Chewing Gum

"Not long after the American Civil War, former Mexican president and Alamo victor General Santa Anna introduced chicle - a rare ingredient from the Mexican tropics - to an eccentric Staten Island inventor, Thomas Adams. Both were down on their luck, and little did they know that their chance meeting would lead to the creation of an icon of the modern age. Chicle-based chewing gum soon became a powerful symbol of American pop culture and attitude, and proved to be a massive commercial success in the new age of mass consumption. And given its functional uselessness, chewing gum is as good an…