• 6000 B.C. - 1799 A.D.
• 1800-1899
• 1900-1950
• 1951-2000

The Bloody Mary was invented in 1921 by Harry MacElhone of Harry’s Bar in Paris.

Photo courtesy of MortonSalt.com.

The first half of the Twentieth Century saw the invention of the hot fudge sundae, Caesar salad, and the Bloody Mary (where would we be without them!).

1900-1949

• 1900. Campbell’s Soup won a gold medal for their condensed soups at the Paris Exposition of 1900.
• 1900. Chiclets chewing gum, with a hard sugar coating, was introduced.
• 1900. Dos Equis (XX) Mexican Beer was first brewed in 1900 and was originally named “Siglo XX” to signify the new millennium. Now it is simply called Dos Equis “XX.”
• 1900. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar was created.
• 1900. Ferdinand Carre died. In 1859 he invented the ammonia vapor compression system for refrigeration. Vapor compression is still the system most widely used today.
• 1902. National Biscuit Company changed the name of their Animal Biscuits to “Barnum’s Animals,” and redesigned the package as a circus wagon with a string attached so it could be hung on Christmas trees. They sold for five cents.
• 1902. The Clementine was developed in Algeria by Father Clement Rodier, a French missionary. It is a hybrid of the tangerine and the Seville orange (bitter orange).
• 1902. The pastel-colored candy disks called NECCO wafers first appeared, named for the New England Confectionery Company.
• 1903. First U.S. patent for instant coffee.
• 1903. Richard Hellmann, a New York deli owner created his recipe for bottled mayonnaise. He began to market it in 1912.
• 1903. Horace Fletcher published “The ABC of Nutrition.” In it he said that each mouthful of food should be chewed 32 times. He had no medical or scientific background.
• 1904. George J. French introduced French’s mustard, the same year the hot dog was introduced to America at the St. Louis World’s Fair.
• 1904. The tea bag was invented by Thomas Sullivan of New York City. He first used them to send samples to his customers instead of sending it in more expensive tins.
• 1904. Puffed Rice was introduced at the St. Louis World‘s Fair. Developed by Dr. Alexander P. Anderson of NYC, and first manufactured by American Cereal Co (which later became Quaker Oats Co.)
• 1904. Post Toasties were introduced by General Foods (originally called “Elijah’s Manna.”)

• 1904. R. Blechyden served tea with ice at the St. Louis World’s Fair and invented iced tea.
• 1904. The ice cream cone was invented at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. An ice cream vendor ran out of paper cups and asked a nearby waffle booth to make some thin waffles he could roll up to hold the ice cream.
• 1905. G. Lombardi’s an Italian restaurant on Spring Street in New York City, served America’s first pizza.
• 1905. Popsicles were invented by Frank Epperson in 1905, they were originally called Epsicles!

• 1905 Thomas Adams Died. He manufactured the first commercially successful chewing gum, “Black Jack.”
• 1906 Bel Paese cheese was created. Egidio Galbani created this popular Italian cow's milk cheese. Its name means “beautiful country,” and supposedly comes from a book written by Father Antonio Stoppani, a friend of the family.

• 1906. The Hot Fudge Sundae was created at C.C. Browns, an ice cream parlor on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.
• 1906. The term “filet mignon” is first used by O. Henry in his book “The Four Million.”
• 1907. Maytag washing machines are introduced. They were an addition to the farm implements the company produce in Newton, Iowa. They were produced during the seasonal slumps in farm implement sales.
• 1907. “Gastronomie Pratique” (Practical Gastronomy) was published by Henri Babinsky (nicknamed Ali-Bab).
• 1907. One of the ad campaigns for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes (then the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company) offered a free box of cereal to every woman who would wink at her grocer.
• 1907. Scott Paper Company introduced the first paper towel.
• 1908. Tom Carvel was born. He was the inventor of the soft-serve ice cream machine, and founder of the ice cream chain, Carvel’s.
• 1910. Cellophane was invented by Jacques Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist.
• 1910. Ward Baking Company of Chicago, Illinois, opened the first automatic bread factory. The bread, from start to finish, was untouched by human hands, until it was placed in the wrapping machine.
• 1912. Richard Hellmann, a New York deli owner created his recipe for bottled mayonnaise in 1903. He began to market it in 1912.
• 1914. The J.L. Kraft Bros. cheese factory was founded by James L. Kraft in Stockton, Illinois.
• 1915. John Van Wormer invented the waxed cardboard milk carton. It took him 10 years to perfect the machinery to make them.
• 1916. Electric refrigerators were first offered for sale, for $900.
• 1916 Nathan Handwerker opened Nathan’s in Coney Island, where he sold hot dogs for a nickel.

• 1920s. Caesar Salad was created by Caesar Cardini in Tijuana.
• 1920. Fortune cookies were supposedly invented in Los Angeles.
• 1921. Harry MacElhone of Harry’s Bar in Paris created the Bloody Mary.
• 1921. White Castle hamburger chain was founded in Wichita, Kansas by Walter A. Anderson and E. W. Ingram.
• 1921. Wheaties breakfast cereal was created.
• 1921. Betty Crocker was invented by advertising manager Sam Gale of General Mills.
• 1921. Chuckles sugared jelly candies are introduced.

Caesar Salad

• 1922. A popular demonstration at the 1922 Los Angeles County Fair was how to make toothpaste from orange by-products.
• 1923. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups invented by H.B. Reese.
• 1923. The Butterfinger candy bar was invented.
• 1923. The boysenberry, a raspberry-blackberry hybrid, was developed by Rudolph Boysen.
• 1923. Charcoal briquets were introduced.
• 1923. Candy maker Frank C. Mars of Minnesota introduced the Milky Way candy bar in 1923.
• 1925. Roquefort cheese became the first cheese to receive the “Appellation d'Origine Controlee” (AOC).
• 1926. Hormel Company of Austin, Minnesota marketed the first canned ham.
• 1927. Dr. Edward Anton Asselbergs was born. He developed the process for making instant mashed potato flakes, still used today.
• 1927. Overseas calling was first introduced in 1927. A three-minute call between New York and London cost about $75.
• 1927. Edwin E. Perkins of Hastings, Nebraska invented the powered soft drink Kool-Aid.
• 1927. Pez peppermint breath mints were introduced in Vienna.
• 1928. Bubble gum invented by Walter E. Diemer of the Fleer Chewing Gum Company.
• 1929. 7-Up was originally called Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda when it was invented in 1929.
• 1929. The Ruby Red grapefruit was a chance mutation discovered at a farm in McAllen, Texas.
• 1930. The “Dagwood” sandwich was created by Dagwood Bumstead or the comic strip Blondie by Murat Bernard “Chic” Young. The “Dagwood” is a sandwich made with many layers of bread, meats, cheese, lettuce, tomato, condiments, etc.
• 1931. Henri Babinsky Died. Author of “Gastronomie Pratique.”
• 1931. Harry MacElhone of Harry’s Bar in Paris created the Sidecar cocktail.
• 1931. General Mills introduced Bisquick.
• 1933. Kit Kat candy bar invented.
• 1933. A California packer was able to homogenize peanuts into a stable butter, “Skippy Churned Peanut Butter.”
• 1933. Kraft Miracle Whip Salad Dressing is introduced by National Dairy Products.
• 1934. It is claimed that cheeseburgers were first served in 1934 at Kaelin’s restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky.
• 1935. The American Can Co. introduced an enameled can for packaging beer. It was an immediate success.
• 1936. Louis Ballast of Denver, Colorado was given a trademark for the name “cheeseburger” in 1936.  He never enforced it though.
• 1936. The Cobb salad was invented by Robert Cobb at his Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood, California.
• 1937. Spam was developed by George A. Hormel & Co. and first marketed in 1937.
• 1937. The 3 Musketeers Bar was invented.
• 1937. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was introduced. Make a meal in 9 minutes or less for 19 cents or less.

• 1938. Roy J. Plunkett of New Carlisle, Ohio discovered Teflon by accident.
• 1938. Nestle’s Crunch candy bar invented.
• 1938. Prosper Montagne’s “Larousse Gastronomique” was published.
• 1939. The seedless watermelon was developed.
• 1940. The first Dairy Queen opened in Joliet, Illinois.
• 1940. M&Ms candy invented.

• 1941. Maytag Dairy Farms began producing its world famous Maytag Blue Cheese after Fred Maytag II heard about the process for making Blue Cheese developed by Iowa State University.
• 1941. Garbage disposals introduced.
• 1942. Corn dogs are invented by Neil Fletcher for the Texas State Fair.
• 1943. Dr. Alexander P. Anderson Died. He developed Puffed Rice in NYC in 1902, which was introduced to the world at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
• 1943. “Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America” was published. Alfred Charles Kinsey is famous for the two books his Institute for Sex Research published, “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” (1948) and “Sexual Behavior of the Human Female” (1953).
• 1944. Chiquita Banana, the song and the advertising jingle were both created for United Fruit Company.
• 1946. Tupperware was introduced.
• 1947. Marilyn Monroe was crowned the first Artichoke Queen in Castroville, California, the Artichoke Capital of the World.
• 1948. Aaron “Bunny” Lapin invented Reddi-Wip, first sold by St. Louis milkmen.