As Ruth Wakefield was baking chocolate cookies for her guests only to run out of powdered baker’s chocolate, so she decided to break up a Nestle’s semi sweet chocolate bar. As some kitchen experiments do - it turned out into a semi-disappointment as the chocolate pieces only melted slightly retaining the shape. But the guests loved them and the next thing you know her recipe was up in a Boston newspaper increasing Nestle’s chocolate bar sales which then later granted Ruth a lifetime supply of the chocolate from Andrew Nestle as a reward for printing her recipe on the chocolate bars.

An Italian baker, Pietro Ferrero, was actually trying to create a chocolate alternative in the 1940s as a result of shortages during the Second World War. Little did he know that hazelnuts, sugar and just a pinch of cocoa will create a new staple sweet spread.

As coffee originates from Ethiopia, a centuries old legend has it that a goat herder Kaldi noticed that his goats would become very energetic and not sleep at night after eating the berries of this particular tree. He reported this to a local monastery and soon everyone was sipping on this stimulating drink helping to stay up during long hours of evening prayers. Soon the coffee beans reached Arabian peninsula and from there one fast forwarding, you might be reaching out for a sip of this goodness this very moment.

Cheese puffs before as we know it, were actually food for animals! Although there are several versions of the story created, Edward Wilson in the 1930s, from a company in Wisconsin producing partially cooked animal feed, decided to taste the puffed mashed corn kernel himself and by adding some seasoning realised that it’s actually not that bad and can totally make a decent snack. Then later the founders of Flakall Corporation that he worked for patented the product that is now produced under different names in over a 100 companies.

Well if not South America we wouldn’t have potatoes and if not for a really annoyed chef we wouldn’t crunch on crispy potato chips (or crisps if you’re in the UK). Originally potato chips were not meant to be enjoyed as George Crum, a restaurateur in 1853 decided to overcook super thinly sliced potatoes when his customers kept on sending their fried potatoes again and again complaining that they’re too thick and soggy. The original Karens were eventually so satisfied with crunchy potato slices that they made sure to spread the word about this scrumptious snack and the chef who makes it. This encouraged Crum to open his own restaurant.

In 1943 Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Anaya Garcia was working in the kitchen in Piedras Negras (Coahuila state, Mexico), as a handful of US military wives from nearby base passed by his restaurant, tired and hungry from shopping. Caught by surprise, outside of the service hours, he quickly fried up some cut tortillas, bathed them in cheese, topped with sliced jalapeños and shoved it in the oven for a few minutes. That result became a now widely consumed dish and the what would have been the 124th birthday of Nacho, last year, it was commemorated even by a Google Doodle. Nacho ended up opening his own restaurant in a few years after his success.

Making cheese dates back more than 4,000 years and has a popular legend of an Arabian merchant accidentally making it first. As he set out on a long journey across a desert he had a supply of milk in a sheep’s stomach pouch. Due to blasting heat and the enzymes in the pouch it cured the cheese and separated the whey. Not only the traveller was able to quench his thirst but also enjoy the cheese (curd). It was the travellers that brought the art of cheesemaking from Asia to Europe and we can now go crazy making platters of this food item to thrill our guests.

11 year old Fran Epperson was playing with his water and powdered soda mix, leaving it with the wooden stirrer inside. Forgetting the ‘experiment’ outside overnight it froze and as any 11 year would probably do he licked it then quickly realising what a revolutionary invention he made. He began by selling ‘Epsicles’ in his neighbourhood then eventually at amusement parks. He patented his product that later changed its name to ‘Pop’sicles’ after 20 years as it was much more favorited by children. However Epperson ended up selling the business and never making as much money at the beginning of his success.

One of the most delightful baked goods originating from US invented by Fanny Baker who simply adapted her chocolate cookie to be baked in a rectangular pan. Other legends surrounding the birth of chocolate brownies talks about a chef accidentally adding melted (and too much) chocolate into the dough.

You might not be able to pronounce it but you’re most likely are using it as a condiment. First made by the chemists John Wheeler Lea and William Perrins upon request by Governor of Bengal, based on a recipe brought from Asia. They made two batches as they were quite puzzled what’s the fuss about the sauce and they didn’t like it! Just like pretty much everything unwanted they stored it in the away only re-tasing it sometime later and instantly feeling the potential of a new food item and putting it out on sale in 1837. However up to this very day the original resicpe hasn’t been revealed and remains a secret.

Initially brandy was made in order to fortify wine so that it could make it through long, sometimes intercontinental voyages. As it would be stored in wooden casks it resulted in improving the original distilled spirit and made it more drinkable later evolving into a drink item on its own.

This time thanks to the Mesopotamians 6,000 years ago being very annoyed by the fact that the grains they’ve been storing for producing bread would go damp and starting to ferment into liquid affected by the loose yeast in the air. Soon they realised that there’s no point to ignore the potential of making what is now one of the oldest drinks humans have ever produced. The oldest evidence of beer existence shows people sipping this drink through red straws out of a giant communal bowl. Party on.

When you think of summer you can definitely think of pink lemonade! And would you ever think that dirty laundry was behind its invention? Although pink lemons do exist, their juice is colourless. In 1857 Pete Conklin was selling lemonade at the circus and ran out of water and grabbed a tub of dirty water where a performer just rinsed her pink-coloured tights. He sold it as this new ‘strawberry lemonade’ and since then circuses since then would have their ‘pink lemonade’ available to quench your thirst, hopefully reducing the percentage of dirty sock water.

Thanks to the clumsiness of this cook in ancient China accidentally dropping this natural coagulant called nigari to a pot of soybean milk that then solidified into tofu - bean curd - a food item particularly enjoyed by anyone preferring plant based meals. Although it started in China 2,000 years ago, tofu only reached western kitchens by the 20th century.

A popular Mexican - American fusion is large deep fried burrito and Tuscon, Arizona claims the fame. Historically being a part of Sonora state of Mexico they take this soul food very seriously an d tennises a story of Monica Flin from El Charro Cafe in 1922, accidentally flipping a burrito into deep fryer - obviously wanting to swear but not allowing herself to do that in front of her nieces she yelled ‘chimichanga’ instead and that’s how the mouth watering dish was born.

We probably wouldn’t have a choice of where to get our ice cream served - a cone or cup - if not for a Syrian pastry vendor Ernest A. Hamwi in 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. And although Italo Marchiony was granted a patent for inviting his ice cream cone in December 1903 in NYC, Hamwi’s invention was a pure brainchild out of a hurry. An ice cream seller in the booth next door to him ran out of dishes to serve the ice cream on, so Hamwi quickly rolled up one of his freshly baked waffle-like pastries that cooled down in a second and placed the ice cream on top. The customers couldn’t be happier and this became a solid proof that necessity is the mother of invention.

Thanks to the herdsmen in Central Asia who stored goat’s milk in containers made out of different animal stomachs 8,000 years ago the substance would curdle and the fermenting of good bacteria would add this tart flavour to it and preserve it. This way you can imagine what Genghis Khan would potentially have had for breakfast.

Coca Cola was meant to be a medicine when John Pemberton invented it back in 1885 in Atlanta, Georgia. He marketed it as ‘brain tonic and intellectual beverage’ keeping the recipe a secret, but not hiding the fact that it contained cocaine extracted from the coca leaf and caffeine from kola nuts (here the name Coca Cola). And it was during the prohibition that it became popular as a ‘soft’ drink as people enjoyed the taste of it, without added cocaine of course.

Being one of the most comfortable food items to consume anywhere and anyhow no matter the situation, the sandwich appears to have been invented by an intense gambler, John Montagu in 1762. Being noble 4th Earl of Sandwich and having a great addiction to gambling he ordered his cook to prepare something to eat so that he wouldn’t have to leave the game in order to eat something. The unidentified cook came up with putting some beef in between toasted bread and the rest is history.

St Louis can’t agree on which restaurant exactly is in charge of inventing this local specialty, but as the legend has it, it was invented by a German cook who had too much wine while cooking (hands up who can relate) and accidentally pushed some ravioli in the fryer. He sent out the food on the table regardless, topping it up with some parmesan - and guess what - they loved it!

As some pizza lovers would say that putting pineapple on it is a joke, they are kinda right as it was actually invented while having fun. Two brothers that emigrated to Canada from Greece in the 50s were experimenting with different ingredients at their restaurant, when one of them, Sam Panopolous, thought of throwing some ham and pineapple to see how it tastes. Surely they had no clue that over the years this topping will divide people when it comes to choosing the toppings.

A complete accident was that wine makers in France’s Champagne region wanted to compete with the Burgundy wines. However the cold winters in the region was the reason why the wine would stop fermenting and resume the process in the spring when the yeast would come alive and start fermenting only to release carbon dioxide gas that would pop the weak bottles. By adjusting the glassware accordingly wine makers managed to keep the bottles intact and today we have something bubbly to drink on the NYE!

As the long sea voyages due to growing trades in 16th and 17th century were circumnavigating the globe European wines weren’t able to maintain unspoiled. The clever wine makers fortified the wine by adding brandy to stabilise it and preparing it to withstand the temperature differences.

Hotel Tatin 100 miles south from Paris run by two sisters was the birthplace of the famous pastry. One of the sisters, Stephanie Tatin from being too tired overcooked apples in butter and sugar that were meant to be for a traditional apple pie. She smelled apples burning in the pan and covered it with a pastry base then crammed it inside the oven. Stephanie decided to serve the apple pie regardless, making it a pure success among the guests.

Maria Ann Smith, who arrived in Australia in the 1830s bought too much fruit and it went bad so she ended up tossing by the creek close to her property. And although it was French Crab apples that she bought, she noticed that the fruit that grew on the new trees was very different. She patented it and it soon became the most popular cooking apple in the country.

Mouth watering chicken wings served with a side of blue cheese sauce and celery sticks? Yes please. In The Anchor Bar, situated Buffalo, NY, Teresa Bellismo received a shipment of chicken wings and not the chicken necks she thought she ordered initially - nothing went to waste and she fried them up and tossed it in the signature sauce.

A drink that was featured in even President Obama’s joke (‘Slurpee Summit’), was also invented by an accident. An owner of old Dairy Queen, Omar Knedlik, was improvising as his soda fountain broke and he left the soda bottles in the freezer to stay cool. However they turned quite slushy which customers actually loved! He built a machine that would produce a slushy soda drink by mixing some carbon dioxide, water and flavourings. He patented the machine holding a competition for the name and soon ICEE started to be sold to convince stores. It wasn’t until 7- Eleven that the new name Slurpee came across to make it specific to this chain of shops. It was meant to describe the sound made while drinking it through a straw.

This is a serious one, as originally upon their invention corn flakes were advertised as potentially surpassing masturbation and sexual desire. Two brothers Dr John Harvey Kellog and Will Keith ‘WK’ Kellogg in their health spa and sanitarium. Being strict Seventh-Day Adventists they propagated vegetarianism and were constantly coming up with new recipes for most bland food possible - no seasoning and no meats were supposed to reduce the desire of sex for the clients of sanitarium and of course stop the need of ‘self - pollution’ of masturbation. They left boiled wheat for too long and as it came out in flakes they have simply toasted them. Later experimenting with other grains they came up with the corn flakes that were soon favourites by famous sanitarium guests such as Amelia Earhart, Henry Ford, Mary Todd Lincoln and others. To this day Kellogg’s brand is probably the most famous one, fetching the company over $13 billion in 2015 alone.

A 14 year old Henri Charpentier in his biography claims accidentally inventing crêpes Suzette in 1895, serving no one else but Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. Henri was working in front of a chafing dish and the cordials accidentally caught on fire setting the crepes ablaze. The young boy didn’t want The Prince to wait so he served the dish anyway. The Prince liked it so much that even requested the now quite well known dessert to be named after a lady who was present that day.

It’s not hard to believe that it was simply a forgotten cheese! In the 7th century a scatterbrained shepherd in the village of Roquefort, France, forgot his lunch in a cave. He returned several months later to the same cave only to find the cheese infested with penicillium roqueforti, a mold that was growing there. Nowadays the natural mould culture is simply added to the cheese milk.

Although revenge is a dish served cold, but in this case it was meant to fire up Thornton Prince III's mouth as his girlfriend at that time learning about his late night out adventures with other women got really angry. She prepared him a fried chicken breast for breakfast with an extreme amount of pepper. But Thornton liked it so much that in the mid 1930s he opened his BBQ Chicken Shack cafe serving his own recipe inspired by the event.

Who would have thought that raisins were originally used as a decoration around 2000 BC by inhabitants in the Mediterranean. It took over a thousand years for people to put a dried grape in their mouth and realise that perhaps it is ok to use them dried as well as cultivate it for wine making.

Trevor Matlow, son of the Swizzels Mattlow, UK, founders, as he was trying out a new candy making machine when he realised that it is possible to produce a lollipop that would have two flavours. He immediately came up with milk and raspberry; a flavour that we have been enjoying for around 70 years now.

Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist at Johns Hopkins University in 1879, simply forgot to wash his hands returning home after work and noticed sweet taste on some parts of the palm. It was connected to over boiled sulfobenzoic acid, phosphorus chloride and ammonia - Constantin tested the compound and upon returning to Germany started producing artificial sweetener: Saccharin.

A fairly recent 1988 accident by microbiologist Curt Jones gifted the world with Dippin’s Dots, the futuristic beaded ice cream delight. It all happened as he was developing flash freezing and decided to bring liquid nitrogen home and apply it in his ice cream making process that turned liquid into thousands of dots.

Although the origins of this English dessert are not fully known, but legend has it that in the town of Bakewell (obviously) in 1820, Mrs Greaves cook at the White Horse Inn didn’t properly understand the recipe and instead of stirring the eggs and almond paste onto the pastry ended up spreading it on top of the jam. The baked concoction set like egg custard and soon became the patrons favourite dessert.

Although chewing gum has been around Mayas and Aztecs as chicle, a natural rubbery substance extracted from sapodilla trees in Mexico and Central America, it wasn’t until Thomas Adams Sr. who got a supply of chicle through an exiled Mexican President. Adams tried to convert the chicle to some useful industrial substance only noticing that boiling it and forming it into pieces sold better as a chewing gum.

A 16 year old Lionel Sternberger experimentally added a slice of American cheese on the top of a burger he was cooking at his father’s sandwich shop. And although many restaurants claim their name to fame Lionel is said to be the first one doing it in 1926.

It was thanks to the wind in Chinese Emperor Shen Nung’s garden, that leaves from a wild tree in his orchard blew into his pot of boiling water. He was mesmerised by the magnificent scent of it and even more amazed by the taste or it investigating every part of his body. He called it ‘ch’a’ which means ’to investigate’ or ‘to check.

Eton mess, as the name suggests, wasn’t truly a tidy accident. It all happened in England during Eton College and Harrow school cricket match in 1893 where meringue and cream pudding with berries was dropped on the floor, and rather than wasted it was scooped up and served smashed to bits in individual bowls.