A banana split is an ice cream-based dessert. In its classic form it is served in a long dish called a "boat". A banana is cut in two lengthwise (hence the split) and laid in the dish. Variations abound, but the classic banana split is made with scoops of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream served in a row between the split banana. Pineapple topping is spooned over the vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup over the chocolate, and strawberry topping over the strawberry. It is garnished with crushed nuts, whipped cream and maraschino cherries. In South America, some of the ice cream flavors might be replaced with Dulce de leche. HistoryDavid Evans Strickler, a 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, who enjoyed inventing sundaes at the store's soda fountain, invented the banana-based triple ice cream sundae in 1904. The sundae originally cost 10 cents, twice the price of other sundaes, and caught on with students of nearby Saint Vincent College. News of the sundae spread by word-of-mouth by students, through correspondence, and at professional conventions. Strickler went on to buy the pharmacy, naming it Strickler's Pharmacy. The city of Latrobe celebrated the 100th anniversary of the invention of the banana split in 2004; The National Ice Cream Retailers Association (NICRA) certified the city that year as its birthplace.A year or two later, historians say, a Boston ice cream entrepreneur came up with the same sundae--with one minor flaw. He served his banana splits with the bananas unpeeled until he discovered that ladies preferred them peeled.Town fathers in Wilmington, Ohio, claim their city, southeast of Dayton, is the birthplace of the popular treat. They say 1907 was the year and restaurant owner Ernest Hazard was the man. The town commemorates the event each June with a Banana Split Festival.According to town lore, Hazard wanted to attract fickle students from Wilmington College during the slow days of winter. He staged an employee contest to come up with a new ice cream dish. When none of his workers was up to the task, he split a banana lengthwise, threw it into an elongated dish and created his own dessert.The cities of Latrobe, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Ohio each claim to be the home of the original banana split, although only Wilmington actually sponsors an annual Banana Split Festival. The main trouble with establishing the actual historical birthplace of the banana split lies with proper documentation. Strickler may have concocted a banana-based sundae several years before Hazard, but few tangible pieces of evidence exist to prove the claim beyond reasonable doubt. None of the original boat-shaped glass bowls Strickler allegedly ordered have survived, for example. First-hand interviews with both Strickler and Hazard only confirm the basic details of their creative process, not definitive proof of invention.Walgreens is credited with spreading the popularity of the banana split. Charles Walgreen adopted the banana split as the signature dessert in the chain of drugstores he founded in Chicago. References^ a b Turback, Michael (March 2004). The Banana Split Book. Camino Books. ISBN 094015983X^ "Latrobe History 1900s". Latrobe Area Historical Society. Retrieved on September 3, 2007.^ Steele, Bruce (August 25, 2004). "With a Cherry on Top-Pitt fetes alums creation of banana split". University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved on September 3, 2007.^ Smith, Rachel (June 22, 2006). "Latrobe's banana split a sweet 'Taste of America'". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved on September 3, 2007.^ "The Soda Fountain", 1905 Birth of the banana split.^ Written by Michael Pollick as seen at http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-banana-split.htm