Moon Pie has been one of my favorite treats for over 60 years. I believe it was Grandma Hankins that first turned me on to the delicious graham cracker and marshmallow sandwich. I was around five and we were living in Alabama at the time. Moon Pies were strictly a southern thing back then. Today, they’re available nationwide including here in Lake Havasu City.
After moving to Texas in 1963, the only way we came by the delicacies was via Mom’s sisters sending her a box every so often. She’d divvy the goodies out to my brother and I, one a week, in an attempt to make them last. With only 12 in a box they were gone in short order. The same logistics problem in Texas arose after moving to Alaska.
Moon Pies first came to be in 1917 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A Chattanooga Bakery worker named Earl Mitchell invented them after asking several coal mine workers what they were looking for in a cookie.
“Big,” was the unanimous response.
This bakery has made millions of them since they first came on the market, with the Campbell family of Tennessee owning this bakery since 1930. They were popular with soldiers during WWII, as well as being inside the lunchboxes of lucky school children. The snacks were good trading material when I was in grade school in Selma, Alabama, not that I remember letting go of any. I do remember classmates always asking though.
My brother and I generally enjoyed ours with a RC COLA. This drink was another southern favorite yet our reason for indulging was perhaps a bit different than others. A good friend, Randy Coggins, had the same initials as the drink thus we felt obligated to drink the pop. I have an original 1959 bottle of RC COLA in my collectibles, and amazingly, it’s still full although the steel cap appears to be disintegrating from corrosive liquid.
I see where Moon Pie has a pumpkin spice flavor yet I haven’t seen or tasted one. Walmart is where we get our supply, so hopefully their ordering person brings in a pallet or two for the holidays. I tell my wife that I’m often reminded of Moon Pies during each full Moon. The banana flavored pies are bright yellow like the real thing.
The perfect time to enjoy one would be while sitting outside on the patio watching the stars. A Moon Pie and Blue Moon would definitely be a unique combination while doing so.
Nuke a pie in the microwave for 15 seconds with a dollop of vanilla ice cream afterwards to add that special Southwestern touch. I’ll forego the Blue Moon and replace it with a Root Beer instead. I call this western variation Havasu Pie.
One thing I won’t be doing is tapping that bottle of vintage 1959 RC COLA anytime soon. Judging by chunky crud floating around in the bottom of it, this toxic liquid for the safety of our neighborhood had best remain capped.
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