MoonPies - Unusual Southern Foods
Sample the South with a Moon Pie and a RC Cola
It does not get more Southern than MoonPie - a bakery treat similar to S'mores. These Southern snack cakes are nostalgic, dating back over 75 years.
If you’ve never had a MoonPie and a RC Cola (Royal Crown Cola), then you most certainly must not be from the South. These are classic Southern junk foods and have been around for “many moons” as they say in the South.
History of the MoonPie (no space – thank you ma’am)
The history of the MoonPie got lost as do many great Southern stories. Tales tend to be passed word-of-mouth south of the Mason-Dixon line. They’re floating around. You just have to know who to ask and when, and the teller has to be in a tellin’ mood.
Ron Dickson did endeavor to track down the story behind the MoonPie, and put out “The Great American MoonPie Handbook” in 1985. Why he decided to write this book would most surely be another story, but that history also seems to be lost in the jumble of the South and why folks get all choked up about random Southern stuff.
According to Dickson, a rep from the Chattanooga Bakery was out on the road. He asked some coalminers in Kentucky what sorts of foods they might like to pack in their lunch pails.
Coalminers (and most Southerners) are pretty concrete. The miners wanted something sweet that was . . . oh . . . about the size of the moon out that night. The miners had some graham crackers that they’d put out with marshmallows, so that the marshmallows would melt and coat the graham crackers. Something similar might be good.
The company decided to dip marshmallows sandwiched between graham crackers in chocolate. The size would be . . . about the size of a full moon in the sky.
Shoot for the Moon or Stars (It’s All Good)
The MoonPie was so popular that the Chattanooga Bakery stopped making all other treats by the late 1950s. They did away with their Sugar Cookies, Raisin Cookies, and Ginger Snaps. Other companies made those traditional cookies. The MoonPie was unique. The company decided to bank on MoonPies, and that’s all they make now.
MoonPies are available in mini sizes as well as single and double decker. That’s it though. They don’t try to sell you all manner of MoonPies in flavors never meant to be Moon Pied.
Chicken or Egg (MoonPie Versus S’mores)
Certainly there were some early home versions of the MoonPie as reflected by the coalminers letting marshmallows melt on graham crackers, but adding chocolate does seem to be a Chattanooga inspiration. Selling such a concoction is definitely the "claim to fame" of the Tennessee company.
S’mores include the same basic ingredients but are usually made over campfires. It would seem that the Girl Scouts borrowed the idea from MoonPie around 1927 when they published a recipe for S’mores in the GS handbook. It’s hard to argue with made-fresh-on-the-spot, so S’mores are also immensely popular.
Where Do You Get MoonPies?
If you’re traveling down South, you’ll find MoonPies at most any convenience store or grocery store. If not, the store probably isn’t worth it’s Southern salt.
Amazon, of course, offers MoonPies, and you can also visit the MoonPie site and get information on buying MoonPies.
