The Fig Newton is a brand of fig bar (in Europe, fig roll), a soft, cake-like pastry filled with fig jam. A trademarked product of Nabisco, Fig Newtons originated in the United States [[1]] and have since spread across the world. Their unusual shape is a characteristic that has been adopted by many competitors, such as the generic fig bars sold by most supermarkets, and Newman's Own Fig Newmans (an organic variety).
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History
The Fig Newton was created in 1891 by Charles M. Roser of the Kennedy Biscuit Company, a Massachusetts-based bakery. The company named many of their products after surrounding communities. The Fig Newton was named after nearby Newton, Massachusetts. It was first called simply the Newton, but in 1898 the name was changed to Fig Newton. The Kennedy Biscuit Company merged with other regional bakeries in 1898 to form the National Biscuit Company, which later became Nabisco. The cookie is now produced by Nabisco. Nabisco was based in Charlottesville, VA until it was purchased by Kraft Foods, Inc. and was relocated to Illinois. Charles Roser may have invented the technique for encasing the fig jam in a dough wrapper. The machine that makes the cookie consists of a funnel within a funnel. The inner funnel contains the filling, and the outer funnel contains the dough. The machine extrudes the filled cookie, which is then baked, cut into smaller pieces, and packaged. Some UK manufacturers including Jacobs and Crawfords slice the extruded shape before baking giving distinctive rounded ends to the fig rolls. Recently, Nabisco moved the manufacture of the cookie to Monterrey, Mexico.
Varieties
Nabisco makes several varieties of the Newton, including Strawberry, Cherries 'n' Cheesecake, Caramel Apple, Raspberry, Cherry, Blueberry, Grape, and Apple Newtons (no relation to Apple Computer's Apple Newton), in addition to the original Fig. The original Fig Newton also comes in a low fat variety and a 100% whole grain variety. Fig Newton Minis were also recently introduced. The cookie is the company's number-three seller at more than a billion a year.
Advertising and Popular Culture
In the 1970s, Nabisco ran a tremendously popular advertising campaign for the Fig Newton. The commercials featured actor James (Jimmy) Harder dressed like a fig. At the conclusion of the song, he struck the "fig newton pose", leaning forward and balancing on his left foot, with arms spread and right leg raised behind him. When Grape Newtons were introduced in the wake of Cherry, Blueberry, and Apple (which came several years earlier), a chimpanzee appeared on the commercial, and the song "Yes, We Have No Bananas" played to the chimp's consternation. Jacobs Biscuits is its main manufacturer in Europe, advertising with the slogan "How do they get the figs into the fig rolls?". American advertisements have most frequently featured a narrator with a British accent and other European themes. In the 1980s, Nabisco again produced a popular advertising slogan:
- A cookie is just a cookie, but a Newton is fruit and cake.
In 2006, the brand's push was centered on the claim that a Fig Newton contained more fruit than a Nutri-Grain bar. In 2007, they used the slogan "The cookie that thinks it is a fruit" to advertise Fig Newtons.
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In Stuart Saves His Family, Stuart copes with depression by binging on Oreo cookies and Fig Newtons. In the 2006 film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Ricky Bobby drives his car with a Fig Newtons sticker on his windshield in a race.
See also
- Nabisco
- Fig
- Jaffa Cake
- Newman's Own produces an all organic variant called the Fig Newman.
