FOOD NEWS
The Time Mayo Was Considered A Luxury Food
By Elaina Friedman
Before we all became fans of store-bought mayo brands, like Hellmann's, many were devoted to their family’s mayonnaise recipes that comprised the basic combination of oil, egg yolks, lemon juice, and Dijon. Although mayo doesn't exactly scream "luxury," it may surprise you to know that the food's origins are steeped in it.
During the Seven Years' War in 1756, France's Duke de Richelieu "lacked the cream he needed for a righteous victory sauce" and settled for a dressing made of eggs and oil instead, which he called "mahonnaise" after Port Mahon in Spain. Although that story was contested by a Frenchman who believed that the sauce originated in the French city of Bayonne and was originally called "bayonnaise."
Before American mayonnaise as we know it came to be, the only people who kept jars of mayonnaise in their kitchens were those with a yen for haute cuisine, upscale restaurants, and other fancy establishments. Mayo's current, more accessible reputation owes itself to Hellmann's, which got its start in a far less extravagant New York eatery: Hellmann's Delicatessen.