Dannon

The Bronx is home to your favorite European-sounding ice cream brand--and it's also the place where a European yogurt was outfitted for American tastes. Back in 1919, in Barcelona, Spain, Isaac Carasso started making yogurt after learning about scientific advances fermenting milk at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He founded the "Danone" yogurt company--named after his young son Daniel--and invented yogurt's first industrial manufacturing process. Isaac's son, Daniel, eventually brought the business to France, but then moved to New York in the midst of World War Two. In 1942, Daniel Carasso changed the name Danone to Dannon to make the brand sound more American. It was the first American yogurt company located in the Bronx at a time when few Americans knew what yogurt was. The rest, as they say, is history, with hand-delivered yogurt making its way around the city, and the American taste preferences leading the company to invent fruit-based flavors you still see today.
Keep reading for Dannon's NYC history