A smoothie is a blended, chilled, sometimes sweet beverage made from fresh fruit or vegetables. In addition to fruit, many smoothies include crushed ice, frozen fruit, honey or frozen yogurt, although some smoothies are 100% fruit. They have a milkshake-like consistency which is thicker than slush drinks.

Unlike milkshakes, they never contain ice cream, but can contain milk. Smoothies are marketed to health-conscious people, and some restaurants offer add-ins such as soy milk, whey powder, green tea, herbal supplements, or nutritional supplement mixes. Smoothies became available in the United States in the late 1960s when ice cream vendors and health food stores began selling them.

By the 1990s and 2000s, smoothies became available at mainstream cafés and coffee shops, and in pre-bottled versions at supermarkets. Health food stores of the West coast of the United States began selling pureed fruit drinks in the 1930s based on recipes originated in Brazil. The 1940s-era Waring "Blendor" cookbooks published recipes for a "banana smoothie" and a "pineapple smoothee." The name "smoothee" or "smoothie" was used by books, magazines, and newspapers for a product made in blenders.

Dan Titus, the director of The Juice and Smoothie Association states in his book, "Smoothies, The Original Smoothie Book", that "smoothies became popular in the middle 1960s, when there was a resurgence in the United States in macrobiotic vegetarianism." Health restaurants were particularly popular in California. The first trademark for a fruit slush was in the mid-1970s with the name "California Smoothie", which was marketed by the California Smoothie Company from Paramus, New Jersey. Smoothies from the 1960s and early 1970s were " basically fruit, fruit juice, and ice"; in some cases in the early 1970s, ice milk was also blended in to create the "fruit shake".

These shakes were served at local health-food restaurants and at health-food stores, alongside tofu, fruits, carob, and other health-oriented foods. In the early 1970s the co-founder of Smoothie King, Stephen Kuhnau, began selling blended fruit drinks under the name "smoothie". However, Kuhnau admits that he "...didn't invent the word smoothie"; instead, he states that the term dates back to the "fruit and fruit juice based drinks made by the "Hippies" in the late 1960s.

In the 1980s, the increasing popularity of sports and fitness led to the marketing of supplement-fortified health food products. During this time, the first "specialized juice and smoothie bars" opened. By the 2000s, the "juice and smoothie industry [was] a multi-billion dollar industry."

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