Humbling, ain’t it? Especially in light of being far enough away from the real Thousand Islands never to have even heard of them until late in life. There just has to be some counterpart place in Dixie that others have no idea might be the source of some exotic food. It probably ain’t Vidalia onions, though. 
Any ideas, fellow Southerners?
ETA: Jophiel, this isn’t aimed at you specifically since I see you’re from the Chitown region.
I always assumed it was a Pacific Islands type of thing, probably because I associate it with shrimp cocktails served in avocado halves in a cheesy 50s Tiki setting…so consider me educated.
Don’t trust the wikipedia entry as far as historic origin. The 1900 New Orleans part is totally false.
Same here. I just figured it was a figurative name.
Western NYer checking in. I remember driving over a tall bridge around the Thousand Islands and being terrified. I knew the connection to the dressing as a kid.
Thanks, samclem.
Funny enough just last week when someone telling me about his upcoming trip to the New England, Canada and upstae NY mentioned it as he will going to that region.
Never knew or thought about it before then.
I still don’t know where they are. Guess I should look it up now.
Big Mac?
“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun.”
I know that by heart.
No mention of thousand island dressing. I’ve never, ever heard thousand island mentioned in connection with a Big Mac. The “special sauce” might be thousand island, I guess, but I’ve never heard anyone refer to it as that.
Ah ha! The Wikipedia article on Thousand Island dressing includes this statement:
So fix it. It ain’t the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Why? It doesn’t have any particular flavor associated with the “South Seas.” It doesn’t really have any particular flavor at all, in fact.
Nothing to do with flavor, which was sweeter and creamier than the French I got at home, usually over just lettuce. It was the name. Sounded like some Polynesian concoction.
I spent many summers vacationing in a camp in the Thousand Islands, a resort town a couple of hours north of my city. Lovely place on the St. Lawrence, not ritzy, you can just sit and watch the occasional huge cargo ship pass through the channel. Such happy days! We ate at the restaurant of a famous hotel there, and the paper menu had the story of Thousand Islands salad dressing printed on it, and also the recipe. I remember trying to make the Thousand Islands dressing when I got home, but it wasn’t as tasty as the bottled. There is the faintest hint of cinnamon in a good dressing, which comes from the chopped sweet pickle in the relish.
I’m from Ontario and it came up in school pretty early on. I was probably about 8. I always assumed that is to what the dressing referred, but can’t say I ever confirmed it as I don’t really like it.
Totally false as in that A Book of Famous Old New Orleans Recipes used in the South for more than 200 years doesn’t contain a recipe for “Breaded Veal Rounds and Thousand Island Dressing,” or wasn’t printed in 1900?
I admit, this Amazon page does not appear to show a 114 year old book, but I’m unwilling to pay $4 to check.
I’m another who has always known. When I was a child, our family vacationed in the area on multiple occasions.
No author, obviously a Junior League publication or the like, which means any/all of the recipes were contributed by ladies in New Orleans, so they (the recipes, not the ladies) have doubtful-at-best provenance.
It’s pretty hard not to know of them if you live in Ontario.
As for the Big Mac sauce, I’ve made “Big Macs” at home, and Thousand Island dressing is a near perfect substitute.
I had been to the Thousand Islands, as a child, before I ever heard of the dressing.
Wasn’t printed in 1900. The oldest copy is at Harvard and has the additional information Published–New Orleans: Printed for the Free French Movement. c. 1900.
Why someone appended “c. 1900” to the description, I don’t know but the “Free French Movement” is the telling thing. Obviously the 1930s or so.
I found a new Google book result yesterday that was “1905.” Checked the title page, and it was indeed 1905. Hooray!! I just antedated the item. Wrong.
I noticed that the term was in a newspaper clipping which had been pasted into the book.