Sometimes, it seems as if some of these American Bites caught on in the popular consciousness because of sheer, dumb luck. A spark hit at just the right time and place, and suddenly, it's an American institution. Sometimes, though, it takes hard work and a string of innovations to build something from an idea to an icon. Cracker Jack definitely belongs to that latter category. People have always found things to snack on, but until Cracker Jack came along, it was usually fruit, cheese, or nuts.
In 1872, Frederick Rueckheim opened a popcorn/candy business with his brother in Chicago. Innovation #1: Experimenting with just the right combination of popcorn, peanuts, and molasses to find one that was tasty, and that wouldn't fuse into an unchewable mass. The snack was a hit at the Chicago World's Fair, so the brothers trademarked the name ("crackerjack" meaning something super-cool) and expanded the business in 1896. Transporting the mixture in warm weather was an issue, though. Innovation #2: A friend of theirs named Harvey Eckstein introduced the brothers to packaging the snack in double-layered wax paper inside individual serving-sized sealed boxes. It worked so well that Eckstein's name joined the company.
Innovation #3: A hit song. Though cracker jack had been a standard offering at baseball parks for a time, once the now-familiar tune name checking it was penned around 1908, there was no stopping its cultural imprint. There's always way to improve on advertising, though, and the Rueckheims copied the Quaker Oats idea of including a coupon in each box. Innovation #4: Then they hit upon the idea of including a little toy or surprise, instead. The rest is history, and Cracker Jack stands as America's first mass-produced snack food.
That said, Cracker Jack seems to have left its cultural import back in the '80s. You don't see or hear much about people eating it anymore, and I haven't seen it for sale at a ballpark in years. In fact, I couldn't even buy it from the store; I had to order some online. So how was it once I got it? Kinda not as good as I remember. There are other caramel corn mixes at supermarkets that are as good or better, and sadly, the prize was worthless as well - just a sticker that promised additional prizes for collecting more. So maybe Cracker Jack's days in the sun are over, but it's sure still a testament to American innovation.
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