Did you know that brownies were created during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago for female box lunches? Bertha Palmer, a well respected Chicago businesswoman and philanthropist, was the president of the Board of Lady Managers for the fair. The Board saw to it that women were given their own building at the fair for displaying great works of art and achievements by the often under-appreciated gender. She requested the chef of the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago provide a delicious dessert that female fair attendees could eat without getting their hands all messy or dirty, and he came up with the brownie. But it probably was not called a brownie at that point. However, it was only five years later that the word brownie first appeared in print in the Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog and the American public finally had a name for its new favorite treat. |
