What the Fluff

Somerville, Mass - As every native Bostonian knows...

It takes Fluff, Fluff Fluff, to make a Fluffernutter

Marshmallow Fluff and lots of peanut butter.

But Bostonians may not know that marshmallow cream actually originated right here in Somerville, Mass! In 1917, Archibald Query went door-to-door to sell the gooey treat made in his Somerville kitchen. A few years later, two enterprising WWI veterans bought the secret recipe for $500, and moved the operation to Lynn. Good management and even better marketing made the Fluff business a sweet success.

Maybe it is mostly air-whipped sugar and not real marshmallow (a plant that actually grows in marshes), but the squat white-and-blue jar of Fluff has been present in cupboards across the region for more than three-quarters of a century. So it's no surprise that it generated quite a controversy in recent years, when a state senator tried to ban Fluffernutter sandwiches from the school lunch program.

Health benefits aside, nobody can deny the iconic cultural status of marshmallow fluff. Certainly not after attending the Fluff Festival, which is was held today in Union Square. Bigger this year than ever before, the festival really celebrates the many diverse functions of marshmallow fluff.

There was a highly competetive cooking contest...

A Fluffernutter race... the blindfolded contestant was required to feed the fluffternutter sandwich to his/her partner. The first sandwich eater to sing the fluffernutter song was the winner.

A Fluffernutter hair-do competition, with some very creative contestants...

Lots of kids' games like fluff bowling...

And an excellent performance by the Flufferettes! You go girls! Show us your fluff!