Secrets of Classic Snacks

Secrets of Classic Snacks

by Steven Stern
America likes its food crunchy, salty, and greasy; we are a nation of snackers. And behind every good snack, there's a good story. Take some time out between meals to read these -- guaranteed fat free.

Beer Nuts
There's no beer in Beer Nuts, the national favorite from Bloomington Illinois. The Shirk family has been selling them since 1937, when Edward Shirk took over a local candy store that specialized in orange drink and glazed peanuts called Redskins. Shirk discontinued the drink, but realized he could market his nuts as an accompaniment to a more adult beverage. Packaging them as Beer Nuts in 1953, he targeted bars and taverns, and by 1970, he was producing 10 million pounds a year.

Visit their website: Beer Nuts

Cracker Jack
Few American snacks have as long a history as Cracker Jack, which was introduced at 1893 Chicago World's Fair by brothers Fritz and Louis Rueckheim. The famous prize was added to the box in 1912. In the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, when Holly Golightly gets a Cracker Jack ring engraved at the swank jewelry store, the deadpan Tiffany salesman is delighted that the prizes still exist, noting "It gives one a feeling of solidarity, almost of continuity with the past."

Visit their website: Cracker Jack

Fritos
Today the Frito-Lay Company is a snack food giant, but Fritos chips started small, in a San Antonio café. In 1932, Elmer Doolin paid $100 for a corn chip recipe and some manufacturing equipment from the café's owner, who wanted to return to Mexico. The first batches were made by Doolin's mother in her kitchen and delivered by Model T Ford.

Visit their website: Fritos

Maebo One-Ton chips
The crunchy, slightly sweet wheat chip is little known outside Hawaii, but has been a favorite in the islands since 1953. The Maebo family started out making fresh Chinese noodles in their garage, but one day Grandma Koto Maebo decided to fry some wonton wrappers, and a new chip was born.

Visit their website: Maebo One-Ton chips

Jiffy Pop
In the 1950s, while Orville Reddenbacher was researching popcorn varieties in Valparaiso, Indiana, inventor Fred Mennen was doing his own sort of experimenting in nearby LaPorte. After five years of work, he perfected the self-contained foil Jiffy Pop package, which hit the national market in 1960 and, despite the ubiquity of microwaves in American homes, is still sold today.

Visit their website: Jiffy Pop

Lance Toastchee Crackers
If you've ever enjoyed a bright orange cheese cracker sandwiched around peanut butter, thank the Lance Company of North Carolina; it's their invention. Back in 1913, food broker Philip Lance ended up with 500 pounds of surplus peanuts, which he roasted and sold on the streets of Charlotte. In 1938, the Lance family came up with the peanut-butter-filled Toastchee, still sold today.

Visit their website: Lance Toastchee Crackers

Bugles
The conical corn crisp was introduced in 1966, as part of a trio of novelty-shaped snacks. Neither the tubular Whistles nor the flower-shaped Daisies made it in the market, but Bugles were a hit.

Visit their website: Bugles

Pringles
Introduced in 1968 as "newfangled potato chips," Pringles were a triumph of technology. Alexander Liepa of Montgomery, Ohio patented the chips themselves; well-known science fiction writer Gene Wolfe came up with the device that cooks them. The trademark tubular packaging was developed by scientist Fredric J. Baur, who was so proud of his invention that he requested his ashes be interred in a Pringles tube. When he passed away last March, his family abided by his wish.

Visit their website: Pringles

Chifles Plantain Chips
Plantain chips, a popular snack throughout Latin America, got a stateside beachhead in 1965, when Ecuadoran geophysicist Segundo Argudo created the Chifles brand and started selling chips in Tampa. Argudo passed away in 2000, but the company he founded still provides a taste of home to immigrants and other plantain fans from Florida to New York.

Visit their website: Chifles Plantain Chips