WORD HUNT
In the article, find:
- 2 nouns that mean small pieces of food
- 5 adjectives that mean delicious
- 1 idiom that means in love with
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The History of Pop!
The surprising story behind one of America’s favorite snacks
By Talia Cowen
From the May/June 2022 Issue
Lexile: 700L-800L, 500L-600L
Guided Reading Level: S
DRA Level: 40
Featured Skill:
Vocabulary and Grammar,
Common Core Standards
TEKS Standards
Picture this: It’s almost 7,000 years ago in South America. A woman dressed in deerskins uses a sharp stone to slice freshly caught seafood. Her 10-year-old son is preparing something in a pit of hot charcoal. All of a sudden, a noise fills the air.
Pop! Pop! POP!
Recognize this sound? That’s right. It’s popcorn! And these early cooks are some of the first people
in the area to experiment with this scrumptious treat.
An Ancient Food
Popcorn is made from dried corn seeds, called kernels. Thousands of years ago, corn was already one of the most popular crops in the Americas. It didn’t grow anywhere else in the world!
Native people like the Muscogee and the Maya used—and still use—corn as part of important ceremonies. Its leaves were woven into shoes, mats, and toys. And many people heated its kernels to make them explode into mouthwatering bites.
When Europeans arrived in the 1400s, they’d never seen corn, let alone popcorn. They soon embraced the crop though. It was nutritious and easy to grow. Popcorn, with a splash of milk and sugar, even made an appetizing breakfast!
Movie Snack
C. Cretors & Company
Charles Cretors
It wasn’t until the 1800s that popcorn turned into the popular, buttery snack we know today. In 1885, inventor Charles Cretors created a machine that could automatically pop, salt, and butter popcorn on the go. People didn’t need to stand over a hot stove to make popcorn anymore. They could pop and sell the tasty morsels anywhere—at street corners, fairs, and sporting events.
But not in movie theaters! Snacks were banned there because theater owners worried about the mess and noise they’d create. Then in the 1930s, popcorn sellers convinced theaters that selling the snack would be good for business. They were right. By 1945, more than half of the popcorn in the U.S. was eaten at the movies.
Today, we’re still head over heels for popcorn. Each year, we eat enough of it to fill more than 5,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools! So next time you dig into a bowl of steamy popcorn, remember the thousands of years of popping that brought you this delectable snack.
FACT FINDER
WHERE was popcorn first made?
WHAT did Charles Cretors’s machine do?
WHY did movie theater owners ban snacks?
This article was originally published in the May/June 2022 issue.
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