Kai-awase began as a pastime of Heian-period nobles in Japan. A clam shell fits only its own other half, so players hunted for matching pairs among painted shells, often showing scenes from The Tale of Genji. Later the shells graced upper-class weddings.
📍 Southsea (Portsmouth), England
Divers of the Southsea Sub-Aqua Club in Portsmouth invented it in 1954 to stay fit through the winter. They called it Octopush: eight players a side, pushing the puck with a 'pusher' stick.
📍 Huddersfield, England
Rugby league was born on 29 August 1895 at the George Hotel in Huddersfield, when 22 northern English clubs broke away so they could pay players for wages lost to Saturday matches.
📍 Argentina (Buenos Aires & the Litoral)
Cestoball, first called "pelota al cesto", was created in Argentina by physical-education pioneer Enrique Romero Brest, who put it into a 1903 school programme so girls could play a team sport. Its baskets stand on poles inside the court.
📍 Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam
The French brought the baguette to Vietnam in the 1800s, but the bánh mì sandwich, filled with pâté, pickled carrot and coriander, took shape on the streets of Saigon in the 1950s, partly thanks to bakers who had moved there from the north.
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📍 Ancient China (Yellow River plain)
Chopsticks come from ancient China, where they were first used mostly for cooking and for picking bits out of stews. Six bronze chopsticks about 3,200 years old were found in the Shang ruins near Anyang.
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📍 Himalayan foothills, northern India & Nepal
Cucumbers were domesticated in India at least 3,000 years ago from a wild cucumber of the Himalayan foothills. Rome's Emperor Tiberius ate them all year round: his gardeners grew them in beds on wheels, rolled out into the sun.