10 Random Fun Food Facts

It’s always fun to learn new things, especially about the food we serve at Half Wall in New Smyrna Beach and Deland. All of these items are on our menu, so have fun learning while you devour our yummy treats!

1. The first recipe for Onion Rings was a Crisco ad in a 1933 issue of the New York Times Magazine.

2. Most tortilla chips are triangular shaped because they are cut from a round tortilla.

3. Nachos were invented in 1943 by a man named Ignacio. Working at a Mexican restaurant and pressured to serve something when the cook was nowhere to be found, he combined the first three things he found in the kitchen: shredded Wisconsin cheddar, tortilla chips, and sliced jalapeños and called it “Nacho Especiales.”

4. Fried pickles were one of Elvis Presley’s favorite snacks.

5. Fried green tomatoes were being eaten in Italy as early as the sixteenth century.

6. In Bavarian pretzels, the arms are left thicker so they do not bake to a crisp and contain very little fat.

7. It is said that spring rolls appeared way back in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in China when people would make thin cakes with flour and eat them with vegetables on the day of beginning of spring.

8. In the 1960’s, the grilled cheese as we know it emerged when the second slice of bread became a standard part of the sandwich.

9. In 1900, the roast beef sandwich was described by The Washington Post as “unattractive” and as “a tired ark in a gravy flood”.

10. Brioche is a French bread made from yeast, dough, butter, and eggs. The word brioche is derived from the verb “brier”, which is derived from northern French word “broyer” which means to knead.