While some may think the scoop is the Olympics in Salt Lake City, the real scoop is in two small towns where a battle is being fought over who invented the banana split.
People in Wilmington, Ohio, and Latrobe, Penn., both contend their towns are the birthplace of the dessert that has been enjoyed in ice cream parlors for decades. However, a banana cannot be in two places at once, and it is becoming a split decision about where the banana split originated.
In 1907, Ernest Hazard of Wilmington created a dessert to attract students of Wilmington College to his restaurant. His masterpiece was a peeled banana with three scoops of ice cream, a shot of chocolate syrup, strawberry jam and pineapple pieces. Hazard garnished the dessert with nuts, whipped cream and cherries on top.
From then on, Wilmington claimed the invention of the banana split, and the town has held the Banana Split Festival for the past seven years.
Exposure of the festival brought attention to the residents of Latrobe, who claim they invented the banana split two years prior to Wilmington.
While the debate is shaking things up among locals in Wilmington and Latrobe, few ice cream aficionados know where the banana split originated.
David Giddens II, a local consumer of ice cream, suggested the banana split had been invented in “some town in Wisconsin.”
Giddens is not alone in his lack of dessert knowledge.
“I couldn’t even venture to guess who invented the banana split,” said Scott Weaver, also a local fan of dairy desserts. “But it is not something I would order regularly.”
It may not be important who invented the banana split to dessert consumers in Columbus , but for the residents of Wilmington and Latrobe, the all-American frozen treat will continue to be enjoyed and debated.
