Was Oreo named after a New York Street or is it the other way around?
Oreo, the king of cookies, has delighted generations after generations. Not only that, it has been part of a weird food debate, popularly known as “twist or dunk” controversy. On one hand, a certain section claims that this chocolate sandwich cookie tastes the best when it’s separated into two halves, while the other party says that the biscuit is best eaten by dunking it straight into a glass of warm milk. Now, whichever group you belong to, if you are a fan of cookies, Oreo has to be your go-to option. Today, standing in 2022, Oreo has come a long way and is now even part of dessert toppings, such as ice creams and cakes. But, when did it all begin?
World welcomes Oreo
One of the world’s leading and most favourite cookies has quite an interesting origin story. It was 1898 and most of the popular baking companies in USA merged to form the National Biscuit Company, better known as Nabisco. While Nabisco’s animal crackers created quite a stir across the USA and were even used as holiday decors, the company wanted to come up with something unique and original. So, in 1912, it came up with the idea of a cookie that comprised of two decorated chocolate discs with white cream sandwiched. But here’s the thing, this idea was neither unique nor original.
Turns out, a rival company named Sunshine Biscuits came up with a similar idea in 1908 and called the cookie Hydrox. It was made up of two chocolate discs with chocolate or strawberry creams in between. While Sunshine Biscuits dragged Nabisco to the court for copying their idea, Nabisco’s popularity and power made them not only win the case but also surpass their competitor in business. Following this, Nabisco didn’t waste any time to file for a trademark, that was granted within a year. Since then, Oreo has ruled both USA and the globe, and has even earned the tag of best-selling cookie in the USA for many consecutive years.
Tracing the origin of Oreo’s iconic name
While the world has always called it ‘Oreo’, when the cookie first emerged, it was sold as Oreo Biscuit. However, later in 1921, it was changed into Oreo Sandwich, which, by 1937, had further shifted to Oreo Crème Sandwich. Finally, in 1974, after a lot of name-changing roller coaster, Nabisco settled upon Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie. But guess what? No one has ever called it by its full name, the very name Oreo has always sufficed.
Okay, but how did Nabisco come up with the name ‘Oreo’ or rather what was their inspiration behind this popular name? Well, there are three common theories surrounding it. The first is, Oreo comes from the French word ‘oreo’ which means gold, the colour that was on the bulk-tin packaging of the early days of Oreo. Another theory suggests that Oreo derives from the Greek word for mountain (‘oreo’) that inspired the original shape of the cookie (hill-shaped). However, it never made it to the shelves.
The most popular anecdote suggests that Oreo was a combination of the letters ‘re’ from ‘cream’ and the double o in ‘cookie’, one placed at each end of ‘re’, thus making it ‘oreo.’ It’s as if, the name, just like the shape, is a sandwich! Experts believed that the name was rather random and stuck around as it was short, fun and most importantly, easy-to-pronounce. Estimates suggest that more than 500 billion Oreos have been sold worldwide, till date.
What’s interesting is that, Oreo became such an important part of American tradition that in 2002, a street in New York City was named Oreo Way, as a tribute to the iconic cookie. It’s located between 15th and 16th streets, on the 9th Avenue. But why did New York get such an honourable tag? Well, because, Oreo was born in the heart of New York and grew up there, until its home got shifted to the neighbouring New Jersey.
Oreo over the years
Unlike most snacks, Oreo has retained its original recipe and signature look (a wreath along the edge of the cookie with the word ‘Oreo’ written at the centre) till date, both of which were brainchild of Nabisco’s the then principal scientist Sam Porcello, often deemed as Mr. Oreo. However, over the course of history, limited-edition flavours have emerged, starting with 1975 Double Stuffed Oreo, 1987 Fudge covered Oreo, 1991 Halloween Oreo and 1995 Christmas Oreo.