The year was 1907. The town? Wilmington, Ohio. The place? Hazard’s Restaurant. Owner Ernest Hazard wanted to attract Wilmington College students to his eatery by creating a new, irresistible dish. He held a contest among his employees, a contest which Ernest himself won by laying a split banana in a long dish, laying in three scoops of ice cream, topping the scoops with chocolate sauce, strawberry jam, and crushed pineapple, and crowning the dish with whipped cream, nuts, and cherries. Looking for a name, he asked his cousin Clifton for help. Clifton came up with banana split, and an American tradition was born. Continue reading
Tag: Ohio food festivals
Pork Rind Heritage Festival, Harrod OH, June 10th and 11th 2016
The most important questions we imagine most of you would ask are, what? And why? What: Pork rinds are fried pieces of pig skin. The skin, which starts out tough and inedible, puffs up in the fryer, resulting in a delicious, and light-textured, snack food. Are they same thing as cracklins? No, not exactly. Pork rinds are skin-only; cracklins have a portion of the fat attached to the skin. They are great eating, as well. You’ll find both at the Pork Rind Heritage Festival in the small Ohio town of Harrod. Why? The largest producer of pork rinds in the country, Rudolph Foods, is based in Lima, a few miles to the west of Harrod. Continue reading
Circleville Pumpkin Show, Circleville OH, October 21st through 24th 2015
Begun in 1903 with an ad hoc October display of pumpkins by the mayor of Circleville, Ohio, the Circleville Pumpkin Show has grown into America’s sixth largest festival, with more than 300,000 visitors expected this year. Admission is free, hence their slogan, “The Greatest Free Show on Earth.” The pumpkin delicacies to be found at the Show are legendary, and far predate the modern fad for pumpkin spice everything. Continue reading
