History Of How We Got Food On A Stick

The reason way food ended up on a stick.

My mind works in strange ways sometimes. I create these unique scenarios in my head and I like to play them out like a story.

For example, I was looking in my freezer from something to make for dinner. There was a box of corn dogs. I imagined a couple of stoners hanging out. They just had a "session" and were looking for some "munchies." Corn Dogs would be perfect.

As they are enjoying their tasty treat, the discussion would be about how much it sucks that weed is finally legal in Illinois and there were no fests or fairs to get their munchies on. All those yummy foods skillfully put on a sick for easy eating accessibility while on the move.

Their conversation would get scientific as they then try to figure out the who, what, where, why, and how of food on a stick. Of course, they wouldn't think about asking Alexa or hitting the great google machine. It would be something that would haunt them for several hours. Luckily, I've got the answer.

According to kenoshanews.com,

"You can trace America's anything-on-a-stick obsession back to July 5, 1927, when a U.S. inventor named Stanley S. Jenkins filed a patent for a “Combined Dipping, Cooking, and Article Holding Apparatus.”

"The apparatus could hold skewered batter-jacketed foods in a liquid cooking medium while the batter is cooked and the individual sticks made for easy individual extraction."

"Corn dogs became the preeminent on-a-stick item in the 1940s when various vendors introduced them to the public at state fairs and festivals."

I remember as a kid, only a handful of items were available on a stick like popsicles, suckers, corn dogs, and candy apples. Now, just about anything is up for grabs. I guess we'll just have to wait until next summer to have the experience again.

What's your favorite food on a stick?

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