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

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

Chili peppers originated in the Americas, not Asia, pre-Columbus era

Beer was first brewed around 5,000 BC in Mesopotamia — some of the oldest recipes survive

Beer originated circa 5,000 BC in ancient Mesopotamia

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

What mathematical model can be used to analyze the exponential growth in the global consumption of coffee over the past century, and how has this growth affected coffee production and pricing in major coffee-producing countries?

Logistic growth model: C = C0 * (1 + r)^t / (1 + C0 * r * (e^(rt) - 1)), where C is consumption, C0 is initial consumption, r is growth rate, t is time, e is Euler's number

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

Sharks are older than trees — sharks appeared about 400 million years ago, trees about 350 million

Sharks existed approximately 400 million years ago, predating trees by 50 million years