This Old-School Snack Combo Defined Southern 'Working Man's Lunch' In The '30s

Long ago, before the idea of $4 fast food value meals even existed, there was another lunchtime combo that factory employees, mill workers, and miners depended on: an ice-cold RC Cola and MoonPie. Cheap, portable, and filled to the brim with sugar, the South's original "working man's lunch" began as a practical snack during the early 20th century. Since then, it's become much more.

The story begins with traveling salesman Earl Mitchell, who, on behalf of a Chattanooga bakery, chatted up some coal miners in Kentucky. As the origin story of MoonPie goes, the workers asked the salesman for a snack "as big as the moon." The Tennessee bakery ended up creating a now-iconic marshmallow-filled graham cracker cookie encased in chocolate. The result was not only delicious; it was inexpensive and calorie-heavy, which was exactly what coal miners needed during their brutal 12-hour shifts. The RC part was added later, although the beverage had been around since 1905.

Royal Crown Cola originated in a grocery store basement, where Georgia pharmacist Claud A. Hatcher created the soda as a competitor to Coca-Cola. RC Cola was firmly entrenched in the southern diet by the time the Great Depression rolled around, when the pairing took off. Both sugary snacks were sold for just 5 cents each, making this a 10-cent combo meal that most working-class folks could afford. Healthy? No. But the combination of sugar and caffeine provided just enough boost to tide the working men over until the next break.

MoonPies haven't made it to moon (yet), but they were part of comfort packages for soldiers abroad during World War II. By the 1950s, the combo was so popular that it became a hit country song. And it wasn't just coal miners buying it; textile workers, truck drivers, and factory laborers back then didn't have easy access to refrigeration or full lunch hours. MoonPies and RC Cola were easy to tuck into a lunch pail and didn't require any utensils. Both brands embraced the combination and began featuring them together in advertisements.

It's no doubt thanks to southern pride and regional nostalgia that the sugary duo is still beloved today, long after its practical necessity has faded. It's also become a cultural phenomenon, with an annual RC Cola-Moon Pie Festival held every year in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. In Mobile, Alabama, the city holds an annual "MoonPie Drop" on New Year's Eve instead of the traditional Times Square-style ball. Even today, the MoonPie remains Tennessee's most iconic dessert — and its flavors have grown to include mint, salted caramel, vanilla, and blueberry.

Sadly, RC Cola, once a pioneer of the soda industry, has become a hard soda to find outside of the American South thanks to bad business decisions and its rivals' exclusive supermarket deals. But if you're craving the combo today, you can buy a "Redneck 6-Pack" can be purchased directly from MoonPie's online store. It features two RC's and four MoonPies — just enough to share.