It was today in 1932 that the makers of the cheese curl (or one of them, there are several origin stories) applied for a patent for their creation. Only their creation was supposed to be something entirely different. Plus: LEGO City is a bustling place, and some fans are hoping it will add bike lanes for LEGO riders.
On this day in 1976, Elvis Presley apparently got so excited describing the Fool's Gold sandwich, made at a restaurant in Denver, that he flew to Denver that night to eat it, only to fly right back to Memphis when he was done. And that's not the only food Elvis loved; did you know about his penchant for BBQ bologna?
Champ and Major are the new White House dogs, but there have been lots of pets at the president's house over the years, including Rebecca the raccoon, who definitely left her mark on the place during Calvin Coolidge's presidency. Plus: a company in the UK just made a 500-plus pound protein bar. Do you eat it to refuel after an ultramarathon, maybe?
For National Cookie Day, we take a closer look at the amazing and frequently disturbing history of gingerbread, including how one of the most famous royals of all time helped bring gingerbread people into the world. Plus: a lesson in patience from a musical great who made herself into a cookie-baking expert.
Pastries come and go, but in Brooklyn, people still talk about the blackout cake from Ebinger's, a cake so beloved that when the bakery closed, people bought up cakes, kept them in their freezers and ate them only on special occasions. Plus: it's the birthday of Erno Rubik, so maybe someday visit the Rubik's Cube-themed hotel room in Houston, Texas.
Authorities in Belgium are calling on citizens to do their duty and help the country's potato farmers by ordering frites twice a week - fitting, since Belgium is home of the world's only Frietmuseum and considers itself the birthplace of the fried potato. Plus: today in 2008, the passing of the man who made the Pringles can possible. And he included that iconic tube of chips in his final wishes.
Artist Itsuo Kobayashi has been keeping an illustrated food diary since 1980, drawing and describing each meal, the ingredients, the price and how it made him feel. Plus: for National Banana Day, we go to - where else - the International Banana Museum in California.
In 1953 Swanson had several hundred tons of leftover Thanksgiving turkey - so they created the TV Dinner and changed how we eat. Plus: the 40th annual Holiday Cave Sing is this weekend at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.
Happy Thanksgiving - and are you really gonna eat that? This holiday edition of Cool Weird Awesome celebrates that for which we are all most grateful: the bewildering foods that inexplicably become part of our annual Thanksgiving dinners, from "seafoam salad" to "tunies" to hot dog chunks warmed up in pizza sauce. Plus: holiday lights are coming, and "Peteyville" in Hammond, Indiana is one of the best and brightest displays you'll find.
This meringue is just about the lightest dessert ever made. Based on the lightest substance in the world, Aerogel, it's about 96 percent air and a serving weighs about a gram. We guarantee you won’t think it's too filling. Plus: the story of a light-emitting fungus gnat in Brazil, which is maybe not as appetizing as the first story.
