CAMDEN, N.J. – Here’s a story about a little fish that swam across the ocean.
It’s the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish cracker, a classic American snack that actually has its origins in Switzerland – where it was first baked as a romantic gesture.
Campbell Soup Co., the parent firm of Pepperidge Farm, recently noted the treat’s surprising past in a post at its website: 6 things you didn’t know about ‘the snack that smiles back.”
A list that reveals, for instance, the Goldfish didn’t always grin.
Which is surprising, considering its heartwarming history.
The head of a Swiss baking firm, Oscar J. Kambly II, created the fish-shaped cracker in 1958 as a birthday gift for his wife, whose astrological sign was Pisces.
“Right after the birthday breakfast, he went to his office and sketched the amusing, cheerful little goldfish,” said Chantal van der Voort, a representative of the Kambly firm, now in its fourth generation of family ownership.
“He called for the technician who made a hand mold that same morning, and in the afternoon he baked the first ‘Goldfish’ himself and presented them to his dear wife that evening,” she said in an email.
The snack, originally called Goldfischli, “soon became a revolutionary product in Switzerland,” according to an online history at Kambly’s website.
Goldfischli also grabbed the attention of an American on vacation in Switzerland, Pepperidge Farm founder Margaret Rudkin. She acquired the license for the cracker’s trademark rights, the shape and the recipe, noted van der Voort.
Pepperidge Farm launched its Goldfish in the United States market in 1962, one year after the firm was acquired by Campbell.
Since then, the salty snack has pretty much evolved into two distinct species of goldfish.
The U.S. version became a kid-friendly staple that added a smile in 1997 and later slapped on a pair of sporty sunglasses.
It’s now one of nine “power brands” at Campbell’s snack unit, which each year sells about 150 billion Goldfish in nearly 20 varieties.
Pepperidge Farm produces most of its Goldfish at a bakery in Willard, Ohio, that received a $40 million investment in 2019. In its annual report for that year, Campbell noted a strategy “to build upon the momentum of Goldfish” with new products and packaging.
The Ohio plant can bake up to 50 million Goldfish crackers daily, a Pepperidge Farm representative noted. Even with that output, though, the snack firm supplements its supplies with crackers from plants in Pennsylvania and Utah.
The Pepperidge Farm snacks swim in schools of multi-colored fish, graham-cracker fish, pretzel fish and more – um, make that s’mores.
Also, in some current offerings, Goldfish share their cartoonish packages with cracker creations modeled on Disney characters, the cast of Marvel Avengers or other childhood celebrities.
“They’re fun, baked with goodness, like real cheese, and – really, really yummy!” enthuses Pepperidge Farm.
The cracker’s Swiss cousin, which took the Goldfish name in 1995, is more refined.
Kambly’s website describes its cracker, originally marketed in a can, as “the favourites of every happy aperitif” and “much-loved nibbles for every occasion and memorable moments.”
It’s part of a product line of the “finest specialty baked goods” at Kambly, which describes itself as Switzerland’s “best known and most preferred biscuit brand.”
Kambly, founded in 1910, makes snacks like the Matterhorn, a wafer with the chocolate-and-nougat outline of the famed mountain, and the Butterfly, touted as the world’s thinnest cookie.
Among other snacks, it offers an “artfully twisted puff pastry” that blends green and black olives “into one harmonious treat.”
In other words, nothing like Pepperidge Farm’s newly introduced Flavor Blasted Cheddar and Sour Cream Goldfish.
Then again, Pepperidge Farm – which holds international trademark rights outside Switzerland and some European markets – claims a unique ingredient for its crackers.
Its packaging notes Goldfish crackers are “made with smiles and enriched wheat flour.”
Jim Walsh reports for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. His interests include crime, the courts and being first with breaking news. Reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Goldfish crackers from Pepperidge Farm have origins in Switzerland
