Cracker Jack popcorn snacks and the Great Debate
1893 World’s Fair lore often associates it with the invention of Cracker Jack. The molasses-based popcorn and peanut snack Cracker Jack was invented by German immigrant brothers Frederick “Fritz” and Louis Rueckheim. Fritz had been selling popcorn on Chicago’s Fourth Avenue since 1872, and was selling Cracker Jack in the 1890s, but there is some dispute as to whether the association between the World’s Fair and Cracker Jack is fact or fiction. While it’s feasible that Cracker Jack could have been sold at the World’s Fair given the timeline of its parent company, there is a lack of primary source evidence to prove that it was sold at the Fair. But there is a great deal of lore that associates Cracker Jack with the Fair, so its presence remains feasible, but under debate.