French fries from Belgium and pasta invented in China? How the food on your plate doesn't always originate from where you might think
- - Survey found most thought they knew where common foods first originated
- - But most were tripped up by pasta, fajitas, French fries and garlic bread
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You might think with names like French fries and Worcestershire sauce, it would be pretty self-explanatory where certain foods came from.
But a survey has revealed that on average, most people were unaware where some of the most common foods consumed every day first originated.
The majority of those questioned - 70 per cent of 1,003 people - were confident they had a good knowledge of foreign foods.
Think you know your foods? Few people surveyed correctly identified the origin of fajitas which first originated in the U.S. - not Mexico
However, 64 per cent and 90 per cent, respectively, incorrectly guessed where French fries and pasta were first created.
Over three-quarters of those surveyed incorrectly believed that chilli con carne was first eaten in Mexico, not the U.S., while only 10 per cent knew the correct origins of cheesecake – Ancient Greece.
More than 90 per cent of us are fooled by the deceptive name of Worcestershire sauce, which was created in Bengal and not the west midlands of England, while only 11 per cent of people know the correct birthplace of French fries (Belgium).
Good taste: It was the ancient Greeks who came up with our dessert favourite the cheesecake
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The survey also found that less than 5 per cent are aware that pasta actually originates from China.
TOP 10 FOODS THAT DUPED THE SURVEY...
10. Fajita, 88.9% incorrect: Texas, USA
9. French Fries, 89.3% incorrect: Belgium
8. Cheesecake, 89.9% incorrect: Ancient Greece
7. Noodle Chop Suey, 90% incorrect: USA
6. Garlic BreaD, 92.6% incorrect: Asia and USA
5. Chilli Con Carne, 92.9% incorrect: USA
4. Vindaloo, 93.7% incorrect: Portugal
3. Lasagne, 94.5% incorrect: Greece
2. Pasta, 95.1% incorrect: China
1. Worcestershire Sauce, 96.3% incorrect: Bengal
We’re not always clueless, however – fortunately only a third of respondents thought that the British-made Swiss roll was from Switzerland.
The survey results also showed that food thought to be of English heritage is most often consumed by Brits, with our favourite international cuisines revealed to be Italian and then Chinese.
Indian was a close fourth with 53 per cent of respondents eating curry-based dishes more than once a week and Mexican cuisine came fifth with a quarter of people enjoying dishes from south of the border regularly.
Emerging cuisines appear to be Thai, Greek and Caribbean foods.
Afruj Miah, senior national account manager at GLORIOUS! Foods, which carried out the survey, said: 'The results of this survey show that we’re certainly not as knowledgeable as we think we are when it comes to foods from other cultures, and that we’re often eating foods with far-flung influences when we think we’re eating Great British pub grub.'
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