Afghanistan and the Himalayan foothills, most varieties of beans eaten today (kidney, black, pinto, navy, etc.) have their origins in the Americas, with Christopher Columbus being the first European to see them being grown in fields. Dried they can be stored in pantries for years and then soaked prior to cooking. This characteristic makes them a reliable, easily transportable and non-perishable source of nutrition.
3. Chocolate
With some of the greatest manufacturers of chocolate being situated in Europe (Belgium – Godiva; Germany – Ritter Sport; Switzerland – Lindt; and the UK – Cadbury), and with 2/3 of the world’s cocoa beans now being grown in West Africa, who would have thought that chocolate, prepared mainly as a drink for most of its history, was only first encountered by a non-American in 1502 when Christopher Columbus seized a native canoe carrying cocoa beans while he on his fourth voyage to the Americas? It would be, however, another half century before it was formally introduced to Europe.
4. Corn
Commonly called maize, for centuries following its introduction to Europe, corn was primarily used as livestock feed. It was only toward the end of the 20th century, that corn increasingly became seen by Europeans as fit for human consumption as well. Unfortunately today, most corn grown in the United States has been genetically modified. Many European countries have restrictions against the import and production of GMO crops.
5. Cranberries
Originally called “bearberries” by the earliest settlers because bears ate them, later European settlers called them “craneberries” because they felt the flower, stem, calyx, and petals resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane. One of the healthiest berries, they are primarily used to help promote urinary health in women by possibly helping prevent urinary tract infections by supposedly adhering to and flushing out bacteria.
6. Papayas
Native to the Tropics of the Americas, papaya plants come in three sexes – male, female and hermaphrodite. Today most commercial papayas come from hermaphroditic plants. Gaining in popularity, papayas are currently the third most popular tropical fruit following mangos and pineapples. Papayas have become an important agricultural export for developing countries, with the current largest producer being India.
7. Peanuts
Technically not nuts, peanuts are in fact legumes or rather beans. Until the early 20th century, peanuts were mainly grown in gardens and primarily used as livestock feed. Then, a program by the U.S. Department of Agriculture encouraged the large-scale production and human consumption of peanuts. Introduced to China by Portuguese traders in the 17th century, it was incorporated into many Chinese dishes, and today China is the largest producer of peanuts.
8. Peppers
Peppers, including the bell, chili, cayenne and jalapeño varieties, are also an American contribution to the international culinary scene and probably together with potatoes and tomatoes had the greatest overall impact when seen on a world-wide scale. Named after black pepper because of their similar taste to the spice, whether stuffed or used for seasoning, these capsicums have reached every corner of the planet and are synonymous with many types of cuisines, particularly the Mexican, Spanish, Thai and Hungarian ones. In fact stuffed peppers of all sorts can be found in just about everywhere and are extremely popular in the Arabic, Slavic and Mediterranean worlds.
9. Pineapples
The word “pineapple” was the original English word for pine cones. When English-speaking explorers first discovered the tropical fruit in the Americas, they called them pineapples because of their resemblance to what we now know as pine cones. It was only in the 17th century that pine cones got their modern name and pineapples were able to keep theirs. Some reminders of the actual linguistic origin still remain, with the Puerto Rican drink “Piña colada” literally translating into “strained pine cone”.
10. Potatoes
Indigenous to the Andes, it was the Spanish who brought potatoes to Europe. Legend has it that potatoes were introduced to Ireland when they washed up onshore after the decimation of the Spanish Armada. There, they eventually became such a staple, that a fungal infestation of the potato crop led to the deaths of 1 million people by starvation during the Irish Potato Famine from 1845-1849, with another 1 1/2 million Irish emigrating to the USA. Today potatoes are the fourth largest food crop, following maize/corn, wheat and rice.
11. Squash
Squash, pumpkins, zucchini and other gourds are the New World relatives of melons and cucumbers. Around 10,000 B.C. people in modern day Central-America began farming squash, making it one of the oldest plants to be cultivated. Of all the varieties, it is zucchini that has become the most readily accepted type of squash by international chefs, particularly those in France, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, especially since it is in these areas that they grow particularly well. In fact, zucchini as it is known today was actually developed in Italy, many generations after squash had been introduced.
12. Sunflowers
Wild sunflowers were native to North and Central America. The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro observed how sunflowers were worshipped by the Incas as an image of their god. The first sunflower seeds were brought to Europe by the Spanish in 1552. Originally used for decorative purposes, now sunflowers are mostly grown for their seeds from which oil is pressed. It was in Russia and not in the Americas that sunflowers and the production of sunflower oil first became commercialized, with most credit being given to Peter the Great. The main reason for this was the Russian Orthodox Church forbade the use of most oils during Lent; sunflower oil was not one of them.
13. Sweet Potatoes
Although named sweet potato, they actually have no relation at all to conventional potatoes, and unlike regular potatoes that took a while to catch on in Europe, sweet potatoes were readily accepted as a rare and expensive delicacy. Since they are hardy and can easily adapt to new soils and environments, sweet potatoes are now grown in more developing countries than any other root crop, and sweet potato plants produce more pounds of food per acre than any other cultivated crop, including potato plants.
14. Tomatoes
Where would Italian cuisine be without the tomato? How would we eat pizza and spaghetti? Marco Polo may have brought pasta from China, but the sauce came from America. Oddly enough it took the Italians approx. 150 years after the tomato’s introduction in the 1540s before they dared eat and cook it. Before then they used tomatoes mainly as tabletop ornaments. Nowadays, though technically a berry, a subset of fruit, tomatoes are considered vegetables when used for culinary purposes. In 2009, Ohio passed a law making the tomato the state’s official fruit (Ohioans like red things).
15. Turkeys
The author of this article had always asked herself, “How did Turkeys get their name?”, and spent many sleepless nights pondering this question. Well, not really, but in researching this article she finally found the answer and is so excited to share it with all of her readers so that they too can rest easy from no on. It does have something to do with the country. The first Europeans who encountered turkeys misidentified them as guineafowl, also known as Turkey fowl because they were imported to Central Europe from Africa through Turkey, and there we have it. It was the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés who first brought turkeys to Europe. Later it was the Europeans who brought their domesticated turkeys back to America when they settled the North Amerian continent. Today most domesticated American turkeys are descended from turkeys who lived in Europe.
16. Vanilla
Another food that experienced a type of “re-introduction” to America was the vanilla bean. Taken from the Aztecs by the Spanish after they were defeated, vanilla, though quite expensive, spread through Europe as a flavoring spice. It was Thomas Jefferson, who, while serving as ambassador to France, brought vanilla beans to the United States. Today, Madagascar, off the coast of Africa, is the largest producer of vanilla. And Bourbon vanilla has nothing to do with the liquor, but rather the old name of Madagascar which was the Bourbon Islands.
Question for students (and subscribers): If you know of any other foods that you believe deserve to be on the list, please add them in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Divina, Fernando. Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions. Ten Speed Press, 2010.
You can also watch a video version of this list below:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2880 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2880">113 Comments
I love avacados. I never really knew how healthy they were. I was also shocked that I have been storing avacados wrong.
I love pineapples. I never knew why they were called pineapples but it makes sense because they look like pine cones quite a bit.
It was interesting to read that chocolate did not originate in countries in Europe that are famous for it. I’ve heard the chocolate rain video before. Still not sure what he’s referencing there but I can use my imagination.
All of the foods listed in this article are quite delicious! My favorite food on this list is turkey because I love to eat meat.
I really like all of the food that is on this list. I really do agree with the origin of avocado and potatoes and not just because I love both of them and what they can make. I really think that all of these foods are a huge part of American culture and it is very interesting to see that it is still that same way with the origin. I really like to see a different view of history. Usually they are talking about people and or wars and this is food. Something that so many Americans obviously love. Its nice to read about the history of the foods.
I was shocked to see avocados on this list actually. I didn’t realize how popular they were. As for everything else on this list, I’m not too surprised, especially with seeing chocolate on the list.
I’m in health & fitness so I knew a lot of these already. I did not however know how to properly keep avocados. I have been storing them wrong
Made me think of Thanksgiving! Yum, very interesting. I can see how they are a part of our culture here in america.
I did not realize that many of the foods listed were originally from America. I thought that most of the foods we have were, like everything else, introduced by the Asians or Europeans when they began settling in America. I like most of these foods, and I now have a new name for my avocados, because I agree with the alligator reference.
Pineapples and avocados were surprising to me.
I thought the papayas were pretty cool I ‘ve never tried one, so it surprises me that they were prevelant back then.
I was shocked to find out that potatoes and tomatoes are not native to Europe even though they are such a big part of certain European diets and cultures now.
Learning the origins of these foods is awesome. I never thought about why pineapples were called pineapples, also I really wish the avocado kept the name “alligator pear”.
Has anyone mentioned the pecan yet? I saw peanuts in the list but not pecans. They are awesome! Especially on a turtle sundae.
-JH!
I did not know that avocados were called alligator pears. Also, I did not know that fruits could have sexes like the papaya which has 3.
It’s funny that pineapples and pine cones were almost called the same thing. Imagine making a pine cone upside-down cake.
I really enjoy a good sweet potato!
I really enjoy food lists, especially when they include my favorite food… avocados or alligator pears! — DAVID WARDLE
It’s interesting to see that some of these foods were discovered in America, but now their biggest consumer and producer is located somewhere else. I can’t even imagine what life was like before some of these foods were discovered and made popular.
Learning the origins of these foods is crazy, never thought that is how an avocado got its name and a pineapple.
Did not know Sunflower seeds were enjoyed by early Americans as well. Being a baseball player and fan I always wondered when they first became popular.
I still find the extraction of vanilla as a flavor is quite interesting. I am confused though, did they eat the vanilla bean or did they technically use it as an extract?
Avocados are one of my favorite foods and this article opened my eyes to how little I actually knew about them! I was not aware they were native to the Americas or that they used to be called alligaotr pears. You learn something new everyday!
I find it crazy that tomatoes were from the America’s considering how influential they are in Italian cooking
=
I was surprised to see pineapples on this list. Pretty interesting how they got their name.
You would think West Africa would be a major manufacturer of chocolate since they grow so much cocoa.
Allagator pear. Much MUCH cooler than Avacado.
Some of these foods I would definitely eat but others I would not
oh you know…pineapple and pine cone…same thing..
Chicken wings should definitely be on here
I did not know about a lot of these! It is funny how other countries have taken over “manufacturing” or mass-producing some of these and by default kind of became known for them over the Americas. It is a little bit sad because natural foods are so often not natural anymore, but I think remembering the foods that are native to these continents is important.
Avocados are only good for guacamole.
Some of my favorite foods are on this list… chocolate, peanuts and avocados! Thank goodness for the Americas! — DAVID WARDLE
The only food on this list that I do not like are sweet potatoes. I don’t know what it is about them that makes me grossed out.
Some of those foods don’t sound good
We almost slaughtered an entire group of people and took all their land but hey at least we got some neat food!
Wow i didnt realize the avacado was a fruit/ large berry. Personally i dont favor avecados but Very interesting article.
Avocados are one of my favorites, sweet potatoes not so much. Interesting article.
Never realized all of these great foods that came from !
I didn’t know the tomato was considered a berry! Props for including the Youtube classic- Chocolate Rain!
Article had lots of cool facts about foods such as peanuts are actually a bean (never thought of that) .
The potato has a pretty interesting history, and they are used everywhere now!
Didn’t know tomatos are considered berries and same with peanuts being a bean? Interesting facts about foods!
Peanuts are a bean and not a nut? Surely you jest!
Chocolate is definitely my downfall when it comes to sweets!
Who truly knows what a tomato is? But I would be interested to see where tobacco would fall within this.
Funny how potatoes just washed up on the Irish shore and became such an important food.
Didn’t know that the avocado was actually a berry.
I had no idea potatoes and corn were from America. Always thought they started in Europe.
Avocado is a berry? never would have guessed that
Some very interesting facts that I did not know about, such as the avocado being a berry! B.E
I never knew that the corn we have today has been genetically modified. I also didn’t know that our state fruit is a tomato as of 2009. It seems a little odd to consider it the state’s fruit when the general population still doesn’t know whether it’s a fruit or vegetable…
N.W.
The foods listed above contain many of my favorite foods! I am a picky eater but I enjoy most of them. My boyfriends family is from Brazil so they were the first to get me to try black beans because they eat it every day with rice and chicken. They also taught me that pineapple is called abacaxi in Portuguese.
I enjoy almost all of these foods, so I was excited about this list. I was fascinated that peanuts are a bean and avocados are actually considered berries. There were many interesting facts in this post!
It’s crazy how at one point in time these things were considered rare or exotic when they are so accessible today
I found the article to be insightful and I enjoyed reading historical facts about some very popular foods. I would have never tried avocados if I had not studied abroad in Costa Rica. I briefly remember reading about the history of chocolate and how important it was to aristocrats in Europe. Our modern global economy makes it hard to remember that at one point in time not everything was so easily/swiftly exchanged amongst continents.
I found the article had a lot of the facts straight, except that the continent was already settled. The proper term would be pre European colonization, there were already established territories among the Native citizens much like present day state lines.
It’s neat to see the names evolve with time to what we know them by today.
It is interesting to see all the types of food that originated in the Americas. It seems as if some of them originated in Africa or Europe.
it is weird to see these items that we can get from one store took so much time and effort to acquire in the past
I liked the most the fast how cranberries got their name, That in fact the plant it grows off of resembles a crane.
I didn’t realize that all these foods were native to the Americas. The more you know 😀
It’s very interesting to see what foods are native to the Americas. I didn’t realize all of these were.
It is interesting to see the foods native to the Americas because you do not really realize that some them are, such as avocados!
the article had tons of neat things about foods that were native to the americas since to me alot of the food in think that would be natve to here was not listed. i was really shocked to see avocados being something native to the America.
I actually didn’t know tomatoes came from the Americas first.
Of course Ohio would pick the tomato as its state fruit.
That pretty sweet that all these foods were found by native Americans. This article had many interesting facts about food. You would never think these foods would originate from Europe
It’s neat to see where a lot of popular food originated and traveled around the world. It’s interesting to think ‘what if’ these foods never left their countries of origin.
I found it interesting that tomatoes came from the Americas.
Very cool article about food. But who doesn’t like food so it should be interesting to everyone. Pretty interesting about the vanilla bean too.
Reading this article defiantly made me realize how much we take for granted. Some of these foods were considered exotic and were hard to get a hold, but now we can just go to our local super market and get these items whenever we please. It is crazy to see how much time really does change and shape us and how we live
I never realized how many foods we have at our finger tips that we just don’t think about how easily and lucky we are to have them.
I found this one very interesting
It would be hard to imagine a diet before the discovery of the americas …no potatoes?
I found the facts about potatoes to be the most interesting. It’s cool to think that potatoes were possibly discovered after being washed ashore.
I too found the fact about peanuts being considered a bean interesting. I’m a big peanut butter guy and didn’t know that.
I never realized that some over these foods were native to the Americas. Very interesting.
The amount of foods that are native to the Americas is more then I would have thought. I knew a few of them but some were a complete surprise to me.
A lot of people don’t know that a tomato is a fruit. Didn’t know that some of these awesome foods were natives to the Americas. Amazing
Surprising how many of these foods were native to the Americas, especially chocolate!
This was a really cool article. I love food and to cook, so it was interesting to learn facts about some foods. I had no clue that an avocado use to be called an alligator pear.
Personally, I think corn and potatoes are the best and avacados suck. I don’t care how healthy they are. Still cool to see that the Americas had great food native to its land.
Native Americans, i love you. all my favorites because of you. i think you have done more than Obama. god bless.
Sounds like most things i would eat
I wasn’t aware of some of the foods native to America and I also didn’t know peanuts were considered a bean.
I never knew how healthy some of these foods were. I love fruit!
This was a very interesting article, I love most of the food on this list. Avocados are my favorite!
It’s amazing to think even back then they had such good farming techniques to able to grow these things and how most of us still eat these things on a daily basis.
Man their food habits sure have shaped how we eat today that’s for sure!
It was very cool to me that chocolate was first discovered by a Non-American in 1502.
Wow that was good facts, but i know chocolate brakes you out but they went crazy in Europe, and if u dont want gmo foods earth fare is perfect.
It blows my mind that pineapples got their name because they look like pine cones. Its really interesting to fid out how some words actually came to be.
It’s interesting learning how foods and plants are named! Pineapple never really made sense, but now knowing why it was called that it makes perfect sense!
it was interesting to know that peanuts were a bean and that pineapples got their names because they look like pine cones that’s funny. the other foods actually did not surprise me to be in the list.
Alot of interesting facts and i love turkey!
I didn’t realize pineapples looked like pine cones until now. But on vacations I do love me a nice Piña colada which is translating into strained pine cone.
Interesting fact about so many foods and I really like some of them.
It is incredible the food we all have access to that we never would have without the Columbian Exchange taking place.
After reading this article its weird to know that peanuts are not a nut they are a bean, papaya (which I knew is a fruit) didn’t know it comes in sexes that’s just strange.
I never knew most of these foods are actually pretty healthy for you.
Thankful for #3.
The videos that are associated with each food is funny. Very interesting article by the way
chocolate and cranberries are great! i love how food from all over is mixing with everyone and different cultures now
very interesting, I would of never guessed those foods were that native to the Americas
Learn something new everyday, usually not like this though.
I really wonder where we would be if the Native Americans never introduced chocolate to us?
Kinda mad that they introduced Pineapple, mostly because of pineapple on pizza and that’s not okay!
This is pretty cool actually because a lot of the food they listed on here, I’d actually eat.
Crazy to know a lot more facts about these foods that I never even thought about.
I love random food facts about their origin, background of their names, and so on. I never knew avocados were originally called alligator pears.
i love all these little facts about food. i absolutely love tomatoes and i think its funny that ohio made it an official fruit, fun fact i can pull out. and the fact that China and America came together to create pasta and spaghetti
Being a cook i really find it interesting to learn interesting facts about the foods i work with on a daily basis.