Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Morrie Yohai, R. I. P.

Morrie Yohai, 90, inventor of the Cheez Doodle, dies: "Morrie Yohai, who died of cancer at age 90 last week, was a mystic, a World War II Marine pilot and a philanthropist. But he’ll probably be remembered most as the creator of the Cheez Doodle.

So how did he come up with the iconic snack? After World War II, Yohai took over his father’s snack-food business at the Old London Melba toast factory in the Bronx. The business already made Cheese Waffles, caramel popcorn and other snacks but wanted something new, Newsday reported.

'We were looking for another snack item,' Yohai told Newsday in a 2005 interview. 'We were fooling around and found out there was a machine that extruded cornmeal and it almost popped like popcorn.'

Yohai said they decided to chop the cornmeal product into small pieces and coat it with cheese. 'We wanted to make it as healthy as possible,' he said, 'so it was baked, not fried.'

The name Doodle occurred to him as they sat round a table sampling various kinds of cheese for snacks."

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