Historical Evidence Suggests That Cultured Milk, As Food, Had Its Start About 4,500 Years Ago. The Word Yogurt Is Turkish In Origin. The Earliest Yogurts Were Probably Fermented Unexpectedly From Naturally Occurring Bacteria Living In The Goat Skin Bags Carried By Nomadic People Migrating Into Europe From Parts Of Western Asia During The Second Century Ad. Today, Many Different Countries And Cultures Claim Yogurt As Their Own Despite No Absolute Evidence As To Its Origin.
Around 1900, A Russian Biologist Named Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov Hypothesized That Regular Consumption Of Yogurt Was Responsible For The Unusually Long Life Spans Of Bulgarian Peasants. Believing That The Lactobacillus Found In Yogurt Was Essential For Proper Health, Mechnikov Attempted To Popularize Yogurt Throughout Europe. In 1919, An Entrepreneur Named Isaac Carasso, Started A Small Yogurt Business In Barcelona And Named The Business Danone ("little Daniel") After His Son. Carasso Immigrated To The United States During World War Ii And Set Up A Business In New York City Under An Americanized Version Of The Name - Dannon.