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some dishes are so classic
that they come to define certain
cultures
but dig a little deeper and there are
surprising stories
of how these timeless meals came to be
when you think of sweden what comes to
mind ikea
abba maybe those delicious cinnamon
rolls
but what about these swedish meatballs
right well maybe not welcome
to the meatball mystery
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let's cut straight to the chase it's
hard to make the swedes angry but on one
fateful day
something happened that fired up the
whole country
this tweet was sent from the official
sweden twitter account
swedish meatballs actually based on a
recipe from king charles the 12th
brought back from turkey in the early
18th century let's stick to the facts
yikes did you catch that the tweet said
that swedish meatballs actually come
from turkey
as you can imagine the tweet went viral
swedes were up in arms
it was picked up all around the world
the swedish government has admitted
swedish meatballs are actually
turkish what what
no that's not a fact the facts is really
interesting
since we don't have any facts from that
period
wait who are you my name is richard
telstra and i'm a food historian
okay here's what we know in the 1700s
swedish king
charles xii lost a battle in the great
northern war
he was forced to flee to the ottoman
empire where for several years he
negotiated his return
the controversial tweet suggested that
he brought back a local turkish meat
dish
called koftas however there is no
documented interest
from him in food no mentioning of the
meatballs there
they are not turkish because we can't
follow the original meatballs in the
world
there is no zero meatball where
everything started most likely
originally meatball is
a development in parallel ways in
parallel
food cultures therefore meatballs are
very different all over the world but
they exist all over the world today
it's one of sweden's most popular dishes
traditionally served with mashed
potatoes a brown gravy
and a sweet lingenberry sauce
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food gives us an example of how we are
connected
when it comes to culture food is a sort
of cultural
network so take pride in your meatballs
sweden
and so should turkey china italy and
every meatball rolling country
because if there's one thing the world
can agree on it's that meatballs
are delicious
fondue it's this thing we do with cheese
we melt it we dip it we eat it in the
70s it became super popular
but that didn't just happen by chance
there was an ominous force behind it
a real life cheese cartel
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a hundred years ago cheese was a hot
commodity in switzerland
it was exported at high volumes and
played a major role in the swiss economy
but that all changed after world war one
european countries devastated by the war
could no longer afford to buy
expensive imported cheese which was bad
news for switzerland
so the government stepped in and they
formed the cheese union
basically it was a cartel and it worked
like this
the first thing they did was force every
dairy farmer and cheese monger to fix
the price of cheese
eliminating competition meaning everyone
could stay in the game
the cheese cartel also told them exactly
how much cheese to make
and limited the varieties so instead of
making
thousands of different kinds of cheese
they only made
seven and it worked the cartel
controlled the cheese supply for decades
by the 70s they got greedy and wanted to
expand their cheese racket globally
so they introduced the world to a dish
already popular
in the freezing cold alps fondue by
marketing cheese for fondue the cartel
was able to sell more i mean think about
it
it takes a lot and i mean a lot of
cheese
to fill a pot but as with most cartels
things got
shady money went missing people went to
jail and by the 1990s the swiss cheese
union was dismantled
so there you have it the reason we know
and love fondue
is because of a shady government program
that convinced the world to consume
massive amounts of melted cheese
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whether you're in it for the bottomless
mimosas the decadent pancakes or the
avocado toast
brunch is hands down the best part of
the weekend
while enjoying the finer things in life
did you ever stop to think about how
this glorious eating tradition began
well it all started with a man a man
with a hangover
back in 1895 there was this guy named
well
guy and he was a writer living in
england at that time sundays were a
big deal and early post church meat
heavy meals were
all the rage but for those nursing a
hangover and recovering from the
previous night's debauchery
those meals weren't always appetizing so
guy proposed a compromise and penned a
prolific essay appropriately named
brunch a plea he envisioned a hybrid
meal of sorts that was lighter than the
typical meat spread and included a
variety of pastries
friends could gossip about the previous
night's indiscretions while chasing
their hangovers with some hair of the
dog
but the delicious british invention took
what seems like forever
30 years to catch on in the states when
it did
sunday morning never looked the same
again so the next time you're enjoying a
french toast chased by a bloody mary
take a second to thank the hard-drinking
englishman by the name of guy
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when you think of japanese cuisine a few
foods come to mind
sushi did you know that salmon sushi is
actually norwegian
yeah we did a story on that one maybe
you think of mochi
we did that one too and tempura
but guess what tempura is actually a
portuguese dish
oh boy here we go
the japanese tempura you know is done
two ways
either with seafood or with vegetables
right
and the batter is light made with cold
water wheat flour and egg
pretty standard this tempura can be
found dating back to the end of the 16th
century in japan
but as we know japan is much older than
that so why did it suddenly show up
the answer is portugal
around 1543 a chinese ship with three
portuguese sailors got off course and
landed in japan
on tanegashima island fast forward a bit
and the portuguese because of this happy
accident
are now trading goods and arms with the
japanese
then in 1639 the portuguese were kicked
out of the country
a few things however remained including
a dish of battered and fried beans
called
paschins
that's manuela brandau chef at papa
sorda
one of the best spots in lisbon to get
paschins
foreign
now of course over the past 400 years
japan has put its own spin on the dish
but
you know it's a fun fact next time
somebody in your group orders tempura
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nothing says britain more than nope
nope keep going ah yes
there it is a nice cup of tea
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we know we have china to thank for
introducing tea to the western world
but how did it make its way to england
and become the cultural obsession it is
today
well that's all thanks to one portuguese
woman
the year 1662 the person
catherine of braganza she just won the
hand of england's king charles ii
with the help of a very large dowry
including money
treasures and spices this worthwhile
trade made her the queen of england
scotland and ireland when she arrived to
her new homeland
she brought with her packets of loose
leaf tea in crates labeled
transport de ervas aromaticus it's a
theory that this was later abbreviated
to
tea tea now tea could all be found in
england
but was only rarely used for medicinal
purposes catherine
continued drinking tea to her heart's
content and as the new royal
everything about her including her
beverage habits was copied by other
ladies
desperate to be just like their idol
another thing catherine brought to the
table from portugal
was the idea of tea drinking experience
she popularized the use of porcelain
teacups and mugs
by the end of the 17th century much of
british aristocracy were enjoying the
hot beverage delightful
and soon enough so was everyone else
today while tea can be found pretty much
everywhere it remains a special daily
pastime for the brits
so carry on and drink tea people of
england
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you