Wagon Wheels
Relaunched in 2002, Wagon Wheels bulk large in many people’s memories of childhood. An unfeasibly large mallow-filled biscuit coated with a chocolate-like substance, featuring in schoolkids’ tuck-boxes the length and breadth of the country, Wagon Wheels were almost a meal in themselves.
This iconic biscuit was invented just after the second world war by Gary Weston, a Canadian-born confectionery entrepreneur. It was launched at the Olympia Food Fair in 1948, and went on to strike a national chord, particularly among those small boys with a consuming interest in cowboy stories of the Wild West. The name refers, of course, to the giant wheels of the American pioneers’ covered wagons.
What consumes Wagon Wheel devotees today more than any other topic is whether the biscuit has shrunk over the years. Many maintain that it only feels smaller because our adult hands are bigger now. Others are unpersuadable. The truth is out there…
Photo: Courtesy Burton's Foods Ltd
NOMINATION 636 OF 1160
The god of the childhood biscuit. The only one big enough to be eaten with two hands. Characteristic enough to be thrown to pantomime audiences. Alarmingly small in adulthood, thus fuelling 'memory lane' chit-chat. The iconic power of the Wagon Wheel....
Sarah Jamieson
SOUNDS LIKE WHAT IN AMERICA IS CALLED A "MOON PIE". I KNOW THEY'VE BEEN AROUND SINCE THE 1950'S
DOROTHY WOODALL PETERSON
