JELL-O: A Biography

The author of SPAM: A Biography is back again-This time with the definitive biography of an even bigger edible American icon: JELL-0! Who didn't grow up on JELL-O gelatin? Hospitals dished it out after your tonsils were removed and Mom always had a box stashed away in case of a dessert emergency. For more than one hundred years, Jell-O has reigned as "America's Most Famous Dessert," selling more than one million packages a day and more than 500 million each year. But where and when and how did it all begin? No one is more qualified than junk food authority Carolyn Wyman to tell the whole amazing truth of this fruit flavored dessert. Complete with over two hundred photographs and illustrations, JELL-O: A Biography uncovers everything from the history of the product and its marketing and sales strategies through the year to off-the-wall recipes and alternative uses such as Jell-O shots and Jell-O wrestling. Jell-O is not just a food product, it is part of America's history and culture. Painstakingly researched and playfully presented, JELL-O: A Biography is the sweet story of the primordial slime's success and a fabulously entertaining read. After all, there's always room for Jell-O. AMAZING BUT TRUE: Little-known facts about America's Most Famous Dessert -- By the 1920s Jell-O was served as a good ol' American welcome treat to immigrants at Ellis Island. --Though Jell-O sponsored his radio show for years, according to his wife, Jack Benny "never ate the stuff." --Who does eat it? Residents of Salt Lake City and Des Moines are neck-and-neck in annual Jell-O consumption-a competition they take very seriously. --As a teenager, actor John Malkovich lost 70 pounds in 6 months on a Jell-O only diet. --In Cecil B. De Mille's 1923 production of The Ten Commandments, Moses's parted Red Sea was created by superimposing running actors onto footage of a quivering strawberry Jell-O mold. --A salad or a dessert? The great debate continues . . .… (more)