18
Currents
January 2019
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tying, you probably slept late and then enjoyed a
leisurely brunch. Perhaps you even ordered Eggs
Benedict (sometimes shortened to Eggs Benny).
There are various stories about how this favorite
brunch dish got its name. According to the most col-
orful, one morning in 1894 a stock- broker named
Lemuel Benedict was suffering from a tremendous
hangover. He went to the Waldorf Hotel for break-
fast, and ordered toast, poached eggs, bacon and
hollandaise sauce. Since this breakfast special
seemed to do wonders for Mr.
Benedict’s hangover, it was
quickly added to the menu. The
chef, however, replaced the toast
with English muffins and the
bacon with ham or Canadian
bacon.
Very few people can resist
candy, especially traditional
favorites that bring back child-
hood memories.
Milky Way
candy bars, a gooey combination
of caramel and nougat covered
with milk chocolate, were intro-
duced in 1923 by the Mars candy
company, run by Franklin Mars.
In 1930, Mars added peanuts to
the original recipe, and dubbed
this new version Snickers.
Believe it or not, the candy bar
was named after Snickers, the
family’s horse!
To close on another “sweet
note,” let’s look at the story of the
Tootsie Roll. In the late 1800’s,
Leo Hirschfield, an Austrian Jew-
ish refugee, started his candy
business. In 1904, he created the
Tootsie Roll, a chocolate-flavored,
taffy-like candy that, unlike tradi-
tional chocolates, did not melt. By
the way, Tootsie was the nick-
name of Leo’s young daughter
Clara.
Unfortunately Leo’s candy
career ended badly (Note 2), but
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