Get the Fluff out

One of my first assignments as a reporter for a community newspaper in Lynn, Massachusetts, was to interview Don Durkee, the co-owner of Durkee-Mower — the makers of Marshmallow Fluff. For those unfamiliar with Fluff, it’s a marshmallow spread that can be

used for Rice Krispy treats or in fluffernutter (Fluff and peanut

butter) sandwiches. 

It remains the only interview in which I was starstruck. Mr. Durkee is an unassuming, slight man who is proud of his family’s tradition in Lynn and of the marshmallow treat that, once confined to the East Coast, is now being shipped worldwide. Indeed, it was not Mr. Durkee that struck me speechless, it was the chance to tour the factory where they made one of the foods I associate most closely with my childhood.