Fun Food History Facts

* The "Good & Plenty" licorice candies are believed to be the oldest brand-named candy in the United States, although the name was not trademarked until 1928

*  Heinz never actually had the famous "57 Varieties" of his slogan--he had considerably more.  He just liked the number "57."

*  In the 1940s, to promote their tomato sauce, Hunt Foods printed tomato sauce recipes inside millions of matchbook covers--which leads me to wonder if matchbooks were bigger then, or did people have better eyesight back then?

*  John Kellogg--he of the corn flake fame--also invented nut butters as an alternative to dairy butter.  Peanuts were inexpensive, and peanut butter became an American staple.

*  Harlan Sanders operated an automobile service station in Corbin, Kentucky.  In 1930, he began serving meals to hungry travelers, and when his seasoned fried chicken (using 11 herbs and spices) was more popular & more profitable than gasoline or tires, a legend was born.  

* Lifesavers are thought to be the first "impulse-buy" food items.  Because grocery stores wouldn't initially stock them, Edward Noble sold the mint candies to bars, where the displays were placed next to the cash register--mighty handy for anyone trying to disguise the alcohol on his breath.....

* In 1929, Oscar Mayer and his brother were the first to sell brand-name meats in America--and certainly the first to drive around in a humungous hot dog.  The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile hit the streets 7 years later.  We're still waiting for the "pickle-loaf" mobile......

*  Pizza Hut--the chain largely responsible for popularizing pizza throughout the US--was so named because the Carney brothers, being short on money, wanted to use the existing sign on the restaurant they purchased.  The sign had room for 8 letters and the first 5, P-I-Z-Z-A, were already in place....

*  As early as the 1870s, there were street vendors selling frozen fruit juices on the streets of New York and other American cities.  These vendors were called "hokeypokeys," but no mention is made of whether selling frozen fruit juice truly IS "what it's all about."



Source:  The Oxford Companion to American Food And Drink, edited by Andrew F. Smith