Food and Drink Atlas
Claims this atlas currently marks as unsettled or as tested and found false. A debated fact is one scholars hold competing positions on; a debunked one has been checked against the record and found not to hold. Both are kept in view rather than quietly smoothed over, with the reasoning that put each one where it stands.
200 statements.
Kottbullar, Origin Period, From (Year)1714
Kottbullar, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1714
A 2018 post on Sweden's official Twitter account claimed kottbullar originated from a Turkish recipe King Charles XII brought back to Sweden after his exile in the Ottoman Empire, ending in 1714. Food historian Richard Tellstrom said there was no evidence behind the claim and the account retracted it; recorded here as a documented but debunked claim, not a live fact.
Source Meatball (Wikipedia)
Adobo, Origin Period, From (Year)1580
Adobo, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1580
Marks the late 16th century, when Spanish colonizers applied the name adobo to the pre-existing indigenous Filipino vinegar-cooking method due to its superficial similarity to Iberian adobo; the indigenous method itself developed independently and is undated.
Source Adobo (Wikipedia)
Adobo, Origin Period, To (Year)1850
Adobo, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, To (Year)
Currently States 1850
Marks one of the earliest print references to adobo, in Mariano de Rementeria y Fica's 1850 Manual del Cocinero, Repostero, Pastelero, Confitero y Botillero.
Source Adobo (Wikipedia)
Ajiaco, Origin RegionCuba (also claimed by Colombia and Peru)
Ajiaco, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Region
Currently States Cuba (also claimed by Colombia and Peru)
Colombia, Cuba and Peru each maintain a distinct ajiaco tradition; scholars have debated the dish exact origin, including whether it is rooted in Taino practice (per Fernando Ortiz) or the etymology alone.
Source Ajiaco (Wikipedia)
Ajiaco, Origin Period, From (Year)1500
Ajiaco, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1500
Approximates the 16th century, when ajiaco is believed to have become popular in Cuba; a proposed Taino etymology (per Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso) implies still-earlier pre-Columbian roots, but no specific year is given in the source for that phase.
Source Ajiaco (Wikipedia)
Amaretto, Origin Period, From (Year)1525
Amaretto, Drinks
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1525
1525 is the date given by the popular legend of Bernardino Luini and the Saronno innkeeper, which is not documented history.
Source Amaretto, Wikipedia
Angels on horseback, Origin Period, From (Year)1882
Angels on horseback, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1882
The origins of the dish are unclear per Wikipedia. An Australian newspaper reference with a brief recipe dates to 1882, earlier than the more commonly cited 1888 Mrs Beeton occurrence.
Source Angels on horseback (Wikipedia)
Angels on horseback, Origin Period, To (Year)1888
Angels on horseback, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, To (Year)
Currently States 1888
Wikipedia names 1888, in Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, as the dish's first occurrence per the Oxford English Dictionary, though a earlier 1882 Australian newspaper reference is also recorded.
Source Angels on horseback (Wikipedia)
Anticuchos, Origin Period, From (Year)1438 CE
Anticuchos, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1438 CE
Wikipedia "Anticuchos" History: anticuchos are of pre-Columbian origin and were a popular dish among inhabitants of the Inca Empire (founded c. 1438 CE); beef and garlic replaced the original llama meat in the 16th century as a later Spanish-influenced variant, not the origin.
Source Anticucho (Wikipedia)
Arepa, Origin Period, From (Year)-1000 BCE
Arepa, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States -1000 BCE
Wikipedia "Arepa" Origins: the presence of arepas is estimated from about 3,000 years ago in Colombia (Muisca, Altiplano Cundiboyacense) and about 2,800 years ago in Venezuela; exact first-cooked location and date are not specified.
Source Arepa (Wikipedia)
Asam pedas, Origin RegionMaritime Southeast Asia: disputed between the port city of Malacca (Malay Peninsula) and the Minangkabau region of West Sumatra
Asam pedas, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Region
Currently States Maritime Southeast Asia: disputed between the port city of Malacca (Malay Peninsula) and the Minangkabau region of West Sumatra
The Wikipedia Historical and cultural origins section states the exact origin of the dish is unclear and contested between Malacca and Minangkabau traditions; recorded as debated rather than a single attested region.
Source Asam pedas (Wikipedia)
Aspic, Origin Period, From (Year)1375
Aspic, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1375
Wikipedia's History section names Le Viandier, written around 1375, as the earliest detailed recipe specifically for aspic, but also documents earlier and parallel jellied-meat traditions (a 9th-century Iraqi poetic reference, and Song-dynasty Kaifeng aspics recorded in the Dongjing Meng Hua Lu), so this is the earliest named-recipe date, not a confirmed single origin.
Source Aspic (Wikipedia)
Aspic, Origin Period, To (Year)1375
Aspic, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, To (Year)
Currently States 1375
Same Le Viandier circa-1375 date as origin-start-year; see that note for the earlier parallel traditions Wikipedia documents.
Source Aspic (Wikipedia)
Ayam Taliwang, Origin Period, From (Year)1970
Ayam Taliwang, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1970
Contested: one account describes Ayam Taliwang as a dish favored by Sasak nobility (implying an older tradition), while cook Abdul Hamid separately claims to have personally invented it in 1970; both accounts are cited in the History section.
Source Ayam Taliwang (Wikipedia)
Baklava, Origin RegionOttoman Empire / eastern Mediterranean (contested; Greek, Arabic and Central Asian Turkic origin theories all argued)
Baklava, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Region
Currently States Ottoman Empire / eastern Mediterranean (contested; Greek, Arabic and Central Asian Turkic origin theories all argued)
Historians propose three competing root traditions: the Byzantine and Greek placenta cake and koptoplakous, the medieval Arabic confection lauzinaj, and Central Asian Turkic layered breads; a recognizably Turkish form is generally placed in the Ottoman court kitchens of Topkapi Palace.
Source Baklava (Wikipedia)
Banh Mi, Origin Period, From (Year)1860
Banh Mi, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1860
Marks the documented introduction of the baguette to Vietnam by French colonizers in the 1860s, the earliest dated point in the dish's own history; the filled sandwich now called banh mi is described in the article as a later development, reaching its distinctive Saigon street-food form only by the mid-20th century, so 1860 marks the bread's arrival rather than the sandwich's own invention.
Source Banh Mi (Wikipedia)
Banh Xeo, Origin RegionCentral or South Vietnam
Banh Xeo, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Region
Currently States Central or South Vietnam
Vietnamese sources disagree between Central Vietnam and South Vietnam
Source Banh xeo, Wikipedia
Barley, Earliest Documented Use, From (Year)-8000
Barley, Ingredients
Standing
Concerns Earliest Documented Use, From (Year)
Currently States -8000
Genetic study places initial domestication at roughly 8000 BCE in the Israel-Jordan area of the southern Fertile Crescent; securely dated archaeological remains of domesticated barley follow at Tell Abu Hureyra by 7500 BCE and Tell Aswad by 6900 BCE, so a range is given rather than a single year.
Source On the Origin and Domestication History of Barley (Molecular Biology and Evolution)
Barley, Earliest Documented Use, To (Year)-6900
Barley, Ingredients
Standing
Concerns Earliest Documented Use, To (Year)
Currently States -6900
Genetic study places initial domestication at roughly 8000 BCE in the Israel-Jordan area of the southern Fertile Crescent; securely dated archaeological remains of domesticated barley follow at Tell Abu Hureyra by 7500 BCE and Tell Aswad by 6900 BCE, so a range is given rather than a single year.
Source On the Origin and Domestication History of Barley (Molecular Biology and Evolution)
Bastilla, Origin Period, From (Year)1230
Bastilla, Dishes
Standing
Concerns Origin Period, From (Year)
Currently States 1230
Debated among historians: Anny Gaul traces a strong resemblance to the stuffing in 13th-century Andalusi cookbooks (the value recorded here, taken as a representative mid-13th-century year). Idriss Bouhlila and Ahmed al-Rahouni instead argue an Ottoman origin, reaching northern Morocco through Algerian migration after 1830, and Gil Marks attributes it to Sephardic Jews who brought it to Morocco before filo later replaced the Andalusi-style pastry. No single origin year is agreed among these accounts.
Source Bastilla (Wikipedia)