it’s common practice for us humans to name places or things after people we admire, for instance, columbia (named for christopher columbus), halifax (george montagu-dunk, 2nd earl of halifax), vancouver (george vancouver) and victoria (queen victoria). bridges, like the george washington bridge, tunnels (the holland tunnel) and buildings (chateau frontenac) have all received the name treatment. streets, cars, bicycles, mountains, pens and even bugs bear the names of our human brethren.
there is almost nothing we’ve named, that doesn’t bear the name of a person. so how about food? did you know that many of the most famous dishes served around the world are named after people? sometimes their names come from their creators and other times they are named for people bearing little connection to the recipe. foods named for people is a very fun, and enlightening topic to explore. we found ourselves exclaiming, “hmmm, so that’s where that name came from” many times while researching this topic.
for instance, the margarita is named for a dallas socialite named margaret “margarita” sames. it gets hot in texas, especially in the summer. while searching for the perfect poolside concoction to beat the heat, ms. sames stumbled upon the margarita, and we’re still cooling off with them today.
an american civil war physician, named dr. j.j. salisbury, was certain that fruits and vegetables were bad for people, and caused heart disease and other ailments. in order to combat the evil, unhealthy scourge of produce, he created a mixture of ground beef and onions. many of us are still staying healthy by chomping down on salisbury steak in the 21st century. you know how the old saying goes, “a pound of red meat a day keeps the doctor away.”
surprisingly, the chocolatey delight that is a baby ruth bar, is not named after baseball hall of famer babe ruth. the bar was created in the 1920′s, while grover cleveland was president of the usa. the curtiss candy company decided to honor the presidents daughter, ruth cleveland, who was called ‘babe’ by her friends and family. that’s how the baby ruth bar came to be.
a massive hangover was the catalyst behind the brunch staple, eggs benedict. a nyc stockbroker, lemuel benedict, headed over to breakfast at the waldorf hotel, and asked for a special meal that might cure the results of overdoing it with the booze the night before. the chef whipped up a plate full of toast, bacon, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce. it was such a hit that it was added to the hotels’ menu as eggs benedict, and is still helping vanquish hangovers in the modern day.
sometimes the name behind a food is almost as interesting as the food itself. in some cases it’s actually more interesting, like graham crackers. we’d love to hear your interesting tidbits of how some famous foods acquired their names. do you have a dish named after you? share a comment and let us know.
