This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,

the show where America is the star and the American people, coming to you

from the city where the West begins, Fort Worth, Texas. Whether you're a diehard cosmic

brownie fan or a lover of Zeber Cake's Nutty Buddy Star Crunch or the annual Christmas tree

cakes, Little Debbie, is a brand you've probably seen time and again on almost every grocery

store shelf in America. Here to tell the story of Little Debbie is Simon Whistler from the Today

I Found Out YouTube channel and its sister, The Brain Food Show podcast. Let's take a listen.

It was 1933 and the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression.

Nearly a quarter of the nation was unemployed, and bread lines went on for blocks.

In short, many were desperate, including O.D. and Ruth McKee, who had lost most of their

money due to a bank failure.

What the couple did still have, however, was a 1928 Whippet car.

According to McKee Foods official history, this is when Odie started selling 5 cents

Virginia Dare cakes made by Becker's bakery out of the back of said vehicle.

By the next year, business was good enough that they were able to purchase a Chattanooga,

Tennessee Bakery, Jack's Cookie Company.

In what was a unique arrangement for the time, Ruth became a full managing partner

in the business with her husband.

While Odie traveled the state making sales and coming up with some innovative ways to

reduce new product, she baked, managed

...