Interesting Stories Behind Your Favourite Dishes
Image Credit: Sandwich was the result of gambling | Unsplash

Food history is as interesting as any other part of history and there are many fascinating stories related to some of your favourite dishes. From ice cream to galauti kebabs to biryani, every dish has some or the other unique fact or origin story associated with it. There are stories about how the dishes were invented, who came up with it and for whom. Let us look at 4 such dishes and the origin stories behind those.

Sandwich

The sandwich, the way we have it now, was invented in 1762 in England. The dish is in fact named after John Montagu, who was the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He was a gambler by nature and once, during the long gambling sessions, he was suddenly extremely hungry. He wanted something fuss free and came up with sandwich, which was basically meat between two breads. This dish then became globally popular and is eaten all over.

Petha

The history of petha is closely related to that of the Taj Mahal. It is popularly said that Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan once asked for a dessert to be made which would be as pure and as white as the Taj Mahal itself. Then, his royal chefs came up with petha and it became extremely popular amongst the common folks as well.

Dum Biryani

Dum biryani originated in Awadh | Usplash

There are several stories related to the invention of dum biryani, but the most popular one can be traced back to the Nawab of Awadh Asaf-ud-Daulah's regime. He got a large number of people to construct the architectural marvel Bara Imam Bara. So, his chefs began to find it difficult to feed so many people. They came up with the idea of adding rice, meat and vegetables and slow cook it on dum for hours. One day, the Nawab got a whiff of the dish and asked the royal chefs to recreate that in the kitchen. The dish got a royal makeover and we got our beloved dum biryani.

Eggs Benedict

This dish was actually invented due to the boredom of a regular customer at Delmonico Restaurant. The chef was met with the demand that the menu at the restaurant had grown exhaustive and this customer called Mrs Benedict needed something new. The chef came up with our beloved breakfast recipe and also added it to his cookbook. That is how eggs benedict came to be.