The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. Because of this, as we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know. We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know fun food facts we will look at Fritters.

The Facts: Fritters are found in many cuisines. The French beignets, Italian bigne, and Greek loukoumades are sweet cakes of the first type of fritter. The batter-frying technique was introduced into Japan by the Portuguese and Spanish in the late 16th century; the tempura that developed, a mixed fry of shrimps, herbs, and vegetables, has been totally incorporated into the cuisine. The Indian pakora is a savoury deep-fried cake containing bits of cauliflower, eggplant, or other vegetables. Fritto misto is an Italian dish of bits of meat, seafood, and vegetables dipped in batter and fried in olive oil. A specialty dish of various local cuisines is the flower fritter, using daylilies, roses, violets, acacia, elder blow, and squash blossoms.

• December 2nd is National Fritter Day.
• Although very similar to a doughnut it differs in the fact that it requires some base ingredient beyond the dough it is cooked with.
• The first historical record of the fritter dates back to 1665. Samuel Pepys, an Englishman who served as a Member of Parliament during the English Restoration period, noted in his diary that he would be enjoying some fritters before Lent!