10 more foods that make America great

Banana split
The birthplace of this chilly, indulgent treat is hotly contested.

Photolink via Getty Images file Ruining diets for a century.

On the one hand, you have Latrobe, Pa., which holds up its Tassell Pharmacy as Banana Split Ground Zero, where apprentice David Strickler first whipped one up in 1904. When TV producers sought out the split's source, they headed for Pennsylvania.

On the other hand is Wilmington, Ohio, home to the annual Banana Split Festival, which alleges that restaurant owner E.R. Hazard first concocted the divine dessert in 1907. The details seem to favor Latrobe, but as one Ohio tourism official told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 2004, “"We're going to stick with our claim.”

Let's step away from controversy for a sec and simply admire the net result: Every element of an ice-cream sundae is assembled, then cautiously positioned atop two banana halves and taken from great to extraordinary. Michael Turback, author of “The Banana Split Book,” has said the dessert “reflects our genius for invention, passion for indulgence and reputation for wackiness.”

At 102 (or 99, if you're a Wilmington partisan), the banana split is the perfect exhibit of America's sweet tooth. It is an instance of taking what's great and then going beyond the cause. True, Latrobe has ample evidence to back up its claim, but perhaps this spat should be allowed to sit in the deep freeze.  Both towns love their sundaes. Why not let them split the difference?