You've probably eaten many of the following snacks while on the road, but did you ever stop to think about how they were invented? Here's a look at where some of our favorite snack foods originated:
Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers
Two brothers, Frank and Charles Menches of Buffalo, N.Y., invented the hamburger in 1890. They were selling ground pork sandwiches at county fairs when the butcher they used ran out of pork. He did have chopped beef available, so the brothers bought some. Customers loved the ground beef sandwiches the brothers introduced that day, and the rest is history. The name hamburgers? It came about because the first fair the sandwiches were sold at was held in Hamburg, N.Y. As for the cheeseburger: In 1924, a cook from Pasadena, Calif., named Lionel Steinberger, added "a little life to the menu" by tossing some cheese on top of a hamburger. Customers raved and a twist to the classic was born.
Hot Dog
In 1904, the hot dog on a bun as we know it today was introduced during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis by concessionaire Anton Feuchtwanger. Customers used to wear white gloves to eat piping hot sausages. One day, Feuchtwanger ran out of gloves, so he asked a baker to come up with some soft rolls for the sausages. Good thing, too. Can you imagine pulling on white gloves to grab a hot dog off the roller for your next snack?
Doughnuts
Doughnuts were invented by Hanson Gregory of Rockport, Maine, in 1847. He hated fried cakes, so he cut the centers out, cooked what was left, and came up with the doughnut. During the First World War, Salvation Army lassies started serving coffee with doughnuts to American soldiers in France, and the great morning tradition of coffee and doughnuts was launched.
PB&J
One of America's most popular sandwiches is made of peanut butter and jelly. Although agricultural chemist George Washington Carver invented over 300 uses for peanuts, he didn't come up with the idea for peanut butter. It was invented in 1890 by a doctor who was hoping to come up with a food that would be easy for elderly people to digest. His name is lost in the pages of history.
Iced Treats
Back in the 1890s, Robert Green, a Philadelphia druggist, dropped some ice cream into a glass of soda water by mistake, and the ice cream soda was invented. Popsicles™ were also a delicious mistake. In 1923, Frank Epperson, a Californian, accidently left a spoon in a glass on an open windowsill overnight. The temperature dropped, and the lemonade in the glass froze. The next morning, Epperson had the world's first Popsicle.
