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The first American restaurant to use printed menus was
Delmonico's
Steak House in New York City in 1837. They also created many
dishes including Lobster Newburg, Oysters Rockefeller, Eggs Benedict,
and, of course, Delmonico's Steak. In 1838 their menu had grown to 100
pages. |
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Americans spend $1 billion
dining out every day. |
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The first copy of SoftCafe's
menu software
(originally called MenuMaker and then MenusDeluxe) was sold to
Pasta Plus
in Laurel, Maryland over 13 years ago, and is still in use today. |
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Approximately 150 people are killed each year by coconuts, more than are
killed by
sharks.

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NASA included the hot
dog as a regular menu item on its Apollo moon flights. |
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The
Union Oyster House in
Boston, established in 1826, is the oldest restaurant in continuous service
in the United States. |
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Table salt is the only food
commodity that hasn't dramatically increased in price in the last 150 years. |
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The first credit card was
issued in 1951 when
Diners Club issued cards to 200 people who could use them in
27 restaurants in New York City.
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7-Eleven was the
first retailer to offer fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups, introducing it in their
Northeast stores in 1964. |
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Carrots were prized by early
Greek and Roman gardeners as aphrodisiacs. |
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The Varsity in Atlanta,
Georgia, established in 1928, is the world's largest drive-in fast-food restaurant. |
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The deep-dish pizza was
invented in Chicago by pizza entrepreneur
Ike Sewell. |
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There are about 3,500 ethnic
restaurants in New York City. |
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Many restaurant menus
feature "monkfish", but actually there is no such fish. It's a marketing name for fishes
belonging to the goosefish family. The edible meat comes only from the tail part
of the fish. |
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Americans eat about 150
sandwiches a year--or 45 billion in 2002. |
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Pizza Hut is the largest
pizza purveyor in the world, with more than 12,500 restaurants in the United
States and in more than 90 countries. |
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Snake is a delicacy in China. |
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The first-ever all-glass
undersea restaurant opened its doors recently at the
Hilton
Maldives Resort & Spa. Named Ithaa, it sits 16 feet below the Indian
Ocean |
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In 1982, a Chicago restaurant
commissioned a sculptor to create a statue of Brooke Shields...made of
chopped liver. |
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An estimated 13 percent of the
food taken home in doggie bags from restaurants is actually fed to
dogs. |
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About 25 percent of American
commuters eat breakfast in their cars. |
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In 1903, a German importer
tried to save a shipment of coffee beans that had been soaked in
saltwater. The result was de-caffeinated coffee, which he marketed as
Sanka. |
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Italy produces more wine than
any other country in the world. |
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The world's largest restaurant
is Bangkok, Thailand's
Royal Dragon, serving 5,000. |
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The average American spends
$20,000 on fast food in a lifetime. |
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Newport, Rhode Island's
White
Horse Tavern, built in 1673, is the oldest tavern building in continuous use in
the United States. |
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About 2 percent of all Americans
are employed as a waiter or waitress. |
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The vintage date on a bottle
of wine denotes the year the grapes were picked, not the year of bottling. |
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About 10 percent of the
world's total fish catch is cod. |
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Cherrystone clams were named
after a creek in Virginia. |
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The average check at a diner
in 1920: 28 cents |
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Chinese scholars praised
garlic as both a medicine and a food as long as 3,000 years ago. |
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The
National Oyster Shucking
Championship (since 1967) is held each October at the St. Mary's County Oyster Festival in
Maryland, and pits the best female shucker against the top male shucker for the
national title. |
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Before
dandelions became
weeds, they were cultivated purposely and people ate the leaves as a vegetable and
ground the roots for a coffee-like drink. |
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William Alcott opened the
first store specializing in health foods in Boston in 1830. |
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The first pizzeria in the
United States opened in New York City in 1905. |
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Vegetables should be gathered
from a garden in the morning or evening. If gathered when the sun is upon
them, they will be tough and discolored. |
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About 40 percent of the
world's cranberries are grown in just one state--Massachusetts. |
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There are more than 1,000
chemicals in a cup of coffee. |
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Sliced bread and fortune
cookies were both invented in the U.S. |
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The waters of North America
are home to more species of edible crabs than any other continent. |
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There are more than 20,000
brands of beer. |
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The oldest vegetable known to
man: peas. |