Edwin Perkins, the inventor of Kool-Aid, has been named the official state soft drink of Nebraska, where he created the drink in 1927. Perkins, born and raised in Hendley, Nebraska, became obsessed with creating food products after discovering a new powdered dessert called Jell-O, which is now the state snack of Utah. He later moved his business to Chicago and sold it to General Foods in 1953, but his home state never forgot its native son, declaring Kool as its official soft drink in 1998. While many states have official drinks, with milk being a popular choice due to dairy industry's efforts, Maine chose Moxie.