Cars, computers, appliances and automotive materials are all made in Middle Tennessee, but the region’s manufacturing capabilities don’t end there. Many enticing food products also originate here.

The first batch of Christie Cookies, for example, was baked in Nashville in 1982, and varieties of the treat are now distributed nationwide.

"Christie Hauck was in property management when he started baking cookies and giving them away," says Marsha Harvey, national accounts manager for The Christie Cookie Co. "He was trying to recreate cookies his neighbor made when he was growing up. She died before she gave the recipe away."

Trial and error paid off for Hauck when his wife’s employer, Saint Thomas Hospital, ordered 100 pounds of his cookies to give to patients for Christmas in 1983. The hospital "became his first corporate customer, so he quit his day job," Harvey says.

Today, the company bakes and hand-packages the rich, chewy cookies in three varieties - chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia nut and oatmeal raisin - and sells them via retail outlets, mail order and corporate sales. The Christie Cookie Co. also manufactures cookies for Doubletree Hotels using Doubletree’s recipe.

The GooGoo Cluster is another sweet Nashville success story. Manufactured since 1912 by the Standard Candy Co., GooGoo Clusters are round, gooey mounds of caramel, marshmallow, fresh roasted peanuts and milk chocolate. The candy is often associated with the Grand Ole Opry (note the initials, GOO) as one of the show’s longest-running sponsors, and it has been featured on the Food Network, the "Jeopardy!" quiz show and several movies.

Other food products made here range from coffee and tea by American Ace LLC and beer by Yazoo Brewing Co., to Asian foods by Wei-Chuan and dairy products by Purity Dairies. In business since 1926, Purity Dairies has won top honors at the World Dairy Expo for its milk, chocolate milk, buttermilk, ice cream, sherbet and sour cream.