Happy Independence Day! If you're one of the 66 million people headed to a barbeque today, consider taking the hot dog out of your mouth for just two seconds to wow your friends with these five fun food facts about the Fourth.
1) Speaking of that hot dog in your mouth...there's a 25% chance that it came from somewhere in Iowa, where 17.6 million market hogs and pigs call home. And over 150 million hot dogs will be eaten today. But if you subtract Kobayashi's contribution, about six hot dogs will be eaten today.
2) What's that? No hot dogs for you? Not carnivores, are we? If your salad was a Miss America pageant, you'd have representatives from California, Idaho, Washington, Florida and Georgia. And then California would go AWOL, pose half-nude, and then become the "opposite marriage" spokeswoman, I mean spokes-head-of-lettuce -- more than three-fourths of the nation's supply comes from the Golden State. Your tomatoes probably came from Florida, your potatoes from Idaho or Washington, and your watermelon from Georgia, which produces over 1 billion pounds of the fruit a year.
3) Hand a little cold from reaching in that beer cooler a few too many times? Well, you're not alone. Beer is the most popular beverage in the world, second only to Dr. Pepper. Wait, that's just me. Worldwide, beer is second only to tea. Cheers!
4) If you're anything like me, the Fourth of July wouldn't be complete without a little sheet cake covered in Xanthan and Guar Gums, Sorbitan Monostearate, and Hydrogenated Coconut and Palm Kernel Oil. Or you might know it as Cool-Whip. Delicious! Our favorite non-freezing treat shares ingredients with hemorrhoid cream and sexual lubricants. More useful than you thought, huh? Eat up.
5) If your buddy is turning green right before your eyes because he had too much moonshine/barbeque/Jello/buckets of potato salad, fill him in on the fun facts of vomiting: humans up-chuck on average 1.28 times a year, the oldest hurl ever found is 160 million years old, horses, rabbits and rats can't enjoy their dinner in reverse, and a Fourth of July party isn't a party until someone ralphs in the pool.