Even though it’s something we interact with every single day, food can actually be pretty weird when we think about it. After all, spoiled milk is something we might throw straight into the trash, but cheese is a wonderful, versatile staple most of us know and love.
Someone asked “What is a food that makes you think, “How did humans discover this was edible?”” and people share their favorite examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, grab a snack, upvote the best ones and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments section below.

#1

Potatoes. Early potatoes were small, hard, and poisonous.

Methods of making them not poisonous included soaking them in running water for weeks or, in the high Andes, leaving them out on rocks high in the mountains so they effectively freeze-dried. Alternatively, you could mix them with clay when eating them – the clay would adsorb some of the toxins.

Image credits: SuspiciouslyMoist

#2

The amount of effort you have to go through to make cashews edible

The f**k did someone figure that out.

Maleficent_Nobody_75 reply:
Yes. The shells that surround the cashews apparently contain very toxic oils and the extraction process they need to do can be hazardous to us humans if not handled correctly. The extraction process has to be done manually, hence why the process is difficult and time-consuming. Probably the reason why they are one of the most expensive nuts on the market when I think about it.

Image credits: anon

#3

Ever think about coffee beans? Hey, I'm gonna roast this seed, smash it up and drown it in hot water. Bet it tastes great.'.

TheFerricGenum reply:
This one is not that difficult to come by. The beans are edible when freshly picked, and actually contain more caffeine (caffeine is lost through baking). So I bet people were regularly drawing on these as a food source since they are an upper. Someone along the line probably realized cooking things can keep them from spoiling a bit longer and started roasting their beans. If food was scarce, it’s possible they boiled these beans at one point to try to stretch their food supply. They liked the taste, and realized grinding the beans helped draw out the flavor easier.

Image credits: HakimEuphrates

#4

Maybe not quite food, but like tobacco and Marijuana. The amount of trial and error of just smoking random things to see what happens must have been an interesting time.

Steamed-Barley reply:
It's brewed from a combination of Chacruna leaves and the vines of Banisteriopsis caapi – two completely different plants. The leaves contain DMT, while the vines contain MAOIs, which inhibit enzymes and allow DMT to enter the bloodstream and reach the brain. Both are necessary for the potent psychoactive effects to occur, you can't take one without the other.
It's been used since at least 1000 years ago. How the hell they found the correct combination is just… wow.

Image credits: thatoneguy500

#5

Artichokes.

oldcrustybutz reply:
I kinda feel like they're a specialization from a generalization though.
There are the more generalized Cardoon thistles where you more eat the stalk and stems which wouldn't be that big of a stretch to throw them on some coals, peel, and enjoy. Later someone found that the flower base was even better because you can use it as a bunch of tiny spoons to deliver copious amounts of butter to your cardoon hole.

Image credits: soserva

#6

Fugu. To even be allowed to make it, you need a license to show that you can consistently make it in a way that won‘t kill your customer(not to mention the training required to get the license which IIRC can only be issued by the Japanese Government). How many tries were needed to figure out the propper way to make it and why did they keep trying after the first two or three tries?

SeiCalros reply:
Fugu fish aren't that lethal. Most people could eat a whole fish including the skin liver and ovaries which are the poisonous parts. One fugu fish COULD be fatal but most people who used to die from fugu liver had eaten several of them.

Image credits: SimeonDoesStuffBG

#7

Honey. Let’s follow these highly territorial murder flies to their stronghold and eat their vomit.

_Molotovsky reply:
That’s easy, watch a bear. It’s kind of a cliche now because of cartoons but bears LOVE honey, and will climb trees to get to the hive. Probably doesn’t hurt that their skin is thicker and getting stung probably tickles, but they will go to some lengths to get it.”

“Some enterprising caveman watched the bear go for the hive and probably decided to taste what was left. I wouldn’t want to fight the bear for it but it probably was the first sweet thing ever tasted other than fruit, so it was valued.”

Image credits: genetic_ape

#8

There’s a fruit in Brazil that needs to be cooked around 7 days, otherwise it’s toxic.

Image credits: AnakinCaesar

#9

Cheese is weird.

Hey ogg, that milk you were storing has gone weird and lumpy, should I throw it out?

Nah, it's still good, pass it here.

SirTwitchALot reply:
Rennet, which causes milk to curdle is naturally present in the stomachs of calves. Some speculate that people may have used stomachs as storage vessels. You put some milk in there, and it curdles. Food is scarce, so you're not about to let it go to waste, thankfully the chunky milk actually tastes pretty damn good!

Image credits: midunda

#10

One of the first staple foods is kinda weird: Acorns. Acorns were actually farmed very early in human history, but to make them edible you have to soak them and treat them. Sure, you see animals eat them all the time, but animals also eat tree bark and leaves. Somehow people figured out, that you could turn the inside of acorns into flour and basically eradicate hunger by simple picking up acorns for a couple of days.

Image credits: Zagdil

#11

Hakarl. I think it was probably starvation that led someone long, long ago to eat that rotten dead shark that had been fermenting in beach sand for months. Surely that could be the only reason someone would eat it because I have heard hakarl smells and tastes like p**s.

Image credits: EasyBounce

#12

Green Olives? Poison until soaked in brine? How did that get figured out?

Image credits: Dyrogitory

#13

The enigmatic durian – a fruit so pungent it could make a skunk blush. It’s like someone stumbled upon this spikey orb, dared to take a bite, and thought, “Yes, let’s create a culinary sensation that smells like a blend of rotten onions and gym socks.” Truly, the mysteries of gastronomy know no bounds!

Image credits: anon

#14

Our earliest ancestors in Africa likely ate a ton of yams, which were basically hard roots that I believe are also sometimes toxic. People were probably dead set on making the root vegetables where they ended up edible. Eating root vegetables as a staple might be the most engrained human tradition.

Image credits: BonerSoupAndSalad

#15

Chocolate. I mean don't get me wrong I get why they were playing around with the plant and all.

The sheer process of getting to Chocolate as a product is so weird and bizarre and kinda gross…and then it comes out as the lovely candy we know and love.

Image credits: Onepopcornman

#16

What the f**k was bread guy doing? What compelled him to collect tiny pieces of grain, dry them out, smash them into a powder, get them wet again (but not too wet), and then put the whole thing over fire?

Image credits: sparta981

#17

That expensive coffee made from beans collected from animal droppings.

Who the hell looked at that and said “Why not? Let’s give it a go.”.

Image credits: NickFurious82

#18

That blowfish stuff. The kind that they have to be super careful when preparing. How’d they figure out being good enough to prepare it?

Image credits: Onlyhereforthelaughs

#19

Foods that are poisonous unless prepared in a specific manner.

I mean who was it who first realised that the kidney beans that were poisoning everyone raw, were perfectly safe after being boiled for 20 mins?

Image credits: prolixia

#20

Vanilla flavoring from beaver butt.

Image credits: Gregskis

#21

Balut. A duck embryo still in the shell.

Image credits: ResponsibleJaguar109

#22

The first person to eat an oyster – how hungry was that m**********r?

“Hey guys, I found a loogie in this slimy rock! Want some?”.

Image credits: Savior-_-Self

#23

Cheese, yoghurt, alcohol, vinegar, pretty much anything that you would otherwise have thought is gone off.

Who looks at months old milk that stinks of feet, and think, ‘Ima eat that’?

Image credits: JRCSalter

#24

Blue cheese…someone left that out for too long, looked at it, shrugged their shoulders and went for it.

Image credits: Narf234

#25

Gelatin.

I swear whoever invented gelatin was probably a serial killer.

Image credits: PathOfTheAncients

#26

F*****g sea urchins. why would you even want to crack that open and eat it.

Image credits: Multiple-Atrocities

#27

Lobster, crab, shrimp…

Image credits: lionson76

#28

Gummy bears. How are you not scared the bears would attack you from the inside? Actually, I hear the sugar free ones do.

Image credits: skisushi

#29

Nettles. “Ow, that m**********r stung me! Maybe I should boil it for its crimes….”.

Image credits: CountVowl

#30

The french are masters at this :

– engorged livers from geese and ducks that have been force fed
– snails : they’re everywhere but for some reason only the French eat them, but not slugs because that would be weird
– frogs : they’re everywhere but for some reason only the French eat them, but not toads because that would be weird
– cheese with maggots in (my Norman FiL)
– Camembert cheese dipped coffee (my Norman FiL)
– Pigs ear salad
– pig and sheep’s brain (they sell them at my local supermarché)
– Normandy sausage made from god knows what (delicious it is) but I think it comes from the stomach / intestine (my Mum calls it A**s Sausage)
– not to mention turning rotten grapes into an art form / national obsession
– sheep’s testicles (FiL)
– raw beef (and if its not dodgy enough well add a raw egg too)
– Horse (like really good beef, but better).

Image credits: badbog42

#31

Almost every edible mushroom. Lots of trial and error there, I bet.
shadowa1ien reply:
Shiitake mushrooms are like this. They're not deathly poisonous, but if eaten raw in medium to large amounts can cause severe itching for up to several weeks. Now imagine my face as I read that little tidbit on Google… after I had popped a raw shiitake mushroom in my mouth and had already swallowed most of it. The moral of the story, if you aren't sure, google before taste testing. my logic was since there's no warning on the store packaging, it must be fine! I didn't get the severe itching thankfully.

Image credits: Leeser

#32

Whoever came up with the idea of sausage must have been kind of screwed up.

He, you know what would be great. If we put the meat in the intestines of the animal it came from before we eat it.

Image credits: rfstfirefly

#33

Eggs.
“Hey, this floofy small dinosaur just dropped this thing rock like thing from it’s a*s”
“Lets see if Mikey likes it…”.

Image credits: JEStucker

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