Gingerbread man
Encyclopedia
Biscuit
A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....
or cookie
Cookie
In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat, baked treat, usually containing fat, flour, eggs and sugar. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have...
made of gingerbread
Gingerbread
Gingerbread is a term used to describe a variety of sweet food products, which can range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. What they have in common are the predominant flavors of ginger and a tendency to use honey or molasses rather than just sugar...
, usually in the shape of a stylized human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
, commonly male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
as the name suggests, although making other shapes, especially seasonal themes and characters, is quite common as well.
History
Gingerbread dates back to the 15th century, and figural biscuit-making was practiced in the 16th century. The first documented instance of figure-shaped gingerbread biscuits appearing was in the court of Elizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. She had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the likeness of some of her important guests.
Characteristics
Most gingerbread men share the same roughly humanoid shape, with stubby feet and no fingers. Many gingerbread men have a face, though whether the features are indentations within the face itself or other candies stuck on with icingIcing (food)
Icing, also called frosting in the United States, is a sweet often creamy glaze made of sugar with a liquid such as water or milk, that is often enriched with ingredients such as butter, egg whites, cream cheese, or flavorings and is used to cover or decorate baked goods, such as cakes or cookies...
or chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
varies from recipe to recipe. Other decorations are common; hair, shirt cuffs, and shoes are sometimes applied, but by far the most popular decoration are shirt button
Button
In modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, most commonly made of plastic, but also frequently of seashell, which secures two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact. In the applied arts and in craft, a button can be an example of...
s, which are traditionally represented by gum drops, icing, or raisins.
In world records
According to the 2009 Guinness Book of Records, the world’s largest gingerbread man was made on December 2, 2006 by the Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce in Smithville, TexasSmithville, Texas
Smithville is a city in Bastrop County, Texas, United States, near the Colorado River. The population was 3,901 at the 2000 census. The population grew to an estimated 4,339 for 2004.-History:...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at their annual Festival of Lights celebration. The gingerbread man weighed in at 1,308 lbs, 8 oz, and stood at over 20 feet. On December 6, 2008, also in conjunction with the annual Festival of Lights celebration, a monument was dedicated in honor of the feat made from the very cookie sheet that was used to break the record.
Recently Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. had a potential record-setting gingerbread man put on display. The Dane County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) unveiled the world's largest gingerbread man. It stood 26 feet and 2 inches tall, although its weight is unknown.
In fiction and popular culture
- The Gingerbread ManThe Gingerbread ManThe Gingerbread Man Thegingerbread Runner is the anthropomorphic protagonist in a fairy tale about a cookie's escape from various pursuers and his eventual demise between the jaws of a fox. The Gingerbread Boy makes his first print appearance in the May 1875 issue of St...
is a fairy taleFairy taleA fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
about a living gingerbread man that gets devoured by a foxFoxFox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
. - Gingy is a talking gingerbread man character in the ShrekShrekShrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
series of movies. He is derived from the children's story The Gingerbread Man. - "Sweet Gingerbread Man" was a 1971 popular song first heard in the film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, performed by the Mike Curb Congregation, with music by Michel LegrandMichel LegrandMichel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
and lyrics by Marilyn and Alan BergmanAlan BergmanAlan Bergman is an American lyricist and songwriter.-Life & career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, he studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UCLA. His involvement in the entertainment industry began in the early 1950s as a director of children's television shows...
. - The Gingerbread ManThe Gingerbread Man (film)The Gingerbread Man is a 1998 American legal thriller film directed by Robert Altman and based on a discarded John Grisham manuscript. The film stars Kenneth Branagh, Embeth Davidtz, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Berenger, Daryl Hannah, Famke Janssen, and Robert Duvall.-Plot:Divorced lawyer Rick Magruder ...
, a 1998 film directed by Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
and starring Kenneth BranaghKenneth BranaghKenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
, Robert Downey Jr and Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
. - Gingerbread Man, a 1994 album by the avant-garde music group The ResidentsThe ResidentsThe Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....
.