Joy is assembling a delicious buffet meal, but wants to organize it in historically accurate order! Obviously. Where will she put the JELL-O? Does it go next to the ice cream, or over by the Oreo cookies?? Only a game of First Things First will help her decide.
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ROBOTIC VOICE: Now entering Brains On Headquarters.
[AUDIO LOGO]
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY DOLO: Oh, hello there, Smarty Pants listener. You've arrived just in time for my elegant dinner party. Yes, every year I throw the biggest soiree to say hooray for you and me. Me, I meant to say me. Anywho, I've got the best music, the best food, and even the best guests.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Hey, Joy,
JOY DOLO: Aron Woldeslassie, welcome to my elegant dinner party. Over there, we've got the elegant music provided by my very sophisticated boombox.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Oh, my.
JOY DOLO: Over here, we have my extremely cultured face-painting station.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: How fancy.
JOY DOLO: And, of course, we have a very refined buffet for you to eat from. It has all of the fanciest foods, Oreos, Jell-O, and ice cream.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: A lot of desserts I'm seeing.
JOY DOLO: Well, it's a fancy dinner party, so, of course, it's desserts.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Does that mean the order of the food is in chronological order of its invention?
JOY DOLO: Hmm?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Well, everyone knows the fanciest way to eat food is in chronological order of invention. That means you eat the food that was invented the longest ago first, and you finish with the food that was invented the most recently.
JOY DOLO: Oh, wow. I did not know that.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah. Remember last year at Molly's ball, and her hors d'oeuvres were out of date? It ruined the night?
JOY DOLO: Didn't her crocodile get loose?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: I mean, sure. But everyone was mostly bothered about the hors d'oeuvres.
JOY DOLO: Well, now I'm really worried.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: You didn't invite that crocodile, did you?
JOY DOLO: Worse. I don't know the chronological order of my foods. What am I going to do?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Oh, that's easy. We just need to play a game of--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
First things first.
[MUSICAL CHIMES]
JOY DOLO: Oh, goody. Everyone knows First Things First is the fanciest game.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly. So Joy, your three foods are Jell-O ice cream, and Oreo cookies. Which do you think came first, second, and third?
JOY DOLO: OK, that's a really great question. I'm going to do something a little different this time.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: OK.
JOY DOLO: I'm going to guess what's wrong. [LAUGHS]
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: What's wrong?
JOY DOLO: I'm going to guess the wrong thing.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: So what you're about to guess is wrong.
JOY DOLO: [LAUGHS]
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Is that what you're saying?
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: OK.
JOY DOLO: Yeah, this is the wrong order. So I'm going to say Oreo cookies, ice cream, and then Jell-O. I think the actual right order is ice cream, Jell-O, Oreo cookies, because of refrigerators. So Jell-O and ice cream need some kind of cooling system, right--
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Sure, yeah.
JOY DOLO: --to stay cold. And Oreo cookies can live on a shelf. And I think shelf life is later because of-- I don't know, because grocery stores and, like--
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Sure, yeah.
JOY DOLO: --food that sit's on a shelf.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah, they made shelves before they made refrigerators. This makes sense.
JOY DOLO: It was like canned foods, and then Oreos, and then Twinkies.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: OK. Yeah. I like this.
JOY DOLO: Maybe that's another first things first.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: No, no, no. Yeah, that's a whole other thing.
JOY DOLO: OK, so my wrong order is Oreo cookies. Ice cream, Jell-O.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: OK. That's your wrong order.
JOY DOLO: Yes.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That's the order you're intentionally getting wrong?
JOY DOLO: Yes.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That's wrong.
[LAUGHS]
JOY DOLO: You haven't even done the big reveal sound yet.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: No, no, no. Like, sorry. That's wrong.
JOY DOLO: Wrong.
[LAUGHS] I think we need to also teach people that being wrong is OK.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: No, you're right. This is absolutely a necessary part of learning.
JOY DOLO: This is a life lesson.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly. Yeah. We're growing as people, yeah.
JOY DOLO: We're both growing.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly, absolutely. But you're right guess was ice cream, Jell-O, Oreos. That was your right guess.
JOY DOLO: Yes.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That was correct. Yeah, you absolutely nailed it.
JOY DOLO: Yeah. [LAUGHS] See, I can do both. I could be wrong and be right.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: You know what? The fact that you're perfect at everything, even being wrong, is so delightful.
JOY DOLO: I just want to be wrong gracefully.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Always. So ice cream came first. Early versions of ice cream are believed to be from as early as the second century BC. That makes the frozen treat thousands of years old, actually, tens of thousands of years old. We know that Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar. Thousands of years later, Marco Polo returned to Italy from the Far East with a recipe that closely resembled what is now called sherbet.
JOY DOLO: Oh. I wonder, do you think if it snows, I can go outside with just, like, a jug of honey and eat that?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: I like to think, like, that's how it initially started, right? Like, I feel like that's how snow cones happened. Somebody was, like, walking in the snow with a jar of, like, nectar or honey. And then it spilled, and they're like, I refuse to throw this away. I'm just going to eat this.
JOY DOLO: I'm going to eat that yellow snow.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly.
[LAUGHS]
Historians estimate that this recipe evolved into ice cream sometime in the 16th century. Next up was Jell-O. Like ice cream, gelatin has been used for thousands of years, but Jell-O, the product, was first invented in 1895.
JOY DOLO: Whoa.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah. So, fun fact, this sweet treat was invented by a cough syrup manufacturer in New York, who had a hard time of selling his syrup. No surprise there.
JOY DOLO: I mean, classic story.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah. Like, surprise, surprise, the guy trying to sell cough syrup didn't get a lot of customers.
JOY DOLO: Buy my cough syrup. Why is no one buying the syrup?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: I know. I know.
JOY DOLO: It's for your cough.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: It tastes bad. And, like, you only have it when you're feeling crummy.
JOY DOLO: And also, isn't everybody coughing back then?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly, yeah. So because of this, he pivoted to making food. Thank goodness he did, because he and his wife would eventually invent Jell-O. The snack became so popular that it became the state snack of the state of--
JOY DOLO: Texas. California. July. No, that's a month.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That's a month.
JOY DOLO: Sorry. [LAUGHS]
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: You went in the wrong month. Right direction. It's Utah.
JOY DOLO: Utah.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: Oh, yes, Utah.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: And then lastly, Oreos. The Oreo was first introduced in 1912. While we call it the Oreo. It was first called the Oreo Biscuit. Then it was called the Oreo Sandwich. Later they changed it to the Oreo Cream Sandwich. They then named it to Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie.
[LAUGHS]
JOY DOLO: And then the next thing they're going to name it is Oreo, Ore-I. Ore-O. Ore-we.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: I like Ore-we.
JOY DOLO: Ore-we?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah, that's very-- like, I like that a lot. That feels very like welcoming. Like we're all part of this cookie community.
JOY DOLO: We're all part of the sandwich.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly. Well, regardless of what you call it, people love Oreos. It's sold in over 100 countries. And it's even earned a world record for biggest cookie sales by earning over $500 billion since its introduction in 1912.
JOY DOLO: $500 billion?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: 500 followed by billion.
JOY DOLO: Billion zeros.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That's not correct.
[LAUGHS]
[MUSICAL CHIMES]
JOY DOLO: Now that we know the order my food should be in, we better hustle to make everything look fancy before any more guests arrive.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Too late. It looks like Molly's crocodile just arrived.
JOY DOLO: Oh no. Oh, wait. She's looking around, and now she's getting her face painted.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Now that's what I call fancy.
JOY DOLO: Fancy.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Fancy.
JOY DOLO: Fancy.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That's it for this Smarty Pants episode. It was produced by Aron Woldeslassie Selassie. Our executive producer is Beth Perlman, and the APM Studios executives in charge are Chandra Kavati and Joann Griffith. Forever Ago is a non-profit radio program. Thanks, Smarty Pants friends. See you next time. Keep it fancy. Keep it fancy.
[AUDIO LOGO]
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY DOLO: Oh, hello there, Smarty Pants listener. You've arrived just in time for my elegant dinner party. Yes, every year I throw the biggest soiree to say hooray for you and me. Me, I meant to say me. Anywho, I've got the best music, the best food, and even the best guests.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Hey, Joy,
JOY DOLO: Aron Woldeslassie, welcome to my elegant dinner party. Over there, we've got the elegant music provided by my very sophisticated boombox.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Oh, my.
JOY DOLO: Over here, we have my extremely cultured face-painting station.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: How fancy.
JOY DOLO: And, of course, we have a very refined buffet for you to eat from. It has all of the fanciest foods, Oreos, Jell-O, and ice cream.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: A lot of desserts I'm seeing.
JOY DOLO: Well, it's a fancy dinner party, so, of course, it's desserts.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Does that mean the order of the food is in chronological order of its invention?
JOY DOLO: Hmm?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Well, everyone knows the fanciest way to eat food is in chronological order of invention. That means you eat the food that was invented the longest ago first, and you finish with the food that was invented the most recently.
JOY DOLO: Oh, wow. I did not know that.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah. Remember last year at Molly's ball, and her hors d'oeuvres were out of date? It ruined the night?
JOY DOLO: Didn't her crocodile get loose?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: I mean, sure. But everyone was mostly bothered about the hors d'oeuvres.
JOY DOLO: Well, now I'm really worried.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: You didn't invite that crocodile, did you?
JOY DOLO: Worse. I don't know the chronological order of my foods. What am I going to do?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Oh, that's easy. We just need to play a game of--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
First things first.
[MUSICAL CHIMES]
JOY DOLO: Oh, goody. Everyone knows First Things First is the fanciest game.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly. So Joy, your three foods are Jell-O ice cream, and Oreo cookies. Which do you think came first, second, and third?
JOY DOLO: OK, that's a really great question. I'm going to do something a little different this time.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: OK.
JOY DOLO: I'm going to guess what's wrong. [LAUGHS]
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: What's wrong?
JOY DOLO: I'm going to guess the wrong thing.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: So what you're about to guess is wrong.
JOY DOLO: [LAUGHS]
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Is that what you're saying?
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: OK.
JOY DOLO: Yeah, this is the wrong order. So I'm going to say Oreo cookies, ice cream, and then Jell-O. I think the actual right order is ice cream, Jell-O, Oreo cookies, because of refrigerators. So Jell-O and ice cream need some kind of cooling system, right--
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Sure, yeah.
JOY DOLO: --to stay cold. And Oreo cookies can live on a shelf. And I think shelf life is later because of-- I don't know, because grocery stores and, like--
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Sure, yeah.
JOY DOLO: --food that sit's on a shelf.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah, they made shelves before they made refrigerators. This makes sense.
JOY DOLO: It was like canned foods, and then Oreos, and then Twinkies.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: OK. Yeah. I like this.
JOY DOLO: Maybe that's another first things first.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: No, no, no. Yeah, that's a whole other thing.
JOY DOLO: OK, so my wrong order is Oreo cookies. Ice cream, Jell-O.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: OK. That's your wrong order.
JOY DOLO: Yes.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That's the order you're intentionally getting wrong?
JOY DOLO: Yes.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That's wrong.
[LAUGHS]
JOY DOLO: You haven't even done the big reveal sound yet.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: No, no, no. Like, sorry. That's wrong.
JOY DOLO: Wrong.
[LAUGHS] I think we need to also teach people that being wrong is OK.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: No, you're right. This is absolutely a necessary part of learning.
JOY DOLO: This is a life lesson.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly. Yeah. We're growing as people, yeah.
JOY DOLO: We're both growing.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly, absolutely. But you're right guess was ice cream, Jell-O, Oreos. That was your right guess.
JOY DOLO: Yes.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That was correct. Yeah, you absolutely nailed it.
JOY DOLO: Yeah. [LAUGHS] See, I can do both. I could be wrong and be right.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: You know what? The fact that you're perfect at everything, even being wrong, is so delightful.
JOY DOLO: I just want to be wrong gracefully.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Always. So ice cream came first. Early versions of ice cream are believed to be from as early as the second century BC. That makes the frozen treat thousands of years old, actually, tens of thousands of years old. We know that Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar. Thousands of years later, Marco Polo returned to Italy from the Far East with a recipe that closely resembled what is now called sherbet.
JOY DOLO: Oh. I wonder, do you think if it snows, I can go outside with just, like, a jug of honey and eat that?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: I like to think, like, that's how it initially started, right? Like, I feel like that's how snow cones happened. Somebody was, like, walking in the snow with a jar of, like, nectar or honey. And then it spilled, and they're like, I refuse to throw this away. I'm just going to eat this.
JOY DOLO: I'm going to eat that yellow snow.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly.
[LAUGHS]
Historians estimate that this recipe evolved into ice cream sometime in the 16th century. Next up was Jell-O. Like ice cream, gelatin has been used for thousands of years, but Jell-O, the product, was first invented in 1895.
JOY DOLO: Whoa.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah. So, fun fact, this sweet treat was invented by a cough syrup manufacturer in New York, who had a hard time of selling his syrup. No surprise there.
JOY DOLO: I mean, classic story.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah. Like, surprise, surprise, the guy trying to sell cough syrup didn't get a lot of customers.
JOY DOLO: Buy my cough syrup. Why is no one buying the syrup?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: I know. I know.
JOY DOLO: It's for your cough.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: It tastes bad. And, like, you only have it when you're feeling crummy.
JOY DOLO: And also, isn't everybody coughing back then?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly, yeah. So because of this, he pivoted to making food. Thank goodness he did, because he and his wife would eventually invent Jell-O. The snack became so popular that it became the state snack of the state of--
JOY DOLO: Texas. California. July. No, that's a month.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That's a month.
JOY DOLO: Sorry. [LAUGHS]
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: You went in the wrong month. Right direction. It's Utah.
JOY DOLO: Utah.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: Oh, yes, Utah.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: And then lastly, Oreos. The Oreo was first introduced in 1912. While we call it the Oreo. It was first called the Oreo Biscuit. Then it was called the Oreo Sandwich. Later they changed it to the Oreo Cream Sandwich. They then named it to Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie.
[LAUGHS]
JOY DOLO: And then the next thing they're going to name it is Oreo, Ore-I. Ore-O. Ore-we.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: I like Ore-we.
JOY DOLO: Ore-we?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Yeah, that's very-- like, I like that a lot. That feels very like welcoming. Like we're all part of this cookie community.
JOY DOLO: We're all part of the sandwich.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Exactly. Well, regardless of what you call it, people love Oreos. It's sold in over 100 countries. And it's even earned a world record for biggest cookie sales by earning over $500 billion since its introduction in 1912.
JOY DOLO: $500 billion?
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: 500 followed by billion.
JOY DOLO: Billion zeros.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: That's not correct.
[LAUGHS]
[MUSICAL CHIMES]
JOY DOLO: Now that we know the order my food should be in, we better hustle to make everything look fancy before any more guests arrive.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Too late. It looks like Molly's crocodile just arrived.
JOY DOLO: Oh no. Oh, wait. She's looking around, and now she's getting her face painted.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Now that's what I call fancy.
JOY DOLO: Fancy.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Fancy.
JOY DOLO: Fancy.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That's it for this Smarty Pants episode. It was produced by Aron Woldeslassie Selassie. Our executive producer is Beth Perlman, and the APM Studios executives in charge are Chandra Kavati and Joann Griffith. Forever Ago is a non-profit radio program. Thanks, Smarty Pants friends. See you next time. Keep it fancy. Keep it fancy.
Transcription services provided by 3Play Media.
