Tomatoes, tempura, and other foods whose origins will surprise you
Can you guess the origins of these popular foods? (Oscar Bolten Green/)Peach cobbler and ballpark peanuts have something in common: They’re classic American dishes built on decidedly un-American crops. The state fruit of Georgia originated in China, while peanuts (just like “Irish” potatoes) hail from South America. These aren’t gastronomical exceptions either. From the heyday of the Silk Road to the Columbian Exchange, globalization has been bringing humans—and their stomachs—closer together for thousands of years. Here we trace some iconic foods back to their foreign homelands.Kung Pao chicken/chilisTien tsin, or Chinese red pepper, is named for the port city of Tianjin. But chilis don’t originate in the People’s Republic. Though they’re a key ingredient in many classic dishes, such as the Sichuan staple known as Kung Pao chicken, the spicy plant is native to Mexico. Columbus introduced it to Europeans during the Columbian exchange, who traded it east throughout the...