Popcorn: An Ancient Snacky Fun

Nowadays popcorn is one of the famous snack foods in the world. Its popularity spread from the United States of America from the end of the 19th century to the mid-20th century. At that time, one could buy popcorn in the streets, nearby theaters and parks. Nothing big has changed with the popcorn tradition till now; moreover it has become more popular when television was invented. With the invention of the microwave the popularity of popcorn considerably increased. 

The surprising fact is that popcorn has originated from the Latin America. The evidence says that first people to Pre-Columbian people were the first to domesticate this kind of grain for making popcorn afterwards. The archaeologists found the oldest popcorn ever in New Mexico (the “Bat Cave), which is approximately 5,000 years old. Other well preserved traces of popcorn were found in Utah, the USA, which 1,000 years old. 
According to the archaeologists the discovered popcorn was so fresh and well preserved that, after blowing off the dust, they still look white and fluffy. Most probably, popcorn was one of the favorite foods in the ancient civilizations of the Latin America, as, on a funeral urn, there was found painting with a corn god wearing a headdress decorated with popcorn. French explorers found out that not only the Aztecs, but also the Iroquois Indians made popcorn in the regions of the Great Lakes. 

Europeans were first introduced popcorn by the Native Americans; they used popcorn not only as food, but also as necklaces and decorations on their headdresses. Popcorn spread in the North America with the help of the colonists when they began to move to the north. With this popcorn was adapted in the north and was eaten with milk and sugar by the colonists. The Natives also made beer and soup out of popcorn.

Throughout thousands of years, a number of techniques had been developed to pop corn until the commercial popcorn machine was invented. The machine was invented in 1885 by Charles Cretors in Chicago. It was this time when the popcorn street culture spread throughout the USA. The machine was mobile, and it was available for roasting the corn with a gasoline burner inside it. Alongside with the emerging of popcorn vendors it became popular to attend movie theaters. These machines were found nearby theaters where huge crowds of people gathered. This is how the great tradition of popcorn as a movie snack came forward.

During its history popcorn was available for most of the people; during the great depression in the USA people could afford to buy this snack fun. Popcorn became even more popular when butter, sugar, chocolate, caramel, cinnamon were added as popcorn toppings.