How the Hot Dog Found Its Bun
Accidental Discoveries and Unexpected Inspirations That Shape What We Eat and Drink
by Josh Chetwynd
Lyons Press
“Hey, your peanut butter’s on my chocolate! No, your chocolate’s in my peanut butter!”
Remember those Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ads, about the accidental discovery of “two great tastes that taste great together”? Turns out it was nothing more than the brainstorm of an advertising agency. But many foods we’ve come to accept as everyday staples were discovered by unplanned, serendipitous accident. Journalist Josh Chetwynd’s “How the Hot Dog Found Its Bun,” out this week, highlights the history of flukey food.
Nachos, 1943 — At the height of World War II, the US military had an Army-Air Force base across the Rio Grande in Piedras Negras, Mexico. One day, a group of military wives decided to lunch at a hangout called the Victory Club. The maitre d’, a friendly man named Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, greeted them at the door, but he had one problem: The cook didn’t show up for work. Not wanting to turn away business, “Nacho” improvised in the kitchen and threw together whatever he could find — tortilla chips, cheese and jalapenos.
Chimichanga, 1922 — Another happy Mexican accident occurred at the El Charro Café in Tucson, Ariz., where a cook named Monica Flin was in the midst of frying beef for tacos. Whirling around a small kitchen, she mistakenly knocked a plated burrito into the fryer, where it began to crisp. Annoyed, and likely amid a string of curses in English and Spanish, she blurted out the word chimichanga, which roughly translates to the Spanish version of “thingamajig.”
Sandwich, 1762 — John Montagu, the libertine Earl of Sandwich, enjoyed both a good meal and a fun game of cards. The legend goes that during games, the earl often refused to set down his cards when it was time to eat. To solve the problem, he insisted that typical fare such as roast beef be placed between two pieces of bread that he could hold in one hand while eyeing the cards held in his other.
Philly cheesesteak, early 1930s — The gooey, mouthwatering pride of Philadelphia was the brainstorm of a hot-dog vender named Pat Olivieri. As it was his stock in trade, every day Olivieri would have for lunch his own hot dog (which, to answer the book’s title, “found its bun” in the 1870s in Coney Island simply because it’s hard to walk around with a greasy, hot frankfurter in your hands). One day Olivieri just couldn’t stomach another hot dog for lunch, so he sent out for a pound of steak, chopped it up and put it in a roll.
PEZ, 1927 — Lots of kids’ snacks had bizarre beginnings, often as products targeted to adults. Beloved PEZ candy was invented as a substitute for smokers by Austrian inventor Eduard Haas (the name itself is from the first, middle and last letters of the German word for peppermint — pfefferminz). The funny head-tilt dispenser was even inspired by the Zippo lighter, as Haas targeted nicotine-dependent soldiers after WWII and thought smokers hoping to quit would be inclined to eat mints from a lighter-shaped dispenser.
McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish, 1958 — Even Mickey D’s mastermind Ray Kroc never envisioned a fish sandwich becoming a staple at his burgers-and-fries juggernaut. One of the company’s early franchisees, Lou Groen of Cincinnati, had the idea. He was losing business during Lent, since about 90% of his neighborhood regulars were Catholic. Kroc didn’t bite immediately though. His own idea of a meatless sandwich was the “Hula Burger,” which substituted a pineapple ring for a beef patty. Groen coaxed Kroc into test-running both and going with whichever sold better. Kroc never divulged the sales numbers on the Hula.
Graham crackers, 1829 — The go-to kindergarten snack is named after preacher and “medical guru” Sylvester Graham, a puritanical man who believed sexual promiscuity, including masturbation, caused such maladies as headaches and epilepsy. For devotees at his boarding houses in New York and Boston, the reverend devised a strict diet he believed would curtail sexual appetite — including his eponymous crackers made with unsifted wheat flour.
Pop Rocks, 1957 — The fizz-in-your-mouth phenomenon — which, for the record, did not kill Mikey from the Life cereal ads — began as an attempt by General Foods to make Kool-Aid fizzy and compete with big sellers Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Scientist Bill Mitchell’s carbon-dioxide rich sorbitol crystals couldn’t get Kool Aid fizzing, though, and his idea to spin it off as a candy was mocked by marketing for two decades until Pop Rocks finally got their chance.
TV dinners, 1953 — In the 1950s, Gerry Thomas sold food in bulk for the company C.A. Swanson and Sons. Due to an oversupply in turkeys in 1951 — 520,000 pounds of surplus poultry — Thomas had an idea. On a sales trip to Pittsburgh, he noticed the single-compartment metal tray being used by Pan Am Airlines for in-flight meals. Asking to keep a tray, he modified it into a three-compartment prototype. With a nation newly transfixed to TV screens, Swanson capitalized on the concept and debuted the TV dinner with turkey, sweet potatoes and peas for just 98 cents.