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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Virgínia Ocidental
Soft roll baked with slices or sticks of pepperoni inside, which release fat and season the dough. It originated among coal miners of Italian descent in West Virginia.
Traditional dish from Virgínia Ocidental
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Pepperoni roll — Virgínia Ocidental, the United States
The pepperoni roll is West Virginia’s snack. It’s a soft white roll, about the size of a hand, baked with slices or sticks of pepperoni inside. In the oven, the seasoned fat from the pepperoni melts and soaks into the dough.
The tradition ties it to coal miners of Italian descent in the northern part of the state in the early 20th century: a snack that fit in a lunch pail and could be eaten by hand, even inside the mine. The town of Fairmont is often cited as the place where the bakery-sold version began, in the 1920s.
The pepperoni roll is sold in bakeries, gas stations, and convenience stores across the state, and there are versions with cheese and peppers. It’s road food, school food, and football-game food.
Soft bread dough, pepperoni in slices or sticks; sometimes cheese and peppers.
Eat with your hands, cold or warm, as a snack.
Year‑round.
Your questions
It’s a soft roll baked with pepperoni inside — a typical West Virginia snack.
Because it was a snack that fit in a lunch pail and could be eaten by hand inside the coal mines.
At bakeries, gas stations, and convenience stores throughout the state.
Flavors of the United States
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