# What is the most impressive food invention? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478 "2009-09-01T13:33:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/61 "2009-09-10T00:34:16Z")
I thought I would throw in a vote for the crockpot/slow cooker. My dinner is cooking as I type. & later I’ll be able to watch the Australian version of Master Chef intead of slaving over a hot stove which is what I would normally be doing at 5.30pm. If we are talking about food my vote goes to the olive & the long ago genius who discovered how to make them edible. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/62 "2009-09-10T14:15:19Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > Can you really make jam in a breadmaker? How? There is a recipe in my breadmakers manual, and a setting on the breadmaker. I’ve used frozen peaches. You just dump the fruit in, add sugar, pectin, spices (cloves, cinnamon, etc), lemon juice. Use “jam setting”. Thirty or so minutes later you have fresh (hot) jam. Serve with freshly baked bread! ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/63 "2009-09-10T14:29:05Z")
I remember Phil Harris’ remark to Frankie Remley: This will be the greatest thing since Whitney squeezed gin out of cotton! ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/64 "2009-09-10T20:39:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > There is a recipe in my breadmakers manual, and a setting on the breadmaker. I’ve used frozen peaches. You just dump the fruit in, add sugar, pectin, spices (cloves, cinnamon, etc), lemon juice. Use “jam setting”. Thirty or so minutes later you have fresh (hot) jam. Serve with freshly baked bread! Now,_that_ is amazing. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/65 "2009-09-10T21:09:24Z")
Cooking it? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/66 "2009-09-10T22:05:02Z")
> [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > Just re-watched an old West Wing episode and appearently the invention of dwarf wheat (for India) saved about a billion lives; pretty good invention if you ask me. Me too. Developed by Norman Borlaug. [Norman Borlaug - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug) ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/67 "2009-09-10T22:43:31Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Fire? I second that vote! The cognitive leap between “Don’t touch, it’s hot!” and “Hey, if you hold food over this stuff, it’s easier to digest (and, incidentally, has fewer live pathogens than before)” was incredible. Everybody understands that heat burns things, but the first guys to invent cooking were really onto something! [Cite.](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WJS-4SHN0B6-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1007663347&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=1c6837cc5501dac9149a24c9dafad1dc) > [@Staale\_Nordlie](#): > > [http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20080103](http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20080103) 🤣 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/68 "2009-09-11T01:53:35Z")
Bacon Salt! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/69 "2009-09-11T02:33:32Z")
Beer. Civilization [couldn’t have happened](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_beer) without it. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/70 "2009-09-11T09:33:14Z")
Those pre cooked rice bags. Stick’em in the microwave for 90 seconds and voila, you got perfectly cooked rice. With no frick’n mess!! ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478/71 "2009-09-13T05:54:13Z")
RIP Norman Borlaug! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-impressive-food-invention/508478.md?page=3)