The black and white cookie has a split history. The beloved pastry has long been associated with race relations, thanks in part to a famous ‘Seinfeld’ episode, ‘The Dinner Party.’ President Obama used the cookies as a metaphor for race relations back in 2008. The politician even called them “unity cookies” during his campaign, as spotted by Thrillist. However the back story of black and white cookies is less complicated than it seems.

At the tail end of the 19th century, bakers were cashing in on food’s latest fad, which was matching dark and light colors. Popular desserts included vanilla cake coated with chocolate frosting, as well as the beloved black and white cookie. “The cookie was keying into a popular kind of cookie at that time!” Stephen Schmidt told Munchies. Schmidt is a member of the Culinary Historians of New York (CHNY). He says it “was a very popular concept right around that time. [...] It was something people were doing with cake, so it’s not at all surprising someone thought to transfer this to the icing of a cookie.”

So how did an unassuming dessert get linked to race relations? “It all sounds like fake-lore to me; I have a feeling the black and white cookie was a commercial invention, capitalized on things that were in the air,” says Schmidt. Head over to Munchies for the full interview with Stephen Schmidt>