Born on the battlefield

From foxholes to fashion: 10 wartime innovations you can’t live without

Image: Евгений Новиков

Since time immemorial, conflict and the urgent necessities of war have driven rapid innovation. Many everyday products trace their origins back to military needs. From wristwatches to instant coffee, items that once kept soldiers alive, efficient, or comfortable now fill our kitchens, closets, and offices. Here are 10 objects with surprisingly martial origins.

Image: Paul Bright

Now a ubiquitous fabric present in everything from clothes to carpets, nylon debuted in WWII as a replacement for scarce silk in parachutes, ropes, and tire cords.

Its lightweight durability made it indispensable for military supplies. After the war, nylon quickly transitioned into civilian life, with stockings becoming its first big hit.

Image: Marcus Urbenz

First patented in the late 19th century, zippers gained traction during WWI as fasteners for military uniforms and gear. Buttons proved slower and less reliable under battlefield conditions, making zippers a more efficient choice.

The military’s adoption helped standardize their use, and after the war, zippers spread rapidly into civilian clothing, luggage, and countless household items.

Image: Calle Macarone

In 1795, Napoleon offered a prize for a food preservation method that could feed his armies on long marches without risk of spoilage.

Nicolas Appert, a French confectioner, spent 15 years experimenting before developing a process of sealing food in glass jars and heating them to sterilize the contents. Appert received the prize in 1810, and before long, the technique was adapted to tin cans, which soon found their way into military rations.

Image: Amr Taha™

A precursor to modern instant coffee appeared during the American Civil War as a concentrated coffee, milk, and sugar mixture called Essence of Coffee. Soldiers mixed a teaspoon with hot water, but many complained it had the consistency of axle grease (yikes!).

In the decades that followed, the concept was refined, and by WWI and WWII, the U.S. military was mass-issuing instant coffee to troops for convenience and morale. Civilian popularity grew alongside military adoption.

Image: Bryan Angelo

During WWI, officers found pocket watches impractical during fast-paced and unpredictable combat conditions. Many soldiers began strapping them to their wrists for quick time checks, turning a personal improvisation into a battlefield necessity.

The first true wristwatches were designed specifically for this purpose, and the term "trench watch" soon became common. Surprisingly, these early designs already featured enduring innovations, such as luminous dials for nighttime visibility.

Image: Roman

When the U.S. entered WWII, the Army invited more than 130 companies to develop prototypes for a lightweight, four-wheel-drive reconnaissance vehicle; only Bantam and Willys-Overland responded. The resulting Willys MB "Jeep" proved rugged, versatile, and indispensable to soldiers.

After the war, surplus Jeeps hit civilian markets, sparking the off-road craze and laying the groundwork for modern SUVs.

Image: Markus Winkler

Instant noodles were inspired by post-WWII food shortages in Japan. Momofuku Ando, founder of Nissin Foods, invented them in 1958 as a quick, affordable, and portable meal, ideal for a country struggling with limited food supplies.

The noodles were flash-fried to remove moisture, making them lightweight and long-lasting. The concept was influenced by military-style rations, designed for easy storage and preparation.

Image: aaron boris

Zippo lighters were standard issue for U.S. troops in WWII and Vietnam, valued for their windproof flame and reliability in harsh conditions. Throughout the conflicts, the company devoted its full production capacity to meeting military demand.

Afterward, the iconic design and dependability spoke for themselves, turning Zippos into a pop culture symbol of ruggedness among civilians.

Image: Lacey Raper

Specially designed in the 1930s for British paratroopers, cargo pants featured extra pockets for maps, ammunition, and essential supplies, allowing soldiers to carry gear hands-free during airborne operations.

The practical design proved so effective that it was widely adopted by other Allied forces throughout WWII. After the war, the durable pants transitioned into civilian life as reliable workwear for laborers, hikers, and adventurers.

Image: Devin Rajaram

While freeze-drying, or lyophilization, has been known for centuries—the Inca were freeze-drying potatoes as early as the 13th century—it wasn’t until WWII that a commercially viable process was developed.

The military needed a way to preserve blood plasma and penicillin for soldiers in harsh battlefield conditions, where refrigeration was a rare luxury. This demand drove the development of modern freeze-drying techniques, which are still used today for food, medicine, and scientific materials.

Dutch Baby, anyone?

These 10 common foods have names that don't mean what they say

English is full of food names that sound completely straightforward. There is not much mystery about what a stuffed tomato or a grilled chicken is. But that is not always the case. Some names refer to ingredients that disappeared centuries ago. Others are jokes that somehow became official names. Take a look at these 10 food names that seem to describe a completely different product from the one they represent.

If you’ve never tasted mincemeat, you might assume it contains finely chopped meat. Historically, that assumption would have been correct. Medieval English cooks mixed minced beef, mutton, or venison with dried fruits, spices, and sugar to create rich pies.

Over time, the meat gradually vanished from most recipes. Modern mincemeat is usually made from raisins, currants, apples, citrus peel, spices, and sometimes even brandy. Despite containing little or no meat today, the name survived.

Sweetbread sounds like a bakery item, perhaps a sugary loaf or a pastry. In reality, it is neither sweet nor bread. The term refers to the thymus gland or pancreas of a young calf or lamb.

Sweetbreads have long been prized in French and European cuisine for their delicate texture and mild flavor. Food historians are not entirely sure where the name originated, but it has appeared in English culinary records for centuries. It remains one of the most misleading names in the culinary world.

Many Americans hear the word "pudding" and think of dessert. Black pudding is something entirely different. It is a type of blood sausage traditionally made from pork blood, fat, and oats or barley.

The dish has been eaten throughout Britain and Ireland for hundreds of years and remains a classic component of a traditional full breakfast. The word "pudding" once had a much broader sense than it does today, which helps explain why a sausage ended up with that name.

A person ordering Welsh Rabbit for the first time might reasonably expect rabbit meat. Instead, the dish consists of toasted bread topped with a savory sauce made from melted cheese, often flavored with mustard or ale.

The name appeared in print by the early eighteenth century. At some point, people began calling it "Welsh Rarebit," possibly because diners were confused by the complete absence of rabbit. Despite the newer name, many historians consider Welsh Rabbit the original and more authentic term.

Ladyfingers are delicate sponge biscuits often used in desserts such as tiramisu and charlotte cakes. Their elegant name has nothing to do with a person and everything to do with appearance.

The cookies originated in the Duchy of Savoy, a region that once stretched across parts of modern France and Italy. Their long, slender shape was thought to resemble graceful fingers, giving rise to the name.

Bombay duck sounds like a poultry dish from India. But it is actually a fish. Specifically, it is Harpadon nehereus, a species commonly found in the waters of the Arabian Sea.

The fish is especially associated with Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. One popular explanation traces the name to the old "Bombay Daak" mail train, which reportedly carried the strongly scented dried fish across India.

The classic New York egg cream contains neither eggs nor cream. Traditionally, it is made with milk, chocolate syrup, and carbonated water, creating a frothy drink that became famous in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

The beverage emerged in immigrant neighborhoods during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

During the eighteenth century, turtle soup became a fashionable dish among wealthy diners in Britain. Real turtle meat, however, was expensive and difficult to obtain. Enter Mock Turtle Soup.

Cooks developed a less costly alternative using a calf’s head and other ingredients to imitate the flavor and texture of turtle soup. The imitation became so well known that Lewis Carroll included a Mock Turtle character in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, helping preserve the name in popular culture.

A Dutch Baby is a large baked pancake that puffs dramatically in the oven before settling into a bowl-like shape. Despite its name, it’s not Dutch.

Most food historians trace the dish to German pancake traditions. The name likely emerged from a misunderstanding of the word Deutsch, meaning German. The recipe became especially popular in the U.S. during the early twentieth century.

No angels or horses were harmed in the making of this classic British appetizer. The dish consists of oysters wrapped in bacon and then grilled or broiled until crisp.

Angels on Horseback became popular during the Victorian era and was often served at formal dinners. It even has a culinary counterpart called Devils on Horseback, which typically substitutes dried fruit such as prunes for the oysters.