Christopher Columbus Was Not Hungarian!

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Despite the mountain of historical evidence that proves that Christopher Columbus was NOT the first human to discover the Americas, our school history books continue to give him credit for the discovery. But there are some things that Christopher Columbus really is responsible for that most people don't know about. For instance, paprika, the national spice of Hungary, became the national spice of Hungary because of Christopher Columbus, even though Christopher Columbus was not Hungarian! On his voyages to the Americas Columbus learned that the natives cultivated and ate plants known as chile peppers. These plants did not exist in Europe so Columbus brought back a bunch of seeds and soon peppers were being grown in Spain and Morocco. Through trade, the seeds spread eastward across the Mediterranean eventually landing in the Ottoman Empire where they became quite popular.. From there, seeds made their way to Hungary where, in the 1600s, the Hungarians began growing peppers. They dried and ground the peppers to make the spice they called, paprika. Eventually many of the Hungarian dishes were flavored with this popular spice. So if it wasn't for Christopher Columbus Hungarian food would not be the Hungarian food so many people have come to enjoy today. And Christopher Columbus wasn't even Hungarian. Remember this the next time you sit down to enjoy a hearty bowl of Hungarian gulasch or paprika schnitzel.