Chili peppers are native to the Americas — they didn't exist in Asian cuisine before Columbus

Chocolate was a bitter drink in Mesoamerica for 3,000 years before Europeans added sugar

Chocolate: Mesoamerican bitter beverage until Europeans introduced sugar

Tomatoes were considered poisonous in Europe for 200 years — they're in the nightshade family

Tomatoes, nightshades, were Europe's poisonous food for two centuries

Nintendo was founded in 1889 — originally as a playing card company in Kyoto

Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a playing card company in Kyoto

The printing press was invented by Gutenberg around 1440 — but China had movable type 400 years earlier

Gutenberg's press, circa 1440, followed China's 1000-year-old movable type innovation

Sushi originally meant fermented fish preserved in rice — the rice was discarded, not eaten

Sushi: fermented fish in rice, rice discarded, not consumed

The first antibiotic penicillin was discovered by accident in 1928 — Alexander Fleming left a petri dish uncovered

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 by accident