Whoopie Pie - Origin Controversy

Origin Controversy

Pennsylvania, Maine, and New Hampshire all claim to be the birthplace of the Whoopie pie. In 2011, the Maine State Legislature considered naming the whoopie pie the official state pie. The proposal received bipartisan support. L.D. 71, officially known as "An Act to Designate the Whoopie Pie as the State Dessert", read "The whoopie pie, a baked good made of two chocolate cakes with a creamy frosting between them, is the official state dessert". The Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau and other observers in Lancaster County, PA, note that the whoopie pie comes from the area’s Amish and Pennsylvania German culture – origins that are unlikely to leave an official paper trail – and has been handed down through generations. Most likely, Amish groups that migrated to Maine brought the treat to the people of Maine. Mainers assert that Labadie's in Lewiston, Maine has been making the confectionery since 1925. The now-defunct Berwick Cake Company of Roxbury, Massachusetts had been making the "Whoopee Pie" since 1931 and it is also claimed that the whoopie pie originated there in Massachusetts and spread both north and south. It appears though that German immigrants brought the predecessor of the Whoopie Pie to communities throughout the northeast.

The Maine Legislature eventually decided to declare the whoopie pie the official state treat, and chose blueberry pie (made with wild Maine blueberries) as the official state dessert.