The treatment has deep roots in the coal industry (as well as in our own state). Pepperoni rolls are often associated with the state of West Virginia and the surrounding area. They are important to the history of the state and of the people who live here. It's such a unique food that when you travel across the country, many people you talk to have never heard of a pepperoni roll.
Here in West Virginia, food can be found at just about any grocery store or convenience store. It can be argued that it's the most popular snack in the state. Created by Italian coal miners and their wives, pepperoni rolls have become West Virginia's staple food. It's an interesting content and it makes me appreciate the fighting spirit of the bakers and I'm glad that the senator intervened, because I couldn't imagine West Virginia without pepperoni rolls at every gas station, let alone in a bakery.
I made a speech about the pepperoni roll for public speaking a few years ago and learned the story of where and why it was made. Last summer, a historic monument was placed outside the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont, West Virginia, the 94-year-old monument that still works and claims to be the birthplace of the state's iconic pepperoni rolls. The military began to include a version of the pepperoni roll in one of the MREs (ready-to-eat meals) that were provided to the troops. While that debate is very important for the topic of snacking, another is the addition of cheese to the pepperoni roll.
The original pepperoni rolls were made with leftover bread dough and pepperoni sticks, but today bakeries across the state have small differences in how they are prepared. The compact size of the pepperoni roll and its comparatively high nutritional performance make it an ideal serving for these patrols. Home Industry Bakery of Clarksburg, which owes its contradictory name to an early Depression-era business that sold homemade baked goods for local women, bakes pepperoni rolls that, when hot, ooze cheese with pepper. I've seen and eaten pepperoni rolls with everything from hot cheeses to baked ramps.
What you include in the snack depends entirely on your taste. With the popularity of pepperoni rolls today, they can be found just about anywhere in West Virginia, such as backdoors, weddings, and parties, just to name a few. The history of pepperoni rolls, along with the culture they have brought to West Virginia, will be consolidated in the state's daily life and will continue to grow over time. Variations of the original pepperoni roll may contain different types of cheese, peppers, or other ingredients.
A bakery just a few miles from the Clarksburg, West Virginia country club, which is the oldest Italian bakery in West Virginia, also developed a pepperoni roll around the same time, so it's often disputed who was the first to start marketing the snack. The town of Mannington, less than 15 miles from Fairmont, offers an oversized pepperoni roll at midnight on New Year's Day. They're even included in festivals, fairs, baking, and food contests, and so far Joey Chestnut holds the world record for the most pepperoni rolls eaten.
