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]
Fox’s makes a line of cream filled chocolate cookies. They are lighter in color, less sweet and crunchier that Oreos.
Ahh, my favorite cookies until I learned that they are full of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) which I’m allergic to (causes major migraines for me)...heavy HEAVY sigh. :-(
And forget those 100 calorie diet Oreo substitute snacks...ICK!! :-\
I believe that that’s “mushy peas”. I don’t think they are “mashed”.
Believe it or not, the food in England is much improved. They still have some awful food, but so do we. Try driving across the country and see if you can find good food everywhere. Some good, plenty of bad.
There’s one in every crowd.
They will never defeat the supremacy of the hobnob. Like Peter Kay once said, it’s the Royal Marine of biscuits, you dunk it and it asks for more, even when other biscuits collapse soggy and whimpering into your tea.....
They need to send Paul Manning over there. ;-)
I’ve got a “Little Debbie’s” Monkey on my back. Addiction can be a terrible thing!
You have that right. Sticky toffee pudding or bread and butter pudding smothered in soft custard - mmmm. I would add "spotted dick" to the list but it tends to get some weird responses here. LOL
I took my mother for tea for Mother’s Day. A proper English Victorian tea. The absolute most scrumptious scones just out of the oven, with Devon cream and lemon curd. Savories, tarts and fruit for dessert. I brought home a dozen fresh scones and they were gone within an hour when my family discovered them.
Years ago I used to eat chocolate but I finally figured out that that was the reason I would wake up at 3 or 4 am with a crushing headache. Because the headache came on 6 or 8 hours AFTER I ate chocolate it was a little hard to connect the dots. Besides, I didn’t really want to connect those dots. I have been chocolate free for about 35 years now and I don’t miss the headaches at all. ;9)
British cookies er biscuits are very delicious as are most British snack foods. "Jacob's" is one brand I can definitely recommend.
>>>did Hydrox go down?
The Hydrox Cookie Is Dead, and Fans Won’t Get Over It
In 2003, without warning or announcement, Kellogg Co. killed off the cookie — by then rechristened Droxies — after failing to gain ground against the dominant Oreo, one of the country’s best-selling snack foods.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120069573721101481.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today
BTW, I used to work for a French company. The joke there was that the best of all worlds was an American job, a European home and a Japanese wife. The worst of all worlds was a Japanese home, a European job, ... and I forget the rest of it.
DEEP-FRIED OREO
the Brits like theirs boiled.
.....I liked Hydrox better....
I’ll pick your post to respond and question.
I too preferred Hydrox.
There are several histories given noting that Keebler took over the brand. It is my recollection that at sometime prior to that event, sunshine changed the recipes for Hydrox and after that they were not as good.
I don’t recall the date, but after 1980.
I wrote the company a letter advising they had made a poor decision by the change to what was an Oreo clone, having the slightly bitter flavor characteristic of Oreo.
I got a very long letter, signed in ink, boiled down to they had to change because that was what customers demended.
It’s a quarter centuary lated and I’m still not over it.
Do you recall the reciope change?
The official Hydrox page doesn’t even know it happened.
Spo’ed Dick? ‘ow ‘bout some Toad in the ‘ole, luv? ;-)
Hydrox were first. This is the knock off. Famous Amos also makes a similar cookie.
I saw a cookie package about 3 years ago for either Chips Ahoy or Oreo. It said “America’s favorite” (or something like that) AND “bew and improved”. Either it is a classic “staple” and tradition or it isn’t. Mucking about with the recipe will lose the older consumers who are wise to the switch.
Charmin bought and ruined White Cloud (now sold as “Charmin Ultra”).
Is this the elusive Baltimore variety? They can be enticed by orange slices and jelly most effectively.
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