21 Truly Insane Stories Behind Your Favorite Foods

    Prepare for your mind to be blown and your stomach to growl.

    Sam Stryker
    by Sam Stryker

    BuzzFeed Staff

    1. Doritos were first made at Disneyland.

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    Like all good things American, Doritos can trace their origins to the Happiest Place On Earth. The tasty chips were first sold in the 1950s at Casa De Fritos in Frontierland and were made of fried tortillas that otherwise would have been discarded.

    2. Kellogg's Corn Flakes were invented to quell people's sexual urges.

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    Masturbation was so not chic in the 1800s, and at the forefront of the anti-jacking off crusade was John Harvey Kelly. Kellogg believed foods that had a very plain flavor like his cereal could inhibit one's desire to pet the one-eyed trouser snake.

    3. Graham crackers were also invented to stop you from being horny.

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    Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister, advocated for a diet that decreased sex drive. One of his favorite nibblies was the Graham cracker.

    4. Fanta was invented in Nazi Germany.

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    When Coca-Cola stopped shipping its top-secret syrup to Germany after Pearl Harbor, the company's German CEO, Max Keith, was stuck in a bind. His solution? Fanta, a hodgepodge mix of leftover available ingredients.

    5. 7 Up originally contained a mood-inhibiting drug.

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    The popular lemon-lime soda contained lithium citrate in its original formula, a popular mood-stabilizer in the late-19th and early-20th century.

    6. A dentist invented the cotton candy machine.

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    File this one under "oops." Hand-spun sugar had been a treat since medieval times, but William J. Morrison, former president of the Tennessee State Dental Association, co-patented an "electric candy machine" that produced "Fairy Floss." To this day, dentists curse his name.

    7. A janitor invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

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    Talk about the American Dream. Richard Montañez, a janitor at a California Frito-Lay plant, thought regular Cheetos needed a bit more kick. He cooked up a batch at home and his friends and coworkers loved it. Montañez eventually pitched the idea to the company president and the rest is culinary history. Montañez now leads Multicultural Sales & Community Promotions for the company.

    8. Snickers were named after a horse.

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    The Mars family, founders of Mars Inc., introduced this popular chocolate bar to the world in 1930 and named it after their favorite family horse, Snickers.

    9. Two guys founded White Castle because America was freaking out about the meat industry.

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    White Castle — recently named the most influential burger of all time by Time — emphasized freshness from the get-go. The "White" was meant to evoke cleanliness in a time when Upton Sinclair's classic The Jungle exposed Americans to the horrors of the country's meat industry. The plan seemed to have worked — just ask Harold and Kumar.

    10. The original Snapple beverage was explosive.

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    And that's how the beverage company got its name. One of the company's first products was a carbonated apple juice, but when the drink fermented the caps exploded off the bottle. The drink, named "Snapple" as an amalgam of the words "snap" and "apple," was thought to be catchy and was adopted by the company as a whole.

    11. The chocolate chip cookie was actually a mistake.

    12. Pez were originally invented as an alternative to smoking.

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    The popular candy's name comes from the German word for peppermint, and the dispenser was designed to resemble a cigarette lighter.

    13. German Chocolate Cake actually IS NOT GERMAN.

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    It's actually named after Samuel German, who developed the baking chocolate used in the cake.

    14. Coca-Cola originally contained cocaine.

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    Unfortunately for the Tony Montanas of the world, the company removed cocaine from the drink in 1903.

    15. Popsicles are the result of a child's mistake.

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    11-year-old Frank Epperson left a mixture of powdered sugar, water and a stirring stick outdoors on a cold winter night. He awoke to a frozen treat the next morning, and the Popsicle was born.

    16. A missing chef led to the invention of nachos.

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    Ignacio Anaya — nicknamed "Nacho" — the maitre d' of a Mexican restaurant, had to improvise when several military wives came to his establishment when the chef was away. His quick thinking led to the now-famous snack food.

    17. Potato chips are the result of a chef's temper tantrum.

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    Or so folklore goes. According to legend, a disgruntled customer at a Saratoga Springs, N.Y. restaurant sent back his fried potatoes for being cut too thick. The angry chef cut them super-thin and salted them heavily. To his surprise, the customer loved them and they became a regular menu item.

    18. Pretzels have holy origins.

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    These treats were likely first baked in the early seventh century by French and Italian monks, who shaped them to resemble a child's arms in prayer.

    19. The guy who defeated the Texans at the Alamo is responsible for modern chewing gum.

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    Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna also served as President of Mexico. He eventually was exiled from Mexico, but looked to raise funds to return by selling chicle (the product of sap from a Central American tree) as a substitute for rubber. Inventor Thomas Adams and his son Horatio noticed they could turn it into a chewable product, and breaths worldwide were changed forever.

    20. Dr Pepper was actually a real guy.

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    Charles Alderton, the man who concocted the popular beverage, may have named the drink after the father of a girl he was in love with, according to the company.

    21. Gatorade was invented specifically for one team.

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    The Florida Gators, hence its name. Team physicians developed the beverage in the 1960s to combat the effects of playing football in the hot Florida sun.