PEZ: From Austrian Invention to American Icon (American Palate)

PEZ is an American classic and a staple of many childhood memories. Take an inside look, through words and vintage images of this iconic brand.

Yet it originated in Austria, where PEZ began in 1927 as compressed peppermint tablets marketed as an alternative to smoking. Upon arrival in the United States in 1952, PEZ quickly took a new direction, adding fruit flavors and three-dimensional character heads to top the dispensers. Now produced in Orange, Connecticut, the iconic PEZ brand is available in over eighty countries, selling more than sixty-five million dispensers annually and inspiring collectors and fans worldwide. Join the world's first and only official PEZ historian, Shawn Peterson, on a journey of sweet proportions for an inside look at the world's most cherished interactive candy.

Shawn Peterson is the company archivist and historian at PEZ Candy, Inc., in Orange, Connecticut. He also manages the visitor's center there as well as the content for the company website, and he is responsible for the creative content in the visitor's center. Prior to working for PEZ, he authored the Collector's Guide to PEZ.