Chow Down Chicago: Good Eats from the Windy City

  The brownie was invented at the Palmer House hotel as a portable treat for fairgoers at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair. Real estate tycoon Potter Palmer, owner of the Palmer House Hotel, was an investor in the World’s Columbian Exposition. His wife Bertha Palmer chaired the Board of Lady Managers for the World’s Columbian Exposition and was in charge of the Women’s Pavilion. Bertha asked the hotel’s pastry chef to make a chocolate cake-like dessert that would be easy to box and transport to the fair, and thus the brownie was born. The portable chocolatey treat was included in box lunches served at the hotel to fairgoers. Many other new foods were also introduced at the Columbian Exposition, including Quaker Oats, Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix, Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, and Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit and Spearmint Gum. Fairgoers were given a box of Cracker Jack upon entering the grounds. Pabst beer won an award at the fair, which led them to change their name to Pabst Blue Ribbon. And two A