The world’s first KFC was not in Kentucky

The history of the ladies’ entrance, the “Kalamazoo Gals,” and more.
Email not displaying correctly? View in your browser.

	March 16, 2023

Lions on the Skeleton Coast

An invisible fence is keeping lions and visitors apart in Namibia’s arid Skeleton Coast National Park. The virtual fence line, known as a geofence, was designed to track lions approaching a 40-kilometer stretch of beach around Torra Bay, a popular fishing and camping area. Each time a lion wearing a satellite collar crosses the geofence, the system sends automatic alerts to lion rangers and managers of the local campsite, who close the area to visitors in hopes of avoiding aggressive interactions as Namibia’s desert lions re-establish themselves on the Skeleton Coast.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Site of the World's First KFC

The origin story of KFC, a global fast-food juggernaut with more than 27,000 franchised restaurants in over 145 countries, is the stuff of restaurant industry legend. In 1940, Harland Sanders, the larger-than-life character who christened himself “the Colonel,” devised his recipe for pressure-fried chicken with a proprietary blend of herbs and spices. But Harland’s Kentucky Fried Chicken didn’t really take off until a decade later in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Ladies’ Entrance

Bars may be societal watering holes, but they have rather famously not always been for everyone. Public spaces are often inherently political and, for much of history, there were strict social rules—or even laws—about where women were and were not welcome. In honor of Women’s History Month, Gastro Obscura would like to encourage you to visit the secretive rooms, side entrances, and formerly men-only bars where women can now drink freely.

Gastro Obscura Courses

Food Anthropology

Our food choices are infused with meaning. They tell stories about our histories and form the basis of our habits. How do our associations with food influence what we cook and how we eat, and how does cuisine in turn impact our emotions and shape our culture? Through anthropological exercises, conversations about our culinary lives and those of others, and a final-session wine tasting, we’ll develop a layered and contextual understanding of our cultivated sense of taste and place and the emotional content that comes with it.

The Women Who Ran an Empire

In 1178, a 17-year-old Mongol woman named Börte married Genghis Khan. While her husband traveled and fought and conquered, she ruled those who remained in Mongolia, managing every aspect of daily life in a massive nomadic camp before becoming the Grand Empress of the Mongol Empire at 28. Still, her immense contributions have been largely forgotten, as have the many other Mongol women who kept the empire running.

Spijkenisse, Netherlands

'Saved by a Whale’s Tail'

At the De Akkers metro station in Rotterdam’s suburb of Spijkenisse on November 2nd, 2020, a metro train breached the station’s end barriers and nearly plummeted over 30 feet from the elevated rails. All that saved the train and its operator was the fact the front carriage was caught and held aloft by one of two whale tail sculptures near the end of the track.

History of Leftovers

Bring on the Pastry Coffins

Even on Halloween, prying open the lid of a stiff, sealed coffin would be considered a ghastly endeavor. But in Medieval Europe, sawing the top off a well-executed coffin revealed something delicious, rather than disgusting. A coffin, spelled coffyn in 12th-century English, referred to self-standing pastry made from flour, water, and sometimes fat. Like a sort of medieval Tupperware, coffins preserved the foods they contained and were rarely eaten. During the Tudor period, the English loved pastry cases so much that they developed a saying: “If it’s good, tis better in a Coffyn.”

Kalamazoo, Michigan

The Old Gibson Guitar Factory

Although the classic Gibson guitar, used by such greats as Prince, Keith Richards, Johnny Cash, and B.B. King, might bring to mind its current Nashville home, the guitar’s roots are actually in the Michigan city of Kalamazoo. Built in 1917, the Gibson Factory there created some of the most iconic guitars ever made. But beyond the instruments, the factory was also home to the “Kalamazoo Gals,” a group of over 200 women who kept the guitar manufacturer going during World War II.

The definitive guide to the world's hidden wonders.