How The Cookie Crumbles

Nabisco, the makers of Oreos, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their flagship cookie on March 6th.

In honor of the little cookie that became an icon of innocent sweetness, Nabisco has come up with yet another twist on the classic two chocolate wafers with a creamy vanilla filling: the Happy Birthday Oreo is filled with an icing designed to summon the giddy sugar high of birthday cake icing. Yay!

In addition to the limited edition birthday cookies, Nabisco is also encouraging Oreo fans to share their own Oreo moments and special Oreo-related memories on Nabisco’s website. The thrust of the new campaign is to honor the company’s stated mission to “make life a little less serious” by helping even adults reconnect with “the kid inside.”

Seems harmless enough. I mean, you have to give credit to Nabisco for creating a star-quality cookie, not to mention selling 491 billion of them. Although if I were a Fig Newton I’d probably be feeling a bit resentful. Nabisco’s Fig Newtons have been around since 1891, but nobody put on a party hat for their 100th anniversary.

Still, I’ve eaten enough Oreos to respect their healing properties. And I would argue that they aren’t just for the good times. Sometimes, when life hands you lemons, you wish it were Oreos.

So, in honor of all the quiet little cookie moments that bind up our wounds and give us the strength to carry on, I offer a short story I wrote some years ago titled More Oreos Than God.