You’re darn tootin’
Elisson explains the history of a Great American Cookie:
In case you were wondering, Fig Newton® is a trademark of the National Biscuit Company, AKA Nabisco. It is not named for Isaac Newton, who discovered the principle of gravitic attraction that explains why your ass weighs so much more after you eat a whole package of Fig Newtons. Rather, it is named for the city of Newton, Massachusetts, a city whose inhabitants (one could surmise) enjoyed eating those eponymous confections… confections that, when consumed in sufficient quantities, could have a pronounced laxative effect.
In fact, the first Fig Newtons were made in nearby Cambridge (Our Fair City), Massachusetts, by the Kennedy Biscuit Company, circa 1891; Kennedy named all its products after Massachusetts communities, which makes me grateful they don’t sell something called Athol. Kennedy was one of the regional bakers that merged into Nabisco in 1898. (And the original bakery has now been converted to residential lofts.)
I have no doubt, though, that Elisson was correct: Newtonians could, and likely did, enjoy this definitive fig bar. Contrariwise, I doubt many folks staying at the Ritz ever indulged in Ritz crackers.
fillyjonk »
7 December 2009 · 11:17 am
There are also a European brand of butter cookies known as Liebniz. I always thought it would be kind of awesome to have a mathematics themed party and serve both Newtons and Leibniz.
CGHill »
7 December 2009 · 11:25 am
Who’s bringing the Mandelbrotwurst?
(Sorry, that just slipped out.)
fillyjonk »
7 December 2009 · 12:22 pm
Actually, one could just bring Mandelbrot, which are a cookie not unlike biscotti. (Mandelbrot = almond bread in Yiddish and more or less the same thing in German.)
Mandelbrot.
It amuses me that I can think of three pastries (oh, surely there must be more) with a mathematics related name.
Elisson »
7 December 2009 · 1:20 pm
“An integral part of this nutritious breakfast. Er, ahhh, I mean mathematics-themed party. “
fillyjonk »
7 December 2009 · 6:12 pm
Thanks, Elisson, for that laugh.
IIRC, there used to be some Stella D’Oro pastries (I can not find them in my neck of the woods; they may be only a east-of-the-Mississippi thing) that were shaped rather like integral signs.
Though maybe it’s cheating if you look for pastries in the SHAPE of things mathematical; one set of number cookie cutters and Bob would be your uncle.
canadienne »
8 December 2009 · 11:22 pm
I’m stuck on trying to visualize a fractal bratwurst.
CGHill »
10 December 2009 · 9:24 pm
They probably won’t look like Mandelbulbs.