Food need not be something to get stressed about – how much did I eat? How less should I eat to cut down on calories? You don’t have to count each teeny-weeny calorie that goes into your mouth, as long as you eat the right kinds of foods in the right quantities and believe in keeping fit.

Food can also be fun. You can try new recipes, experiment with tastes and flavours and dig into some interesting food facts. Here we bring a handful of interesting trivia about your everyday foods.

• An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Luscious, red apples and tangy, crisp green ones – there are about 7,500 varieties grown worldwide.
• The carrots you munch on weren’t orange always. Carrots started out red, white and purple and are believed to have been grown in Afghanistan in the seventh century, with purple exteriors and yellow pulp. The Dutch developed the orange carrot and the French cultivators are said to have developed its elongated shape.
• Dates are believed to be among the earliest cultivated foods, with references to them in the Old Testament.
• The ice-cream cone was invented in 1904 at the St Louis World Fair (USA). An ice cream vendor ran out of paper cups and asked a nearby waffle stall to make some thin ones that would hold his ice-cream scoops.
• Egyptians have been making bread since 4,000 BC, after they discovered yeast’s leavening abilities. And they had around 40 different varieties.
• Ancient Egyptians worshipped onions and buried tem with their Pharaohs. They believed that the onion symbolized eternity because of the concentric circles that can be seen in a cut onion.