No visit to the cinema is complete without popcorn. Choosing whether to buy a small, large or medium portion of this salted or sweet snack can be a big decision. But it’s one well worth making, for the cinema and popcorn fit like a hand in a glove.

In the very early days of the cinema, however, popcorn was nowhere to be found. Even though it had been around for thousands of years, it was a snack for poor people, sold at the circus and sports events.

Before sound was introduced to movies in 1927, the cinema was a place for the rich where every member of the audience would dress in their best clothes. It was for the educated who were able to read a movie’s subtitles.

Once the movies had sound added to them, both rich and poor began to enjoy the cinema. Ninety million people in America were soon taking in a movie every week! With the long queues outside, mobile popcorn sellers began doing big business offering the waiting crowds their favourite snack.

Cinema managers realized they could make more money if popcorn was sold inside their cinema rather than outside it. They began offering popcorn sellers space inside to sell their popcorn in return for a daily rent. Sadly for the popcorn sellers, this relationship did not last long.

In 1929, the Great Depression began and lasted for ten long years. Cinema audience numbers dropped. “Why rent space to other people to sell popcorn?” cinema managers asked when thinking of ways to save money. “We should sell it ourselves.”

It was a very wise decision. Cinemas found that for every dollar of popcorn sold, they made an 80-cent profit.  Today, popcorn sales represent nearly half of a cinema’s total profit!

So, whether you choose salty or sweet popcorn, it can make your visit to the cinema much more enjoyable. What’s more, without any added flavour popcorn can be a healthy snack. It contains more fibre than most other snacks and a 100-gram portion has only 375 calories. You should remember that flavoured popcorn like butter or chocolate is very different. The number of calories is much higher and some of those added ingredients are not at all healthy for you. Why do such delicious snacks have to be so bad for you?

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VIDEO: When popcorn was banned from cinemas

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