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Maine State Treat

"Whoopie Pie"

Adopted in 2011

In 2011, the Maine State Legislature designated the whoopie pie as Maine's official state treat. This confection traditionally consists of two chocolate cake-like rounds surrounding a white cream filling. The popular treat is reported to have been baked in Maine since 1925.

Maine State Treat: "Whoopie Pie"

The whoopie pie (alternatively called a black moon, gob (term indigenous to the Pittsburgh region), black-and-white, bob, or "BFO" for Big Fat Oreo. (Also recorded as "Devel Dogs," and "Twins" in 1835) is a US baked good that may be considered either a cookie, pie, or cake. It is made of two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, or sometimes pumpkin or gingerbread cake, with a sweet, creamy filling or frosting sandwiched between them.

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[citation needed]. 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.

Maine Law

The law designating the whoopie pie as the official Maine state treat is found in then Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, Chapter 9, Subchapter 1, Section 225.

Title 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS
Chapter 9: SEAL, MOTTO, EMBLEMS AND FLAGS
Subchapter 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS
§225. State treat

The whoopie pie, a baked good made of 2 cakes with a creamy frosting between them, is the official state treat. [2011, c. 29, §1 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
2011, c. 29, §1 (NEW).

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