I have a lot of memories about favorite snack foods from when I was growing up, none of which are on the market today. My strongest memory was Scooter Pies, a lot like Moon Pies, but much tastier. Are they still manufactured, and if so who sells them? I've done an extensive search through the Internet and couldn't find much.
--Larry Sprissler, Las Vegas
An Internet search mainly reveals how many people name their dogs Scooter Pie and how many of those dogs have their own web sites. But the lamented, 50-year-old Scooter Pie cookie is pretty much a lost puppy. Yes, they're still made, and they once were widely distributed, but gradually they lost ground in the supermarket cookie shelf-space wars. They weren't nationally advertised, so large chains wouldn't (and still won't) stock them. The Scooter Pies manufacturer has been owned by eight different companies in the last dozen years. Their latest parent is based in Italy. If you call their U.S. offices and say "Scooter Pies," you get the telephonic equivalent of a blank stare. But we persisted, tracking the elusive chocolate-and-marshmallow treat from St. Louis to Des Plaines (IL) to Oakland to Ashland (OH) to Anaheim, and finally discovered where your pies are hiding. In military commissaries. That's their only distribution in the SoCal-Nevada area. Assuming you don't want to enlist just to get your fix, you can order Scooter Pies via the Internet at netgrocer.com, original or banana, $1.49 for a box of eight, plus FedEx shipping. (They also sell the legendary and equally elusive Mallomar.) Internet groceries have a shaky history, so you'd better order fast, before they go away too. Happy snacking.