Watch what you order

Rocky Mountain oysters aren’t what you think: Strange food names

Image: Umesh Soni

If "puppy chows" are not dog snacks, "duck sauce" contains no duck whatsoever, and "German Chocolate Cake" is reportedly Texan… who is handing out these misleading dish names? Decidedly, some of the terms on this list might make you check with the waiter before you place your order. Let’s explore the stories behind unexpected food labels!

Image: Van Thanh

This might be good news: No ducks are harmed in the making of this popular takeout condiment! Duck sauce is a sweet-and-sour orange jelly often served with Chinese-American dishes.

It’s made from apricots, plums, or peaches, combined with sugar and vinegar. The name likely came about because it was invented as a match for crispy duck dishes in Chinese restaurants.

Image: Taria Camerino

English muffins look nothing like American muffins, do they? And, technically, they do not come from England either.

These breads were popularized in the US by Samuel Bath Thomas, a British immigrant who began selling his "toaster crumpets" in New York in the late 1800s. It was the American consumers who branded them as "English muffins."

Image: Logan Clark

Did you know that German Chocolate Cake was actually popularized in… Texas? It did not come from Germany. The name refers to Samuel German, an American baker who created the delicious dark baking chocolate for Baker’s Chocolate Company.

In the 50s, a Texas homemaker later used his chocolate in a layered coconut-pecan cake recipe, and newspapers spread it with that name.

Image: Jay Gajjar

There’s no duck in duck sauce, and there’s no rabbit in Welsh rabbits, or Welsh rarebit! It’s actually melted cheese sauce served on toasted bread. Sometimes it comes flavored with ale, mustard, or spices.

The term "Welsh rabbit" was a tongue-in-cheek jab, likely implying that cheese was the "poor man’s meat" in Wales.

Image: Alex Gorey

Definitely not oysters! There’s nothing oceanic about this dish. Rocky Mountain oysters are actually bull or sheep testicles, usually battered, deep-fried, and served as bar fare or at ranch festivals in the American West.

Image: Piotr Musioł

Don’t expect poultry when you order this South Asian specialty! Bombay duck is actually a type of dried fish, locally known as "bombil," long eaten along India’s western coast.

Why the name, then? Some theorize that it derived from the mail system that transported this food, the ‘Bombay Dak’ (which translates to Bombay Mail).

Image: Charles Chen

You may or may not know this, but some Midwestern states enjoy a homemade candy called "puppy chow." Contrary to what the name might imply, it is not meant for dogs!

They are usually made of cereal, chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. The same snack goes by other cute names, like "monkey munch" or "muddy buddies."

Image: Jolien Coryn

No bread and not "sweet." This dish has a grossly misleading name. Sweetbreads are the thymus or pancreas glands of young animals, prized in French cuisine for their delicate, tender texture.

The "sweet" refers to their mild flavor compared to other organ meats, while "bread" may stem from an old English word for "flesh."

Image: Sebastian Coman Photography

It turns out, "Scotch egg" is not Scottish at all. Some place the origins in London, while others point to Indian dishes like kofta as possible inspirations.

The dish is a hard or soft-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, breaded, and fried.

Image: Alexandra Tran

We all know what French toast means, but, just like French fries, the origins are disputed! This classic breakfast recipe is far more ancient and pan-European than the name implies.

Versions of egg-soaked bread fried in fat go back to ancient Rome, and have popped up across Europe for centuries under names like pain perdu in France or arme ritter in Germany.

Image: Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦

Hearing "mincemeat," most people imagine ground beef. But this pie filling doesn’t always involve minced beef, as it once did.

Traditional mincemeat once did contain actual minced beef or mutton mixed with dried fruits, spices, and suet. Over time, many chose to drop the meat content, but the name stayed.

LOST ALONG THE WAY

10 Forgotten Modern Inventions Once Thought To Be The Future

Image: Lorenzo Herrera

In the fast-paced world of technology, few inventions stand the test of time. Once-trendy gadgets and innovations have now become relics of the past, overshadowed by newer and more efficient products.

Let's take a nostalgic journey through 10 modern inventions that have been relegated to the annals of history.

Image: Miryam León

Since at least 1876, telephone landlines have connected people across long distances, allowing communication on a scale that was never possible before. But the once familiar ring of landline phones is now something of the past. Most modern households have abandoned their landline phones altogether in favor of the convenience and mobility offered by mobile devices.

Image: Luca Bravo

Before the era of word processors and computers, typewriters were the primary tool for producing written documents. The mechanical sound of keys striking paper was the expected background noise in most offices around the world, and there was at least one typewriter in every household. Today, despite their practical obsolescence, they remain within intelligence agencies and in handling top-secret documentation, or wherever a connection to the internet is more of a liability than an advantage.

Image: Lcarsdata, CC BY-SA 2.5

The successor to the portable cassette player, the compact disc player vastly improved the experience of listening to music on the go. Sadly, its reign was somewhat short-lived, as the rise of smaller and more versatile MP3 players rendered these clunky devices obsolete.

Image: Sandstein, CC BY-SA 3.0

In the pre-digital era, fax machines were the only way to transmit scanned documents quickly. A revolutionary device, it quickly became a staple of offices and businesses everywhere. However, the advent of email, cloud storage, and digital signatures made fax machines mostly obsolete.

Image: Florian Fuchs, CC BY 3.0

Before smartphones, pagers were the ultimate communication gadget. Doctors, emergency personnel, and business executives relied on these pocket-sized devices to stay connected everywhere they went. However, their limited capabilities meant they were quickly replaced by the rise of mobile phones that could support both text messaging and voice calls.

Image: Brett Jordan

Before CDs, USB drives, and cloud storage, floppy disks were the primary means of portable data storage. Their simplicity of use and small size meant they were adopted in both domestic and commercial settings. However, their limited capacity and susceptibility to damage made them impractical compared to modern storage solutions.

Image: Nik

While they are still around, having a working film camera today is quite rare and almost synonymous with being a photography student of some sort. But before the ubiquity of smartphones equipped with high-quality cameras, these devices were the primary tool for capturing memories of friends and family. Their grainy quality and the whirring sound of a film advance lever, however, still evokes nostalgia for simpler times in photography.

Image: Stephen Holdaway

The VHS tape (and player) really revolutionized home entertainment, allowing viewers to watch their favorite movies from the comfort of their living rooms. But with the emergence of DVD and Blu-ray discs, followed by digital streaming services, VHS tapes became obsolete. Even the old saying "Be Kind, Rewind," often affixed to rental tapes, now feels like a relic of a bygone era.

Image: Xiaowei, CC BY 3.0

The unmistakable (and weirdly cacophonous) sound of a dial-up modem connecting to the internet once signaled a gateway to the digital world. Unfortunately, the glacial pace of dial-up internet became intolerable with the advent of broadband connections. Today, in the era of high-speed internet, the idea of waiting minutes for a web page to load feels like a distant memory.

Image: Phil Hearing

DVD players were a true jump in quality for home entertainment systems. With their superior video and audio quality compared to VHS tapes, DVDs quickly became a staple in households around the world. Their extended capacity also meant movies came with all sorts of goodies like director’s commentary and various choices for subtitles. However, with the advent of online streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, DVDs fell out of use, and the sight of a DVD collection gathering dust on a shelf became commonplace in many houses.