Over the years, certain foods have become so engrained in our daily diets that we rarely stop to question where they come from. While the average person might be aware that American cuisine is an amalgamation of influences from around the world, dishes like nachos and Chinese takeout are so ubiquitous in the U.S. in 2016 that they practically feel like natural resources, delicious blessings that fell from the sky into our laps.

Luckily, CNN's Great Big Story has dug into some of our most popular foods and discovered their unique, perplexing, and often surprising origin stories. From lobster's history in the prison system, to ketchup's fishy ancestry in 6th century China, the video above explains how we came to eat some of our most beloved foods and ingredients. 

Though in 2016 lobster is often associated with fine-dining and extravagance, in the early daus of America, the crustacean was considered the "cockroach of the sea," and eventually fed to prisoners. Still, by the mid-18th century, manufacturers began packaging lobster in cans and shipping the food to middle America using the railroad system. By World War II, Midwesterners had already started traveling to the East Coast to eat fresh lobster. Subsequently, prices surged, and the dish was soon considered a delicacy. 

While most nacho-lovers know plates of tortilla chips, melted cheese, and guacamole come from Mexico, few are aware that the dish was named after a man called Ignacio "Nacho" Ania. A maître d at the Old Victory Club on the U.S.-Mexico border, Nacho invented the dish when a group of Texas army wives came into the restaurant in 1943. Though the club's chef was nowhere to be found, Nacho was unwilling to turn the women away and threw some cheddar cheese and jalapeños on some tortilla strips. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Though Dippin' Dots have long been a staple at ballparks and birthday parties, the pellet-shaped ice cream treat was actually invented as cow food. Created by a microbiologist in the 1980s, Dippin' Dots were born out of an experiment to make food for farm animals more efficient. A breakthrough came when cattle feed was flash frozen at 350 degrees below zero. The process created small, bite-sized pellets for the cows, but the micobiologist also loved ice cream and didn't stop there. He used liquid nitrogen to freeze the ice cream at an incredibly low temperature, knowing the natural heat of the mouth would melt the tiny balls into delicious treats. 

It's obvious that Chinese food comes from, well, China. But the iconic, white cartons that have become synonymous with Chinese takeout over the years were actually designed in America. Inspired by Japanese origami, a Chicago-based inventor created the boxes in 1894, folding a single piece of paper and fastening it together with a wire handle. As Chinese takeout exploded in the 20th century, a graphic designer added the iconic Chinese-inspired designs to the packaging in the 1970s.

Ketchup is about as American as condiments come, slathered on top of burgers and hot dogs at barbecues and picnics. Still, the origins of ketchup dates back to 6th century China, where the condiment was made using fermented fish guts and salt. Eventually the British got their hands on the recipe, adding tangier ingredients like beer, oysters, strawberries, and peaches into the mix. 

Though today salmon feels like an integral component of any sushi order, up until the 1990s the fish was not consumed in Japan. According to Great Big Story, Pacific salmon has parasites, so Japanese sushi chefs were unable to use the meat in their dishes. Norway, however, had an overabundance of parasite-free Atlantic salmon and began exporting the food to Japan. 

[via Great Big Story]