Digitaltrends. Sixty years ago, French engineer Marc Gregoire established Tefal, a company that produced the world’s first non-stick cookware — or so we thought until now. An archaeological find in Italy this past week provided evidence that non-stick frying pans were a key accessory among kitchens all over the Roman Empire some 2,000 years earlier. Though there had been previous speculation that ancient Romans used the innovative cookware, no actual evidence had been uncovered. Until now. Found by University of Naples archaeologists Marco Giglio, Giovanni Borriello, and Stefano Iavarone, the pans were located in the ancient city of Cumae, which once stood near present-day Naples.
In the equivalent of an ancient dumpster pit, the trio found roughly 50,000 different pieces of lids, pots, and pans. “We found a dump site filled with internal red-slip cookware fragments,” Giglio tells Discovery News. Related: Major Mom brings drill-sergeant efficiency to the organization of your home. Learning Digital Photography Improves Cognitive Function in Older Adults › The Next Regeneration.