What is a cracker, really? According to some sources, the food came about in Massachusetts in the late-18th century thanks to one early-American entrepreneur named John Pearson, who used flour and water to fashion a new type of hard bread. It was eponymously known then as “Pearson’s Pilot Bread,” which would look absolutely absurd on a box at the grocery store.
Thus, “cracker” became a catch-all term for a small piece of baked bread product similar to Pearson’s. Elsewhere in the world (the U.K., for example), crackers are known as biscuits, and because they maintained their quality on long-haul voyages, sailors even referred to them as “sea biscuits” — long before the famous horse.
However we refer to them, crackers can be enjoyed in hundreds of different ways, depending on your own palate and preference. You can top them with cheese, vegetables, fruit or dip them in soup. Heck, they’re so good, you can eat them without any “help” at all. Here are the 30 best cracker brands that we’ve seen families eat time and time again. What’s in your pantry?
