Pasta Primavera
Pasta primavera seems like a dish that goes back to old Italy, with a few centuries of tradition backing it. In fact, it’s a New York City creation. It hit the big time in a 1977 Times article that included the recipe. Prior to that, it was an unlisted special at an uptown French restaurant. (The chef-owner, Sirio Maccioni, was Italian at least.)
According to lore, the French chefs at Le Cirque refused to allow pasta to be served, so, to accommodate orders, a pasta pot had to be set up in the hallway and the dish finished by waitstaff in the dining room.
Puffed Rice
School bake sales would never be the same after December 1901. That’s when Botanist Alexander Pierce Anderson conducted a successful experiment in a laboratory at the New York Botanical Garden. As the garden explains, Anderson was confirming the theory that “a starch granule contains a minuscule amount of condensed water within its nucleus.” When the grains exploded and puffed up to 8 times their original size, Anderson knew the prediction was accurate (and that commercial applications would not be far away). Today, Rice Krispies alone sells over 40 million boxes a year.
Colorforms
Remembering this toy — proudly pre-screen — may date you, although it’s still going strong, complete with its own Netflix show. Colorforms were born more than 70 years ago in a Manhattan bathroom. (The adhesive quality of the glossy paint there was what made Harry and Patricia Kislevitz realize they were onto something.) It went on to licensing agreements with pop culture icons (Popeye was the first) and accolades like ranking among the Top 10 Toys of the Century by the Toy Industry of America (TIA).
Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York
Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann