JULY 23rd - It all Comes Together



On this day in 1904, Charles E. Menches created an ice cream cone during the St. Louis World’s Fair. That is a true statement. However, I’m not quite sure it was THE ice cream cone, as there are four other people who claim to have invented the ice cream cone during this same time-period. So as not to appear to show favoritism, the four others were David Avayou, Abe Doumar, Nick Kabbaz, and Ernest Hamwi. Now, I have no idea who the truthful creator of this ingenious, delicious way of eating ice cream was, though my very scientific and in-depth research (google) seems to indicate that cones were around in some form or another well before that World’s Fair, and well, well before Madonna fashioned them into a brassiere. And I can’t exactly verify anything because I’m not Emmett “Doc” Brown, nor, as I’ve previously mentioned, do I have any plutonium. So I’m going with Nick Kabbaz because I like his name the most. Ernest is a close second because of how closely his name audibly resembles Ernest Hemingway’s name chopped down, but thinking about Hamwi every time I eat an ice cream cone would leave me with an unfinished sensation that I would have to overcompensate for by eating all the ice cream cones. So I’m sticking with Kabbaz. Cause Kabbaz is fun to say. Ice cream cones are fun to eat. Perfect. So, why am I not inclined to anoint Charles and his bro Frank as the creators of this coned confection? Well you see the Menches Bros are also in the books as the creators of the hamburger. And cracker jacks. Both of which are also clouded by other’s claims of invention. There is the possibility of pure awesomeness here. I don’t particularly care for Cracker Jacks, but it’s a very American snack. And it doesn’t get much better than a hamburger or an ice cream cone. So perhaps the Menches brothers were geniuses on the level of Michelangelo and Stephen Hawking. But there is a lot of hearsay behind the stories. And I get it. Who wouldn’t want to have invented the hamburger? (Vegans.) It’s not curing cancer, but it certainly does spread a lot of joy. So does it really matter who created all the goodness? I think not. To whomever created the cone that encircles the ice cream, I salute you, whether you be a guy with a cool name or part of gastronomical genius duo that helped contribute to America’s current obesity issue. Hmm. That last part doesn’t really fit. But neither do people’s clothes if they eat too many ice cream cones and hamburgers. Once again--moderation people. See. It all comes together.

This day has been Marked.

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