whoopie

there's a new dessert place here in auckland, and of course it's literally 6 houses down from where i live.  see ya later, diet!  despite the constant temptation, i made the walk up the street to this place only last week (after it's been opened for about 3-4 months. now that's willpower!) the shop is called whoopie, who specializes in whoopie cakes and cake pops.    

though i knew the shop was toting their goods as "america's favorite treats," i never expected that walking into the shop i'd learn a little bit of my own country's history so to speak. my accent was once again immediately picked up and tested (i.e. "so, are you canadian or...?"), and the shop owner was so excited that i must know the history of this famous american treat.  though, like most stereotypical americans, i didn't fail to disappoint with my lack of knowledge of my own country's history.  i'll cut myself a break in this case since we're technically only talking about the history of dessert here, but you know what i mean.

apparently, whoopie pies were treats that amish women used to make their working husbands in the morning to include in their lunch boxes for the day.  when the men arrived at work and opened up their lunch, they exclaimed "whoopie!" and thus whoopie pies were named.

there's a part of me that doubted the validity of this story of course, but i wikipedia'd it and it seems to check out.  still, were these cakes not called something else when they were first being made - before the first "whoopie!" proclamation?  plus there's something odd to me about picturing a traditional amish man screaming in excitement over dessert, when the most excitement i have ever seen from the amish involved a slight finger wag at my pointed camera lense.

anyway, it's pretty clear that i've never been one to set limitations on myself when it comes to sweets.  so when faced with the decision between peanut butter chocolate chip and banana, walnut and salted caramel, i chose both.