Morrie Robert Yohai (pronounced yo-high; March 4, 1920 – July 27, 2010) was an American food company executive best known for his creation of Cheez Doodles, a cylindrical baked cornmeal puff most often with a cheddar cheese flavor.
The company was looking for a new snack in the 1950s and had a machine that could extrude cornmeal under pressure through a narrow hole that would be cut to three-inch lengths by a blade.
[3] Yohai recalled that one of his responsibilities involved making decisions as to which tiny toys would be included as prizes in packages of Cracker Jack.
[1] Yohai was proud of his association with Cheez Doodles, and fondly retained a photograph of Julia Child eating from a bag.
Attending a 2004 display of a work by Sandy Skoglund at a Napa Valley museum depicting several life-size figures covered in Cheez Doodles, his wife proudly told the gathered guests that her husband had invented the product.