cookies...the other side of the story.

[Timothy A. McDaniel]

Recently, diacono at seas.gwu.edu picked up the "two-fifty cookie recipe"
story and began spreading it.  The message I saw was:

> I got this e-mail from a cookie loving friend and thought I'd pass it
> along to another!
>
> My daughter and I had just finished a salad at Neiman-Marcus Cafe
> in Dallas & decided to have a small dessert.  Because both of us are
> such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus Cookie".
...
> Have fun!!!  This is not a joke - this is a true story ...

Actually, it's quite false.  It's a classic "urban legend", now
receiving a new burst of vectoring.  The previous one I saw, a few
years ago, was the Mrs. Field's Cookies version.  The
alt.folklore.urban FAQ refers to "The Mrs. Fields Cookie Recipe"
section in "CBA", _Curses!__Broiled_Again!_ by Jan Harold Brunvand,
the noted researcher of urban legends.  "This is probably a descendent
of the 'Red Velvet Cake' UL in TVH (_The Vanaishing Hitchhiker_, by
the same author].  Another version involves Neiman-Marcus and many
other noted retail establishments."  Despite denials by Mrs. Fields
and an unclaimed reward if anyone produced a receipt or a bill, this
story is still being spread.

http://www.urbanlegends.com/ is a good place to start for researching
whether something is a known urban legend.  The Frequently-Asked
Questions list is informative.  (It's no coincidence that it's
labelled "version 250".  The denizens of AFU have a sharp sense of
humour.)

Please help stomp out this falsehood.  I request that you please do
not spread this story as truth any more; that if anyone tells you
about it, please tell them that it has been debunked; that if you
remember telling people about this story, please mention to them that
it's false.  This urban legend is worse than most, being slander or
libel.

-- 
                             Tim McDaniel
                        Reply-To: tmcd at crl.com
              Never use mcdaniel at mcdaniel.dallas.tx.us.