Posted on 05/18/2008 6:01:21 AM PDT by Daffynition
LONDON -- "It's very dark. It's almost black." May Woodward, an office worker in central London, is holding an Oreo cookie in her hands. It's the first time she has ever seen one "in the flesh as opposed to on an American TV show," and she's not sure she likes what she sees. "It's the color of wet mud!" she complains. "And the bit ... looks like toothpaste rather than cream."
She twists and turns the cookie in her fingers, staring at it from every angle with a screwed-up look on her face that seems to say, "Gross!" not "Mmm, cookie time." You could be forgiven for thinking she's handling some dangerous alien element, Cookie Kryptonite, say, rather than one of the best-known biscuits in the Western hemisphere.
She bites, chews, raises an eyebrow, chews some more.
"OK, I get it," she says, finally. "I can see the attraction. It's very sweet." Suddenly she seems to change her mind. "Actually it's too sweet ... it's becoming mushy," she says, alarmed as tentative chewing becomes frantic munching to wolf the cookie down.
My impromptu taste test in Leicester Square is now attracting the attention of puzzled passersby giving us weird looks.
Ms. Woodward's verdict is that the Oreo is "too ... damp."
I tell her that, according to the ads, it should be "dunked" before eaten.
"In tea?" she asks. (Dipping biscuits we Brits call all cookies "biscuits' in a steaming hot cup of tea is an almost sacred ritual here.)
"No, in milk," I reply.
"Milk?! A biscuit dipped in milk? Who does that?"
"Apparently Americans do," I explain.
"Well, let them," she say dismissively. "I won't be doing it anytime soon." And with that, she disappears into a throng of pedestrians, nonplussed by what has been labeled here as "America's Favorite Cookie."
" " "
The Oreo has landed in Britain. And it is giving rise to a furious Battle of the Biscuits.
The classic sandwich cookie may be as familiar and nostalgia-inducing as, well, Mom's apple pie for Americans, but the majority of us here have never seen or tasted one. Until now.
Now, Kraft, the makers of what some Brits refer to as "the black-and-white biscuit" is launching it across the United Kingdom in an advertising campaign that makes it hard for anyone who lives and breathes to avoid the Oreo message. Big blue-and-white posters on the sides of our iconic red buses implore us to "Twist Lick Dunk." A new TV commercial shows a young boy teaching his scruffy dog how to eat an Oreo: "First you twist it. Then you lick it. Mmm. Then you dunk it," he says, sploshing his Oreo into a glass of milk. This will be the first time that many Brits have seen a biscuit dipped in milk.
[snip]
I liked Hydrox better.
Wait until they try their biscuits with white sausage gravy all over them!LOL
LOL ... you must be a registered independent or Ron Paul supporter. ;D
Wait until they try their biscuits with white sausage gravy all over them!LOL
Sausage gravy over biscuits..a little slice of heaven on earth..:)
I think Oreos are my earliest memory of any significant cookie. My Great Grandfather Jett, a tall thin man, who still wore suspenders and dark gray work pants and smelled of tobacco had a special storage place when we’d visit. He was a soft spoken man, more to be looked at in awe than hugged. I couldn’t have been more than 3 years old at the time. He’d take me with him out on the cool back porch where he stored his cookies. He approached it like he was sharing a treasure and then he’d give me one and he’d take me back into his kitchen and get me some milk. I don’t have a lot of memories of him, he was well into late 80s or early 90s at the time and most of the time I remember him being sick but those memories of him and those cookies I’ll never forget.
For some reason, I don’t equate good food and Britain. 8-D
Great story. I had my kids totally convinced that I baked Oreos ... and it wasn’t until the first born went to kindergarten with a packed lunch that he discovered the ruse. ;-l
They bring a six pack of New Castle and a case of Miller to parties and then ask me to try a couple of bottles of New Castle so I can taste "real beer".
One guy was pretty hammered told me he was pissed. I asked him why and he said it was because he drank too many beers.
I asked him if he was an angry drunk and he answered no. I then asked him why he was pissed. "Because I drank too much beer!"
By the way pissed means drunk in England.
No wonder they lost their empire. A people who can't appreciate Oreo cookies are no damn good.
I don’t eat chocolate, I’m an Oatmeal Raisin girl.
did Hydrox go down? I haven’t shopped the cookie aisle much over the past several years.
True, the Brits appreciate food as a boiler appreciates soft coal. It's necessary for function and if you shovel it in fast enough you don't have to "taste" it. It is my policy to avoid "boiled beef" like the plague. Although their "trifles" and puddings are enjoyable.
Regards,
GtG
Hahaha. Kids are a delight that way. All in awe of a world that is new and ready to crawl climb, drool, and put their sticky wonderful hands all over it. I hardly ever eat the things now. Who has time to dunk a cookie? I do miss the simplicity. Maybe it is because I’m grown up now but the hyper analysis of everything that is enjoyable and innocent and the piling on of endless entertainment is getting really tiring for me. I’m so glad I had the chance to know two of my great grand parents and all of my grand parents. I think I learned more from then than I think I ever could’ve from the selfish rejoicers in human ugliness and weakness that seem to be coming more and more the norm today. I wonder sometimes what do the baby boomers tell their grandchildren?
Do they reminisce their misadventures? Mine told me stories of survival, hard work, community, happiness, and pain. Maybe I’m a bit of a cynic on this but there seems to be little time for the wisdom of the ages when everyone is so God damned worried about getting their Government check.
How small America has become, we stand at the feet of giants and behave like dogs hoping for scraps from the plate of Uncle Sam. Sorry....just got off on a tangent.
They dont have Oreos in Britain?? Oh how sad. ;) They are my favorite cookie. I am just surprised they are not available all over.
heh..I used to work in London 2 weeks a month and on one particular visit was asked to stay an additional week..so that night we went to the pub and, according to rumor, may have overindulged..the next day I called my now ex-wife and told her I had been extended and immediately after I was told, got extremely pissed..silly her, she thought I was upset..:)
ping
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