Weird, Wonderful World
There are scores of delicious variations of cooked fillings and pastry out there—both sweet and savory. (Warning: This might make you hungry.) Pie A baking dish is lined with a pastry crust that bakes up crispy or flaky. On top of that goes a sweetened fruit filling, a savory meat filling, or, once it’s cooled, […]
Most TV game shows are made in Hollywood, so it makes sense that aspiring actors—a.k.a. Hollywood waitresses and dishwashers—would show up on game shows to get some face time on TV (and maybe win some cash). JOHN RITTER Appeared as a contestant on: The Dating Game Story: In 1967 Ritter was a 19-year-old freshman drama […]
The first thing Uncle John consumes in the morning: a handful of wasabi peas, washed down with black coffee. Here are some other landmark moments in the history of food. First Indian Restaurant in the West In 1810 Sake Dean Mahomed, a captain in the British East India Company, opened a restaurant in London that […]
More fascinating secrets behind where the architects of pop culture get their ideas. Some of these may surprise you. Annie Wilkes The psychotic nurse in Stephen King’s Misery (played by Kathy Bates in the 1990 movie) was based on pediatric nurse Genene Jones, imprisoned for overdosing kids and then reviving them so she would be […]
A look at life in the not-so-distant (but it sure seems like it!) past. World population: 3.9 billion (2014: about 7.2 billion) Average life expectancy in the U.S.: 71.4 (2014: 78.7) Average annual income: $12,900 (minimum wage: $1.60 per hour) Average cost of a… Television: Movies: Sports: Music: News: Science News: Deaths: Bruce Lee, Bobby […]
Some strange tips sent in by readers who swear they work. (These were not tested in the Uncle John’s Laboratories.) About to sneeze? Push the tip of your tongue upward against the roof of your mouth where the hard palate ends and the soft palate begins (between your back teeth). Chopping an onion? Avoid the […]
These once-popular shoes aren’t what you’d call “sole survivors.” THE REEBOK PUMP (1989) This innovative sneaker featured an inflation system with a basketball-shaped pump on the tongue of each shoe that created a tighter “custom fit” around the ankle and top of the foot. Despite a retail price upwards of $150, stores could hardly keep […]
Before refrigeration, sauces originated as a way to hide the taste of food that was staring to spoil. Then people started tinkering with them, and things got a lot tastier. Here are the five sauces that food historians say are the source of all other sauces that followed.
Did John D. Rockefeller ever eat oysters Rockefeller? Here’s how some tasty foods got their names. Bananas Foster Richard Foster was the chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission in the early 1950s and a friend of restaurateur Owen Brennan, who also served on the commission. Foster must have loved bananas, because in 1951 Brennan […]
Here are some pint-sized facts about the world’s most famous pint-sized sex therapist. Karola Ruth Siegel (Westheimer is her married name) was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Germany in 1928. At age 12, Ruth was sent to safety at an orphanage in Switzerland. She never saw her family again; her parents are believed to […]
Food carts are a great place for a good (and fairly cheap) meal. But they’re not all sandwiches and rice bowls.
Strapping on a pair of ice skates typically involves a trip to an indoor rink or a frozen lake. Here are a few notable exceptions.
When rock bands and singers perform, promoters must fulfill a “rider,” or a list of backstage needs and wants. Politicians making appearances or campaign stops have them, too. Between his 2004 presidential bid and 2012 appointment to Secretary of State, John Kerry toured the lecture circuit. Promoters were given a length list of meal preferences […]
Denby Dale is a village in England that makes a big deal out of pies. Or rather a big deal out of big pies. Pies the size of tables…and bigger. 1788. The village decided to celebrate King George III’s official recovery from his many mental health problems. (Or his officially announced recovery—an episode lasting several […]
Why head to Times Square when you could attend one of these more unique gatherings instead?
Everything you never needed to know about the most natural of natural gases. Are you above average? Because the average person farts about 14 times a day. And that’s a healthy amount. That adds up to a total of half a liter of gas expelled every day. If the average person parts 14 times a […]
If the tiny seats, delays and bad food weren’t bad enough, there’s a chance that you might encounter someone like these guys the next time you set foot on an airplane. Gray Area During a KLM flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam last September, a Scottish man named James Gray attempted to open one of plane’s […]
Unlike Santa Claus, who (legend has it) lives at the North Pole, works alongside reindeer and elves and tends to be pretty jolly, the Saint Nicholas who delivers gifts to Austria and a few other European countries employs a much nastier seasonal helper.
