Invented in Chicago

At one point during On the Verge, Fanny declares that everything was invented in Chicago, including ice cream sandwiches. That got me to wondering how much of that was true. Mental Floss has a pretty good list of foods invented in Chicago - 

1. Italian Beef (my Chicago born husband's personal favorite)
2. Twinkies
3. Wrigley Gum
4. Vienna Beef
5. Cracker Jack
6. Chocolate Brownies
7. Frozen Desserts (NOT ice cream sandwiches but frozen Sara Lee pound cakes)
8. Jibarito 
9. Pepper and egg sandwich
10. Pizza Puff
11. Flaming Saganaki
12. Chicken Vesuvio
13. Kronos Gyros
14. Cream of Wheat
15. Shredded Wheat

I did some digging since ice cream sandwich isn't on the list. Here's what I found: 

"According to the book Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making by Jeri Quinzio, the ice cream sandwich was created in 1899 by an unknown pushcart peddler in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City.  These sandwiches consisted of vanilla ice cream pressed between two thin graham wafers.  The treat was revolutionary not only because it was hand-held and portable, but also because the heat from the hands helped to soften the ice cream, making it easier to eat.  The early predecessor to the ice cream sandwich was a slice of vanilla ice cream cut from a larger slab known as an “okey-pokey” that was sold by street vendors in London. 

In July of 1900 The New York Tribune, the popular newspaper of the time, published an article about the pushcart vendor who was selling the sandwiches. According to the article the man was so busy pressing the sandwiches to order into a tin mold that he didn’t have time to make change and insisted that customers pay the exact price of one cent.

The modern ice cream sandwich that we know, a slice of vanilla between two rectangular chocolate cookies, was invented by Jerry Newberg who sold ice cream at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh."

So there you have it. Not Chicago!

What the heck is manioc?

There are so many jokes in On the Verge about the tasteless food called manioc that I had to look it up. Manioc, probably better known as cassava, tapioca, or yuca (but not yucca), is a woody shrub native to South America.

From Wikipedia: 

Cassava is the third largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics, after rice and corn. Cassava is a major staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for over half a billion people. It is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils. Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava, while Thailand is the largest exporter of dried cassava.

Cassava is classified as either sweet or bitter. Like other roots and tubers, both bitter and sweet varieties of cassava contain antinutritional factors and toxins, with the bitter varieties containing much larger amounts. They must be properly prepared before consumption, as improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication, goiters, and even ataxia or partial paralysis. The more toxic varieties of cassava are a fall-back resource (a "food security crop") in times of famine in some places. Farmers often prefer the bitter varieties because they deter pests, animals, and thieves.