# Moon pie / Wagon Wheel
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 6, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785 "2005-11-06T13:23:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/1 "2005-11-06T13:23:46Z")
Is a **Moon Pie** in American English the same thing that as a **Wagon Wheel** in British English? Are they exactly the same, or is there some difference?
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/2 "2005-11-06T13:31:07Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#):
>
> Is a **Moon Pie** in American English the same thing that as a **Wagon Wheel** in British English? Are they exactly the same, or is there some difference?
If you are talking about snack foods, then yes, they are the same.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/3 "2005-11-06T14:35:42Z")
The term \*\*Wagon Wheel \*\* in American English, however (when applied to food), refers to a hunk of cheese between two round crackers as constructed by Timer, a tiny nightmare creature who conveyed dubious nutritional advice in PSAs airing between Saturday Morning cartoons during the 1970’s.
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### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/4 "2005-11-06T14:44:39Z")
> [@Terrifel](#):
>
> The term \*\*Wagon Wheel \*\* in American English, however (when applied to food), refers to a hunk of cheese between two round crackers as constructed by Timer, a tiny nightmare creature who conveyed dubious nutritional advice in PSAs airing between Saturday Morning cartoons during the 1970’s.
I hanker for a hunka
A slice, a slab, a chunka
I hanker fer a hunka cheese!
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### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/5 "2005-11-06T14:45:49Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#):
>
> I hanker for a hunka
> A slice, a slab, a chunka
> I hanker fer a hunka cheese!
Wa-hoo!
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### Author:  [@DrMemory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrMemory)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/6 "2005-11-06T15:09:17Z")
Are you sure that charecter’s name was _Timer_ , and Not **ELVIS??**
Now I’M hankering. Thank you…Thank you Very much…
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### Author:  [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/7 "2005-11-06T17:02:01Z")
You sure that they are the same? The Moonpie has a banna flavor that the Wagon Wheel does not have.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/8 "2005-11-06T17:27:31Z")
Actually, outside the South, they were called “Marshmallow Pie.” Nabisco used to make a version of them that I ate as a kid, and I never heard the term “moon pie” until the song “Junk Food Junkie.”
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/9 "2005-11-06T17:44:03Z")
> [@Lochdale](#):
>
> You sure that they are the same? The Moonpie has a banna flavor that the Wagon Wheel does not have.
I’m not sure that this is true. At least in my experience. Do you have a cite?
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/10 "2005-11-06T17:45:20Z")
_Moon Pie_ to indicate the marshmallow treat so common in the South was trademarked in 1955, and the company claims that it first appeared in commerce in 1917. Possible, but I’ve had a hard time finding it. I CAN find a 1951 newspaper cite talking about an RC cola and a moon pie. You know that’s the real deal. 🙂
I’d be interested to know when a Northern US version of the treat first appeared.
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### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/11 "2005-11-06T18:34:54Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Actually, outside the South, they were called “Marshmallow Pie.” Nabisco used to make a version of them that I ate as a kid, and I never heard the term “moon pie” until the song “Junk Food Junkie.”
We always called them Moon Pies, in the Finger Lakes region of NY state.
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### Author:  [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/12 "2005-11-06T18:57:48Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> I’m not sure that this is true. At least in my experience. Do you have a cite?
I don’t but every moonpie I have eaten in the Chicago-area has a banna flavor to them.
Here’s a link to the Moonpie site.
[http://www.favoritesof.com/products/moonpieframe.html](http://www.favoritesof.com/products/moonpieframe.html)
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/13 "2005-11-06T19:20:40Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#):
>
> I hanker for a hunka
> A slice, a slab, a chunka
> I hanker fer a hunka cheese!
Peter: Excuse me sir, it’s 3 Am and I’m trying to sleep. What is your problem?
Cheese monster: I just smoked a whole bunch of crack!
But in reasgrds to Moon Pies…they are nothing more than a horrible attempt to recreate the awesomey goodness of a Whoopie Pie, IMO. 😉
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/14 "2005-11-06T19:37:02Z")
> [@bouv](#):
>
> But in reasgrds to Moon Pies…they are nothing more than a horrible attempt to recreate the awesomey goodness of a Whoopie Pie, IMO. 😉
Except Moon Pies came first.
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### Author:  [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/15 "2005-11-06T20:10:09Z")
As I post this, I am wearing my official Moonpie and RC cola festival tee shirt. Hence, I am the expert on all things Moonpie. Unfortunately, I know nothing of this wagonwheel of which you speak, but my very precise British husband says that they are “very, very, very similar.” This, of course, means that they are identical.
Moonpies were born in Chattanooga in 1917. I actually know shit about them, but that is what the company site says and I have no reason to doubt them. The tasty little buggers come in chocolate, banana and vanilla flavors. As I hate them, I can’t tell you which flavor is better. I did, however, enjoy the festival, which included sychnonized wading and the random distribution of moonpies.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/16 "2005-11-06T20:40:15Z")
> [@Brynda](#):
>
> Moonpies … come in chocolate, banana and vanilla flavors.
Interesting. What part of the snack is flavoured? Do they have a banana flavour coating instead of chocolate? Or is it chocolate coated with banana flavour inside?
Wagon Wheels, AFAIK, only come in one flavour.
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### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/17 "2005-11-06T20:42:59Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#):
>
> Interesting. What part of the snack is flavoured? Do they have a banana flavour coating instead of chocolate? Or is it chocolate coated with banana flavour inside?
>
> Wagon Wheels, AFAIK, only come in one flavour.
It’s got a banana flavored coating, or vanilla or chocolate. Internals are the same regardless of the outer coating flavor, IIRC.
The banana ones taste awful, IMO. But then again, I don’t like anything banana flavored.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/18 "2005-11-06T20:49:28Z")
There are different flavors of Wagon Wheel. But IMO, only the original flavor is edible. It’s pretty much vanilla.
I’ve never had a Moon Pie, but judging by the pictures in the link above, a Wagon Wheel is thicker.
I love Wagon Wheels.
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### Author:  [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/19 "2005-11-06T21:38:44Z")
My beef with Moonpies (besides the marshmallow, which I hate) is that the chocolate coating is wafer-thin. Do Wagonwheels have more chocolate?
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-pie-wagon-wheel/329785/20 "2005-11-06T22:23:49Z")
The chocolate is pretty thin on Wagon Wheels too.
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