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Edy's Pie

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Eskimo Pie box, undated.

Eskimo Pie is a brand name for a chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar wrapped in foil, the first such dessert sold in the United States. It is now marketed by Nestlé, owners of Dreyer's of the Western United States, and Edy's of the Eastern United States. The product was introduced to New Zealand in 1955,[1] and are produced by Tip Top who are now a subsidiary of Fonterra, the country's largest multinational company.[2]

History

Christian Kent Nelson, 1922.

Danish immigrant Christian Kent Nelson, a schoolteacher and candy store owner, claimed to have received the inspiration for the Eskimo Pie in 1920 in Onawa, Iowa, when a boy in his store was unable to decide whether to spend his money on ice cream or a chocolate bar.[3] After experimenting with different ways to adhere melted chocolate to bricks of ice cream, Nelson began selling his invention under the name "I-Scream Bars." In 1921, he filed for a patent, and secured an agreement with local chocolate producer Russell C. Stover to mass-produce them under the new trademarked name "Eskimo Pie" (a name suggested by Mrs. Stover), and to create the Eskimo Pie Corporation. After patent 1,404,539 was issued on January 24, 1922, Nelson franchised the product, allowing ice cream manufacturers to produce them under that name. The patent, which applied to any type of frozen material covered with candy, was invalidated in 1929. One of the earliest advertisements for Eskimo Pies appeared in the November 3, 1921 issue of the Iowa City Press-Citizen.[4]

File:Eskimopies.jpg
Eskimo Pies Advertisement, November 3, 1921.
The abandoned Rosedale Dairy, Fort Dodge, Iowa, longtime manufacturer of Eskimo Pies.

Stover sold his share of the business. He then formed the well-known chocolate manufacturer Russell Stover Candies.[5] Nelson became independently wealthy off the royalties from the sale of Eskimo Pies.

Nelson then sold his share of the business to the United States Foil Company, which made the Eskimo Pie wrappers. He retired at a young age, but reportedly out of boredom rejoined what was then called Reynolds Metals Company (now part of Alcoa) in 1935, inventing new methods of manufacturing and shipping Eskimo Pies and serving as an executive until his ultimate retirement in 1961.

In 1992, Nelson died at the age of 99. In that same year, Eskimo Pie Corporation was spun off from Reynolds in an initial public offering, as an alternative to an acquisition that Nestlé had proposed in 1991.

Eskimo Pie brand confectionery was sold by CoolBrands International, a Canadian company that acquired Eskimo Pie Corporation in 2000. On January 24, 2007, CoolBrands announced the sale of its Eskimo Pie and Chipwich brands to Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, an indirect subsidiary of Nestlé.[6] (:

Racial controversy

News headlines were made in New Zealand after a female Inuk tourist from Canada alleged that the use of 'Eskimo' was racially insulting.[7] The allegation was not positively received in New Zealand[8] and both the manufacturer and Cadbury Pascall, who produce the similarly named Eskimo marshmallow sweets, commented there were no plans to either rename the products or cease production.[9][1]

"Eskimo pie" was featured in the chorus of Jeremy Taylor (singer)'s song Ag Pleez Deddy which was a massively popular hit in the 1960s. George Jones also wrote and recorded a song called "Eskimo Pie" in 1957.

In French, Russian and Ukrainian the word "Eskimo" (Эскимо/Ескімо) is used as a general name (not a trademark) for any chocolate-covered ice-cream with a wooden stick to handle it.

The seminal Australian punk band Radio Birdman have a song called "I-94" on the EP Burn My Eye which contains the lyric "Eskimo Pies comin' to you, Yeah burning to you straight from hell".

The Canadian band Simple Plan has a hidden song titled "My Christmas List" on their album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, in which the first half of the song contains the line "I want a lifetime supply of skittles and slurpies and eskimo pies".

In the movie "Post-grad" "Eskimo Pie"s feature as an ongoing motif, which is used as a symbol of friendship and a platonic relationship.

In the episode "Santa Ana Street Fight" of the show Storage Wars, Darrell finds an Eskimo Pie jar worth about $3000.

In Alice Cooper's song Cold Ethyl, from his album Welcome to my Nightmare, he compares "Cold Ethyl", a deceased woman with which he is having intercourse, to an eskimo pie, since she is so frigid, having died a while ago.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Eskimo stays despite frosty reception". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. April 22, 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ http://www.foodreference.com/html/wchristiankentnelson.html
  4. ^ "Eskimo Pies". Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  5. ^ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Russell-Stover-Candies-Inc-Company-History.html
  6. ^ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Eskimo-Pie-Corporation-Company-History.html
  7. ^ "It's the great Eskimo debate". Waikato Times. April 23, 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  8. ^ [2]
  9. ^ "Eskimo lolly will have no name change". Television New Zealand. April 22, 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
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