Isaac Carasso

Who doesn't like yogurt? It's healthy, it's delicious, it comes in so many flavors and varieties. Thick Greek, dense Icelandic, creamy Australian, milky French... Go anywhere in the world, there is always yogurt.

It all started with... Jews!

Yes, Jews. Sure, Jews are not exactly known for yogurt. But yogurt's journey from farms into grocery stores can be traced to a Greek Jew named Isaac Carasso, who emigrated to Barcelona in the middle of World War I.

Apparently, Carasso was inspired by Nobel laureate (and fellow Jew), previously profiled Russian-Frenchman Ilya Mechnikov (AKA Elie Metchnikoff). Mechnikov pointed out the health benefits of fermented milk, so Carasso imported cultures from Bulgaria and worked with Menchikov's lab to produce his own. He initially sold yogurt as medicine, for who could think of eating sour milk as a meal! (Well, the Bulgarians, obviously. And the Greeks. And many others. But not in Western Europe!)

Back in Barcelona, Carasso created the first ever yogurt company, a global brand that still exists today: Danone. (In Catalan, it means "little Daniel", Carasso's son.) Of course, in the US, we know it as "Dannon"... Apparently, when they took the product across the pond, the Carassos decided to give it a name that sounded more American.

Jews changing their names to be more American? Somehow that also applies to yogurt...