A recent House Resolution would make the pepperoni roll the official state food of West Virginia. The pepperoni roll was first created in Fairmont, around 1927 by Italian immigrant baker, Giuseppe “Joseph” Argiro.
In 1987 when the United States Department of Agriculture proposed restrictions that threatened to put the family-owned bakeries of pepperoni rolls out of business, West Virginia Pepperoni Roll producers contacted Senator Jay Rockefeller who intervened and successfully saved the entire industry.
