Customer Reviews

Beyond the Ice Cream Cone: The Whole Scoop on Food at the 1904 World's Fair

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Enhanced with 169 duo-tone photographs and illustrations, Beyond The Ice Cream Cone: The Whole Scoop On Food At The 1904 World's Fair by academician and food history enthusiast Pamela J. Vaccaro is as informed and informative as it is fun and fascinating! In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 1904 World's Fair, Vaccaro offers an in-depth descriptive history of the foods that were so central a part of the fairgoer's experience. Beyond The Ice Cream Cone addresses such issues as whether or not the ice cream cone, iced tea, hot dogs, Dr Pepper, and cotton candy (under the name of "Fairy Floss") were really introduced for the first time in the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. Were the life-sized "nut" elephant and the intimidating "prune" bear the only displays at the Fair made of food items? What influence did the Pure Food Movement have on food offered at the Fair? The phenomena of free samples to promote the newly burgeoning food manufacturing conglomerates. Beyond The Ice Cream Cone is a compendium of culinary fair lore and examined legendary, providing the reader with definitive historical fact presented with a light and engaging touch. There are even 36 recipes reprinted and available for duplication in the family kitchen! Beyond The Ice Cream Cone is simply wonderful reading and enthusiastically recommended for personal and community collections!

This is a terrific book for anyone interested in history, as well as anyone interested in food! Author has a wonderful way of capturing the importance of the fair, it's place in history, and a fascinating study of food. It's a fun read, and a real fieldtrip to the Fair!

"Musty 100-year-old books and scrapbooks were my daily companions for months, and I lost all sense of time. Thousands of newspaper articles from 1901-1905 provided the small pieces of information I used as the basis for this book, and weeks of thought resulted in the overall plan for the book." ~Pamela J. Vaccaro

Pamela J. Vaccaro loves to collect culinary memorabilia and enjoys teaching food history. In Beyond the Ice Cream Cone, she brings together 169 photos and stories of the World Fair, including pictures of rare mementos.

The chapters include:

Welcome to the Fair
Everyone Ate at the Fair
Concessionaires and Their Wares
The Fair and the Fairer Sex
Everyone Drank at the Fair
The Fare at the Fair
Free Lunch at the Fair
Food for Thought
Supersizing at the Fair
Truths, Half-Truths, and Anything but the Truth
Daily Specials
Main Events
Food Fights and Other Disputes
Leftovers

There are also a few recipes for Lemonade, Plum Trifle, Boston Brown Bread, Strawberry Cream Cake and Chicken Salad.

So, was Iced Tea really invented at the World's Fair? This book tells all...

Beyond The Ice Cream Cone is a very enjoyable read that brings back memories of your own visits to your local fair. I still haven't worked up the courage to try those deep fried Twinkies.

~The Rebecca Review

What a fun book-a MUST for any 'foodie' trivia freak or anyone from STL.The old pix are delish!

WOW, this book contains a lot more than information on food at the fair! I have been interested in the 1904 World's Fair for a long time, and I learned a lot of new information from this book (did you know that at the time beer was considered food for the nerves?). The book is well organized, well written and has a lot of great pictures. You really get a sense of the huge undertaking it was to organize and run this enormous fair. This book contains many great stories of the fair, as well as the real story of what food was, and was not, introduced at the fair. I recommend this book to anyone that is interested in fairs, history or food.

The World's Fair of 1904 was perhaps the best ever. Other Fairs did a lot in there time but, just like the mighty ship, Titanic, we remember this one most fondly.

Seeing the Fair from the "food angle" is an intriguing and festive way to take a trip back in time. And while some things may not have been a direct invention of the Fair it is remarkable to think of how new many of our favorite respites were then including Ice Cream Cones, Iced Tea and Hot Dogs.

When all that most people know about the '04 World's fair was that given to us by Judy Garland and the staff at MGM it's nice to learn more and have a real feel for this great lost moment in time. A great book.