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1. Milkshakes got their name from being served in bars. If the customer enjoyed the milkshake, he shook hands with the bartender. If not, the bartender didn’t get a tip.
2. Malted milk powder was invented in 1897 by James and William Horlick, but it was Ivar Coulson, a soda jerk for a Walgreen’s drug store, who first added it to milkshakes in 1922. This created the malted milkshake or just plain “malt.”
3. Steven Poplawski invented the electric blender in 1922 just for milkshakes. Before that, the effort of shaking them up must have required a lot of upper body motion.
4. It’d take 3,200,000 average-sized milkshakes to fill up an Olympic-sized pool. How fast do you think Michael Phelps could swim in that?
5. Australians can still buy traditional milkshakes in “milk bars,” which are much like old-fashioned drugstores with counter service. They’re usually served still in the steel cup, but may be poured into a paper cup for carry out orders.

Today’s Food History

• 1818 Richard Jordan Gatling was born. Before inventing the Gatling Gun, he developed a machine for sowing rice, wheat, and other grains, and invented a steam plow.
• 1928 Katharine Hepburn makes her first New York stage appearance in ‘Night Hostess.’
• 1940 The caves at Lascaux in France are discovered. They contain some of the earliest know art, dating back over 15,000 years. The prehistoric cave paintings (over 600) depict many large animals including aurochs, red deer, horses, stags, bison, etc.
• 1959 The TV show ‘Bonanza’ premiers. The frontier adventures of the Cartwright family, father, 3 sons and Chinese cook Hop Sing, on the ‘Ponderosa’ ranch near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
• 1965 Norwood Fisher of the music group ‘Fishbone’ was born.
• 1971 Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey closed.