11 Desserts That Changed the World

Believe it or not, there have been many international incidents, alliances, and cultural shifts that revolved around cakes, pies, and other assorted sweet treats. Consider the case of Eamon de Valera, a caper that became a fiction trope.

In 1916, Eamon de Valera found himself incarcerated because of his role in the 1916 Easter Rising, an uprising in which people of Ireland tried to assert their independence from British rule. De Valera managed to make a copy of the hail chaplain's master key by stealing it and making a wax impression using melted-down church candles. He sent the impression to his friends on the outside, who fashioned a metal key and sent it to him, embedded in a cake. Unfortunately, the key didn't function. They tried again, however, and de Valera's second attempt at escape was successful.

How did that cake change the world? Eamon de Valera went on to found the political party Fianna Fáil, and over a 50-year political career served as the leader of Ireland under several titles as the country gained its independence. The other stories on this list at mental_floss will make you say, "Oh yeah, I remember that!" Dessert turns out to be pretty important in the grand scheme of things.

(Image credit: Flickr user Christian Unbehaun)

Comments (0)

While I probably agree with the findings that they summarize in this story, it seems to me that it's not the best test. For example, the music that was deemed "angry" went into the lower musical registers. So that may just mimic an angry person's voice, and we get our cue from that. The "peaceful" music was slow. I think the study needs to be widened. What about slow music that's very dissonant? Probably not peaceful. What about angry music that's high in pitch? Maybe not angry anymore. I think they're making some assumptions that aren't necessarily completely true, and leaving out some of the possibilities that cause people to interpret music emotionally. Rhythm, pitch, instrument timbre, arrangement, orchestration. Music has so many variables, and this seems to be far from being able to make such definitive statements as it does.

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