The Moon Pie - A Snack Cake with a Unique History

The MoonPie is more than just a snack cake to me. It holds some very special childhood memories that I will always remember.

My Aunt was a very hard working person. She didn't have any children of her own, so she became like a second mother to me. She worked two jobs when I was growing up, and one of those jobs was at the Chattanooga Bakery, the home of the MoonPie.

One of my favorite memories growing up, were the days when my Aunt would pick me up and then take me to "the Bakery" as we called it. She would usually be going to pick up her paycheck, and then she would take me to the end of the assembly line, where they would let her pull a fresh, hot, gooey, MoonPie right off the line just before it was packaged.

The marshmallow would be warm and melted, and the graham crackers, still coated with warm chocolate, would still have their crispy texture.
They were so good! They don't have this same texture after packaging and making it to the store, they have a lot softer texture.

Every time I see the word MoonPie, I have a warm feeling inside and think of those wonderful afternoons with my Aunt, when we shared a fresh off the line MoonPie snack. I can even remember that sweet smell of the bakery, the smell that was always on my Aunt's clothes when I would hug her after a long day of work.

My Aunt has long since retired, and will be celebrating her 88th birthday in August 2008, but the memories we have shared will last a lifetime.

The actual origin of the MoonPie was never actually documented by the Chattanooga Bakery, but it is thought that a man by the name of Earl Mitchell, Sr., was the person responsible for the invention of the MoonPie.
He asked some stores that catered to miners in his territory what they would like for a snack. The miners had wanted something for their lunch pails that would be large enough to be filling and satisfying. He asked how big it needed to be. About that time, the moon was rising in the sky, and one of the miners held his hands up and framed the moon with them and said, "About that big." So Mr. Mitchell went back to the bakery with an idea in mind, and the MoonPie was born.

The MoonPie had been around 17 years by the time R.C. Cola was introduced in 1934. The two combined forces in the 1950's, hence the slogan "an R.C. Cola and a MoonPie." No one has ever said if this was a planned marketing strategy to combine the two, or if it was just an accident. Whatever the reason, it became an instant success.

Back then, you could purchase this combo for a whopping 10 cents! The combo included a 16 ounce R.C. Cola, and a MoonPie that weighed almost a half pound. Kind of makes you long for the prices of yesterday, doesn't it?

Chattanooga Bakery has only had one advertising campaign in all the years the MoonPie has been in existence, and today the company is still in the hands of the family who founded it.

North Carolina Moon Pie consumption is almost equal to that of tortillas in Mexico.