TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY*

National Chocolate Mint Day
1847
The Donner Party is rescued after being snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas. Almost half of the original 87 members died, and some of the survivors seemed to be well fed considering the ordeal they went through. Cannibalism itself is not a crime, and no charges were ever brought.

1906
Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company (W.K. Kellogg Company) was founded by Will Keith Kellogg to manufacture breakfast cereals (cornflakes).

1913 Cracker Jack began to put prizes in each box.

1985 Cherry Coke was introduced. Actually, soda fountains (remember them?) had been making them for decades.

1999
The world's largest strawberry shortcake was created in McCall Park, Plant City, Florida, the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. The city holds the Guinness record for the world's largest strawberry shortcake, over 6,000 pounds.

LOST IN THE TRANSLATION
The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read.Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole", translating into "happiness in the mouth."Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."

Pretty interesting stuff!!! Things that make you go hmmmm....