Peeps feed nation's sugar demands each Easter

The Washington Post
Published Sunday, April 11, 2004

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Peeps, the chick-and-bunny-shaped marshmallow treats have become one of America's best loved harbingers of spring.


Fifty years after the first ones were squeezed out of pastry tubes in a 26-hour-long process, 1.2 billion of them are now consumed worldwide annually.

"They're an American icon," says Washington artist David Ottogalli, whose principal media are Peeps and other vibrantly colored food products. "When blazing yellow Peeps appear on your grocer's shelves, you know it's springtime."

For more than a decade, Peeps have been the country's favorite non-chocolate Easter treat, according to Milena DeLuca, a spokeswoman for the company that makes them. In the past three years, Peeps consumption has surged by more than 100 million a year; Americans eat an average of 2.3 Peeps apiece each spring.

Just Born Inc., which marked its 50th anniversary of making Peeps last year, produces 4.1 million a day at its plant in Bethlehem, Pa. The company has expanded to other holidays, creating Peeps-like marshmallow hearts for Valentine's Day, pumpkins and ghosts for Halloween, and Christmas trees and snowmen for Christmas.

What is it about Peeps? Why do they inspire such passion, both negative and positive?

Ottogalli believes their popularity stems from their protean simplicity. They are so basic, so blank, so formless -- even their wings were removed in 1991 as the manufacturing process was streamlined -- that people adapt them to all sort of uses, he says.

"Peeps are popular because of their form, color, texture and tastiness," says Ottogalli. "Not to mention their versatility; you can eat them, smoosh them, melt them, freeze them ... even spray-paint them."

Certainly Peeps are eaten in a variety of ways: fresh, stale, warm, microwaved, frozen, fricasseed, roasted and sometimes even as a pizza topping, says DeLuca. Many fans say Peeps are tastiest after they've hardened for two to three weeks.

Peeps have long since transcended their status as food product with a national fan club and more than 90 Web sites. The official Peeps site, www.marshmallowpeeps.com, offers Peeps souvenirs, history, recipes and craft ideas.

Ottogalli's Web site, www.peepsshow.com, includes an extensive gallery of his multimedia Peep art and sculpture, the most impressive of which has to be an 8-foot-tall shrine constructed of 5,053 chicks.

Other sites feature a "Lord of the Rings" parody, "Lord of the Peeps"; Peeps lyrics set to the music of the Monkees; entrees for the Peeps Challenge, in which participants write stories that feature Peeps interacting with "X-Files" characters; and Peeps karaoke.

The newest craze is Peeps jousting, according to DeLuca. To see two Peeps joust, insert a toothpick into the chest of each, place them 11/2 toothpicks apart in a microwave, and nuke them for no more than 10 seconds.

Sacramento hosts the Peep Off, a Peeps-eating contest, a week after Easter for the sole reason that, by then, $30 will buy about 2,000 Peeps. Last year's champion, the aptly named Dennis Gross, downed 103 Peeps in 30 minutes.

Oddest of all, perhaps, is the PeepResearch.org Web site, which chronicles in-depth and unofficial experiments performed on Peeps at Emory University. Scientists James Zimring and Gary Falcon have tested Peeps' tolerance for a range of temperatures. They and other researchers also examined what happens to Peeps in a vacuum, in a hot tub, in liquid nitrogen, when electrocuted, when dunked in toxic liquids, and after being subjected to the Coyote Treatment.

The last, named for the "Looney Tunes" character Wile E. Coyote, involves tying a Peep to a heavy object such as a rock and hurtling it off a high place, such as a canyon ledge. Conclusion: Contrary to popular lore, Peeps eventually can be destroyed, even those stale ones. (Peep eyes, however, which are made of the same kind of wax used on cars, were found to be indestructible in every test.)

The Emory scientists' experiments spawned a movement to ban Peeps research. "How can we sit by when thousands of Peeps are injured and killed each year for research?" pleads one activist on his Web site, www.marcpedersen.com/humor/peeps .

Made mostly of sugar, with corn syrup, gelatin, potassium sorbate and a lot of air mixed in, marshmallow chicks as a concept originated with the Rodda Candy Co. of Lancaster, Pa., which employed 80 women to squeeze them out of pastry bags. In 1953, the Born family bought Rodda. Bob Born streamlined the manufacturing and the shape of Peeps so that it takes only about six minutes to create one. The originals were all yellow, but today they come in lavender, pink, electric blue and white (also known as albinos).

With just 32 calories each and no fat, Peeps come conjoined in fives -- an acute sugar-rush headache in a box.

The debate over Peeps as an icon boils down to whether a miasma of marshmallow has drowned the spiritual message of the Resurrection. Some argue that the Peep is to Easter what the mall Santa Claus is to Christmas: the triumph of materialism over meaning.

Others see something more beneficent, and nostalgic.

"It's a magical brand," said Matt Petronio, vice president for research, development and marketing at Just Born. "Peeps are a must-have for Easter baskets. They bring back fond memories of childhood, Easter egg hunts, spring and families."

American University communications professor Leonard Steinhorn, who is writing a book about the baby boom generation, thinks Peeps mania speaks to the diversity of American culture.

"Fifty years ago, people who did experiments on Peeps would have been shunned," he said. "We've opened up society so much that now there are a lot more people just doing their own thing, however unique, unusual or eccentric it is. We're a lot less conformist than we used to be."

Says Petronio, "The great thing about Peeps is, at the end of the day, when you're done playing with them, you can eat them."

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