Necessity is the mother of invention

Nutella, bras, and instant ramen: 10 things created out of necessity

Nothing gets the human mind going like needing something and not being able to get it. When common items are in short supply due to a crisis, the human mind always finds a way to get something like it, or even better.

Crises such as war, famine, recessions, or natural disasters have shocked humanity and forced it to be resourceful. Let’s have a look at ten things that originated out of necessity.

The world runs on caffeine, and also does war. During the American Civil War, the Union army produced a water-soluble coffee concentrate, made from a mixture of coffee, milk, and sugar. The resulting ‘coffee’ was said to look like grease, and tasted so awful that it was discontinued.

This invention was not successful, but it was a starting point that pioneered the development of soluble coffee as we know it by the end of the 19th Century. In the 1910s, Red E Coffee became the first instant coffee to achieve success, and the development of Nescafé two decades later made the drink a global sensation.

Japanese cuisine is strongly dominated by rice, so why is one of its star products made from wheat? After World War II, Japan experienced a food shortage, especially rice, which led the government to promote the consumption of wheat bread.

Trying to figure out a way to produce shelf-stable wheat noodles—a food item more familiar to the Japanese than bread—Momofuku Ando developed in 1958 a system to flash-fry noodles that were easy to rehydrate. In 1971, Momofuku also developed cup ramen, which popularized instant noodles worldwide.

The widespread use of chemical warfare during the 20th century meant that antidotes were essential on the battlefield. But how to deliver the exact dose in the quickest way possible? In the 1970s, engineer Sheldon Kaplan and his colleagues created the ComboPen, a system that used pre-measured doses in glass containers and a spring mechanism to administer the injection.

This new system not only helped with quick treatment on the field, but the concealed needle also made the process easier for those with a fear of needles. Furthermore, it can be used by anyone, even those with little to no medical training. After successfully testing the ComboPen, they realized it could be used for other emergency medications, such as epinephrine, creating this way the EpiPen.

Corsets were not the torture device some people imagine, but they were the main supportive undergarment used by women up to the early 20th Century. By that time, most corsets had metal boning, but the material was rationed for ammunition during World War I.

When the shortage of metal boning made corsets go out of style, women turned to the Brassiere —what we would now call a bra, which existed already, but was not popular— for support, making it the standard garment.

If you go to Vietnam (or a Vietnamese coffee shop), you will certainly find egg coffee on the menu. This thick and creamy drink, sweetened with condensed milk, is a Vietnamese staple and an ingenious response to food shortages.

During the 1940s, at the start of the First Indochina War, basic food items were difficult to come by. In a luxurious Hanoi hotel, bartender Nguyen Giang is trying to figure out how to make café au lait without milk. He gets the idea to use an egg yolk, which froths up just like milk does, giving coffee a creamy consistency that pairs well with sweetened condensed milk, a staple of Vietnamese cuisine. Egg coffee became so popular that Nguyen opened his own shop in Hanoi in 1946, which is still standing.

Although this canned processed meat is an American invention, it’s also a fairly common ingredient in countries like Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. SPAM was one of the main rations sent to American soldiers during World War II and the Korean War. They were sent so much SPAM that they grew tired of it, selling or giving away the surplus.

Locals had a hard time finding meat, so SPAM was quickly adopted into their cuisines, and is now featured in popular dishes such as the Korean budae jjigae (which means ‘army base stew’), the Japanese SPAM onigiri, or the Philippine spamsilog (a breakfast of spam, fried rice, and eggs).

Nutella is widely known for its chocolate and hazelnut spread —a version of the Italian _gianduja_—, but did you know it has its origins in a food shortage? At the start of the 19th century, Napoleon Bonaparte had established a blockade, intended to prevent British goods from entering territories under French control.

In the city of Turin, Italy, the blockade diminished the cocoa supplies. To combat this, chocolatiers mixed the cocoa with chopped nuts —mainly hazelnuts— to stretch it, creating the gianduja.

Japgokbap or multigrain rice is a Korean staple dish, and one that was born out of necessity. Korea has always been a fertile country suited for agriculture, but this has not prevented its citizens from experiencing famine and struggles. During the Japanese occupation (1910–1945), Korean farmers were forced to grow Japanese rice instead of their native variety to address the food shortage in Japan.

With their main food source being scarce, Koreans had to rely on other grains like millet, sorghum, or corn. They mixed these grains with beans, and the small rations of rice they could get to make it more filling and nutritious, in a dish they called Japgokbap, and that saved thousands from famine.

For people prone to accidents, Band-Aids are a lifesaver that keeps minor wounds clean and protected. They were created with this goal in mind, but they became popular out of financial necessity.

Band-aids were invented in 1920 by Earle Dickson, who was inspired by his wife’s regular accidents in the kitchen and needed a quick way to dress the wounds without assistance. A few years later, the financial struggles of the Great Depression meant that people weren’t always able to get medical assistance, and started relying on Band-Aids to treat domestic wounds.

Many cultures eat offal, but not all started doing it out of necessity. In Argentine barbecues, offal (called achuras, a native word meaning ‘what is discarded’) is a staple alongside cuts of meat and sausages, but this was not always the norm.

South American meat is renowned for its quality, but there was a time when some parts of the cow were considered unsuitable for consumption. These discarded parts, from the brain to the intestine and everything in between, were recovered by the lower classes and made their way into Argentine cuisine, where nowadays every last part of the cow is consumed.

Corporate expressions

Office jargon that annoys everyone: Are you guilty of these?

Image: Trent Erwin

Are there workplace expressions that get on your nerves? Many people confess to being exasperated by formal euphemisms that have become classics of office communication. We’ve gathered a few of the most commonly complained-about phrases and the thoughts people have said they provoke in them. Let’s see: Have you been using these expressions?

Image: Headway

Translation: "We are going to have to address this problem sometime soon, but let’s not do it right now." Sometimes it’s a dodge, sometimes procrastination, and sometimes it genuinely postpones an issue until further details are available. Which brings us to the next piece of office jargon…

Image: Markus Winkler

Aren’t we all moving parts in the big machines that our jobs have become? This expression is often used to make a project sound complex and dynamic, highlighting everything that needs to fall into place to accomplish a goal. But more often than not, all of those "moving parts" would rather spend more time moving and less time in meetings!

Image: Kenny Eliason

Ah, yes, nothing says it quite like this expression: "I’m nervous about your ability to handle this project entirely unsupervised, so I will need to check in on your progress soon." Or at least, that’s what a lot of people hear behind it!

Image: Duy Le Duc

On the surface, it’s a helpful phrase about tackling the easy wins first. But a lot of people agree it has become a bit overused. It’s also not very encouraging when a lot of our tasks are referred to as "low-hanging fruit"!

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This term originated in IT departments, referring to a system’s ability to handle simultaneous tasks. It wasn’t long until the term began being applied to people. Now, workers can be asked if they have the "bandwidth" to take on further responsibilities.

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This line is often regarded as the number-one passive-aggressive interjection. "Per my last email" is the office worker’s battle cry, wielded after someone continues to ignore a request or has overlooked important information already shared. It’s polite on the surface, but you can feel the underlying frustration.

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A favorite for smoothing over mistakes without admitting fault. "Going forward, we’ll make sure the invoices go out on time" translates to: "Oops, we forgot again, but let’s pretend this is a new chapter." It can also appear in the form of a request: "Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again going forward."

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People tend to fear this word. It may be because it often serves as a euphemism for "dynamics that can’t be escaped within this team." Of course, very good teams can develop excellent synergy. But if the term keeps coming up as an impossible standard to reach, it can become frustrating.

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Those are the magic words everyone wants to hear after a long virtual meeting. "Let’s take it offline" sounds like music to tired ears after four hours of awkward Zoom exchanges. It also means: "We’ll deal with this later, at a time when we can both take our sweet time replying to each other."

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This phrase is meant to encourage efficiency, but it often reminds everyone that they’ve been stuck in the same workflow since 2003. It’s the last thing you want to hear if you are an inventive worker with concrete suggestions for new systems that might be better.

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This term can feel vague and impersonal. It refers to people who might be interested in a situation or outcome, but it often sounds inflated. Couldn’t we just say "the people affected" instead?

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It might be intimidating when you are asked to "ideate." Do they mean they want you to think? Why not simply use that word? A clearer alternative would be "come up with ideas" or "brainstorm," another corporate classic.

Image: Craig Adderley

This expression originates from the 1950s ad agencies. It means "let’s see what the higher-ups think" or "test the idea before committing." To many, it sounds outdated, overly formal, and somewhat intimidating.