Candy In The Media

I figured the best way to cap off potato chip week here on candycritic.org, I'd find a fun potato chip commercial to post on this week's edition of Candy in The Media.  This commercial for Lay's potato chips might disturb some. I always find it disturbing to watch food based snack characters cannibalize themselves.  It's been done before, but each time it shocks me, and also makes me want to eat what they're eating. I guess I figure if popular food based characters are willing to resort to eating their own kind, it's gotta be tasty.

CC

A Cool Candy Thing

My latest obsession has been strange candy themed fashions.  I'm not sure if this is the strangest, but it is pretty odd.  Personally I think the next time I have to go to a formal event (this happens more than you might expect) I'll put on these clever bottoms.  Hopefully I can find a tie to match, maybe I could buy two pairs and make a tie out of the second.  I just think it's about time that really loud candy themed clothing made a come back, hopefully we'll soon see it in pop music videos and the runways of fashion week.

I must admit, my personal candy themed fashion collection has really suffered over the last few years.  When I get a candy themed piece of clothing, I generally wear it into the ground really quickly. Right now I'm looking to find popular candy and junk food logos in foreign languages.  Do you own any fun or strange candy or junk food clothes?

CC

This Week In Candy

It's chip week here at candycritic.org.  To start things off, we're having a potato chip review-a-thon.  That means that instead of just one review (posted today), you're getting a review ever day this week.  Best of all, each of these reviews will be a potato chip review.  We'll feature flavours from all over the world, some are great, some are horrible, but all make me want to drink copious amounts of cola (because that's what chips do).

Along with our potato chips review-a-thon, we're also featuring the glorious potato chip on our Intstagram feed Snack Facts.  That means that not only will you get a new chip review every day, but you'll also get a fun potato chip fact as well. If you're not on Instagram, then you can check out Snack Facts on our Facebook and Twitter feeds as well.

As far as projects that we're still working on: You can keep up with our Giant Jaw Breaker challenge on our Twitter, and Facebook feeds.  We're also finishing up a long  time second part of an article we wrote over 4 years ago about the Cadbury/Kraft merger, which should be posted next week.

To start off this week's review-a-thon, we have a potato chip from Greece, it's a typical Greek flavour, but it's a little cheesy.  We'll be posting new chip reviews all week, make sure to follow our Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter feeds to keep up with the latest reviews. Click here to read today's chips review.

CC

Candy In The Media

Best Candy Commercial Ever by tlsmith1138

I have to admit, I'm kind of shocked by this commercial.  I'm shocked that Butterfinger would associate their candy with the song Babies Got Back, and I'm even more shocked they way they made this song even a little more edgy.  I'm not really offended by this commercial, in fact any shock I have is out of respect.  It's good to see candy companies going out on a limb, even if it's a really strange one.

CC

You're Fishing For Trouble (My Rules For Fish and Chips)

I love a good batch of fish and chips, but there's one thing I hate, and that's a bad batch of fish and chips. So many things can go wrong with fish and chips, bad batter, burnt batter, nasty fish, these are all common problems I've come across.  The thing for me is if I'm handed a bad batch of fish and chips my reaction is completely polarizing from how I react to a good batch.  I can't eat bad fish and chips, I just can't get them down my throat, and after one bad bite I've been know to lose my appetite completely.  Some foods I can manage if they’re not perfect, but fish and chips have to be just right.

So that brings up the important question, how does one know if the place you're getting your fish and chips are up to scratch.  Without taste testing the fish you're really running the risk of biting into something horrible.  I have two basic rules that I've found to work, helping me find the perfect fish and chips.  After you read these rules you'll realize that I don't really eat fish and chips that often.  I don't always need both of the rules to be fulfilled at the same time, however if they are, it's almost always a sure thing.

Rule 1:  The word "fish" must be in the name of the restaurant making fish and chips.  If the word chips appears and not fish, then I'll just order fries. It may seem like a silly rule, but the way I see it if a place is willing to put "fish" in their name they're banking on their fish.  This rule can apply to other sorts of cuisine as well, but I really find that it works well for fish and chips places.  Don't get me wrong; I'm sure there are plenty of fine fish and chips places without the word "fish" in their name. However my experience has shown me that there are very few bad fish and chips places with the word fish in their name, but plenty of bad fish and chips places without it.

Rule 2: If I'm in an English pub near the sea, I'll give them a try.  When I say English pub, I mean a pub in the country of England, not just and English themed pub in another country.  For some reason when I travel to any English coast I get a craving for fish and chips, and I have yet to find one pub that's let me down.  I have on the other hand tasted bad fish and chips in English pubs in central England, and I've had a lot of bad fish and chips in pubs outside of England.

A good recommendation is fine, but if I don't get either of these two criteria met as well, I'm most likely going to order a club sandwich instead.

CC

A Cool Candy Thing

With the cold weather here, it's about time to think about how to keep warm.  Why not drape the most important part of your body in a stylish M&M's hat (or as they call it in my home town a "toque").  I'd never thought about how well these characters work as hats, after all they're round and colourful, and heads are round and look good when covered in colourful fabrics.  So what candy would make for good mittens or scarfs?

CC

This Week In Candy

We just finished up the new and improved Candy Critic Map.  The map is made up of two parts (and hopefully soon a third).  The first section lists some of our favorite candy shops and must see places (these are marked with the blue pins).  I've personally visited every single one of these places, and if you're anywhere near them I highly recommend checking them out.  The second section (marked with red markers) are countries around the world that I've visited, with a suggestion for the must taste candy, must try fast food, best food description in one word, and worst food description in one word.  You'll notice that the markers are on the capital city, but it's supposed to represent the whole country.  The next phase we hope to start will consist of your favorite places to get candies and sweet treats.  We're asking all of you to suggest sweet places people cannot miss.

You also may have noticed that we've officially started up the Giant Jawbreaker Challenge.  It's been a little slow going, but we're working on getting through that giant red jawbreaker one hour at a time.  I'm thinking of starting a betting pool as to how many hours it will take for me to get through it.  You can keep up with the day to day progress of  the Giant Jawbreaker challenge on Facebook, and Twitter.

Don't forget to check out our Instagram feed with our daily Snack Facts.  This week we've decided to give you a potpourri of facts featuring a whole assortment of treats.  You'll learn what's so unique about a Schweppes can, and how many years it took to put the holes in a fruit flavoured Life Savers candy.  Instagram is the main place to check this out, but you can also see our snack facts on our Twitter and Facebook feeds as well.

Next week we're going to have another review-a-thon.  That means that instead of just having one new candy review posted on Monday, there will be a new candy review posted every day.  For this review-a-thon we'll be looking at potato chips.  It's a controversial topic since many people have told me that chips aren't candy, and I shouldn't be reviewing them.  I tell these people, if you don't like it, start your own candy reviewing site, and don't review chips.

This week's review was from our good friends at Torie and Howard.  They make some fine hard candies, and we're always happy when they want to send us some new treats to review.  You can read this week's review of their Meyer Lemon and Raspberry candies right here.

CC

Candy In the Media

This might be the most NSFW candy advertisement I've ever seen.  I mean it's not horribly obscene, but it pretty much dances on the edge.  I also don't really find it very realistic.  I've never heard of, or seen anybody dance around nude with a chocolate bar.  In general eating candy while nude is not commonly done, no matter what your age.  I guess I could attempt a project and see if a Kit Kat bar tastes any different in the nude than it does fully dressed.

CC

Be Rational

Remembrance day was just a few days ago, in Canada this day is about remembering all of the Canadians that gave their lives, and their time to keep Canada awesome.  Recently I had the oportunity to sample a small part of the life of someone serving abroad.  I was given a Canadian military ration pack to try out.  For those that don't know what a ration pack is, it is a bag of food that should be able to give the average soldier substanance for one day.  Historically ration packs have been given a bad rap, it's been said that the basic food is just enough to keep someone alive, but nothing to keep them happy.  However, with the advancement in food science and packaging, ration packs have become fairly sofisticated, and now offer some pretty fancy meals to soldiers that may have nothing but a fire (or sometimes not even that) to heat up their meals.

The pack I received is for a soldier that notionally has some way of boiling water.  The pack contained a pretty wide range of foods, from a small Werthers candy to suck on, to a bag/box of something that claims to be sweet and sour pork.  It also comes with various powedered fruit drinks, coffee, tea, and a bag of Oreos.  I pretty much munched down the Werthers and Oreos imediately after opening the package.  They were exactly what you might expect, mini Oreos and a nice smooth butterscotch candy to suck on.  I'll probably never drink the coffee, and the tea and powedered drink were un-eventful.

The real highlight of this meal is the sweet and sour pork, or at least that's what was written in huge letter on the box that all of this comes in.  To prepare the pork you have to boil it in water for about 10 minutes.  I can assure you that this has nothing to do with "cooking" anything, and it's more about warming it up.  The side dish of rice involves taking some boiling water and pouring it into an envelope, sealing it closed, then letting it sit for 10 minutes.  I assume that the bags you cook these dishes in are also designed to be eaten out of, but since I was at home, and since I wanted to photograph them, I decided it might be better to serve everything on a plate.

It's not the most appealing looking plate of food, but it smelled pretty good.  My assumption throughout the whole process of making this food was that the pork would be disgusting and the rice would be tolerable.  I was wrong.  The pork, while not being the best asian meal I've ever eaten, wasn't that bad.  The meat was pretty tough, but what can I expect from something that can sit in a bag for months.  The sauce was actually pretty tasty, and I the chunks of fruit and vegetables throughout the sauce was a really nice surprise.  The rice on the other hand was horible.  I can't say that I've ever tasted rice that was actually inedible, until today.  It wasn't just the texture, but the "butter" flavour just ruined everything.  I think the rice would have worked out so much better if it was just plain rice.

For dessert I was offered pears in a syrup.  For some reason I imagined some kind of poached pear served with a caramel like syrup.  I really thought it would have been something fancy, but it wasn't.  What I got was a bowl of pears that looked identical to the types of pears one might find out of a can at the grocery store.  It wasn't bad, but it could have been better.  I think a little spice, or some kind of caramelized flavour could take these typical pears and made them something special.  I'm not saying I wouldn't be grateful for these if I was stuck out in a jungle with nothing else, but why aren't the people that serve our country entitled to something with a bit of extra flavour.

The next day I decided to treat myself to the "lunch" portion of the ration pack.  Or at least that's what I assume this is supposed to be.  Frankly it didn't really have much explanation and the peanut butter, jam, and pita really didn't go with anything else in the pack.  I decided to make myself a peanut butter and jam pita lunch, and it was OK.  The delivery method was a little messy, but once I squished the pitas together my poor peanut butter and jam squirting skills went unnoticed.  The great thing about this sandwich is that it reminded me of being a kid.  When I was a kid I loved making pita sandwiches, I liked pita bread more than sliced bread.  This simple ration pack made me feel like I was a kid again, back home.  I sure hope that the folks that eat these packs overseas get the same feeling, because they deserve a little bit of home comfort.

CC

A Cool Candy Thing

So why is the world better for kids today than it was when I was a kid?  It can all be summed up with this t-shirt.  When I was a little kid there was an offer to get yourself a Nerds t-shirt.  To get this t-shirt you had to send a bunch of proofs of purchase, and a large sum of money (at least large for a 5 year old kid).  Then you had to wait 6 to 8 weeks for delivery.  There were no other options to buy Nerds t-shirts, stores did not carry candy themed clothing, you could only get it through the mail.

Well I saved my proofs of purchased and saved my allowance, and with the help of my dad, I sent everything away.  As it turns out there was a problem with the mail, and delivery of my shirt was delayed to twelve weeks.  I was a young growing boy determined to get my t-shirt.  The problem here was that I was "growing", and growing rather quickly.  By the time my shirt arrived it was too small for me.  I didn't know how to return the shirt, and my parents didn't really realize the problem. So I've never had a Nerds t-shirt that fit me, even though I saved for it.  I still have the shirt, it's very small, but out of principle I keep it.  Maybe I'll give it away to someone, maybe I'll see if it can be re-purposed into something I can use.

But this is why kids are so lucky today, a couple of click of a button and the Nerds shirt will be at your door in no time.

CC

This Week In Candy

Welcome back to another fun week here at the Candy Critic blog.  There's lots to bite into this week, so let's get right to it.  First of all, Thursday we'll be publishing a blog about army rations.  I had the opportunity to sample a Canadian military ration pack, and I documented my whole experience.  I can tell you that the ration pack was surprising, both in the good and bad way.

Secondly, I've ironed out the details of the Giant Jawbreaker Challenge, and this week we're going forward with it.  I'm going to attempt to consume a giant jawbreaker, and I'm going to time how long it's going to take me to go through it.  I know that this is the kind of challenge that will have to be done in stages, so I have a plan.  I will suck the jawbreaker in 1 hour stages, after each hour I will photograph it, weigh it, and post a photo on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.  I imagine that at first I'll have to take longer breaks between each hour, but once it starts to fit comfortably in my mouth, I should be able to get through it faster.  Once the jawbreaker is gone, I'll post a blog recapping the whole experience right here on the Candy Critic blog.  So this week is going to be a tough one on my jaw.

This week on Snack Facts, available on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, we'll be looking at Pepsi cola.  It's not really my go to drink, and I really didn't know that much about it.  So all this week you and I can learn a little something about Cokes biggest rival.

This week's new review is a re-working of a classic Canadian chocolate bar, the Oh Henry.  I'm often not a big fan of variations of classic chocolate bars, but this one might be the exception, make sure to click here to read the full review.

CC

Candy In The Media

All photos copyright the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising.

Around the world there are many museums and museum exhibits dedicated to candy.  Most of these museums focus on chocolate, but there are a few that diversify.  Many candy museums are also found at the end of factory tours at various candy factories, and those obviously focus on one particular brand.  It's rare to come across a museum, or even a museum exhibit, that shows off a diversity of brands and types of candy.  One of the best candy themed museum exhibit that I've ever come across can be found at the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising in London England.

All photos copyright the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising.

I've never seen such a huge collection of candy packages in my entire life. They have packages dating back to Victorian England, all the way to modern packages of today.  The museum is set out in chronological order and contains packages and branding for all kinds of products, but their candy collection is superb.  There are a few sections dedicated to candy, however there are a few candies also spread around in other sections as well.  Surprisingly some of the packages aren't empty, and while I wouldn't want to eat these ancient candies, it's pretty amazing to see.

All photos copyright the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising.

The only downfall is that that you don't really find a huge range of candy packages from outside of UK (and to some extent Europe).  It's not really that big a deal because the UK has been one of the biggest candy innovator's since the Victorian era, and this is a prime example of just how much they've given us.  I could not recommend a museum more than the Museum of Brands, Packaging, and Advertising.  It's a great place for any candy history buff, and even has plenty to see for those without a sweet tooth.

Click here to get more info on this awesome museum.

CC

A Cool Candy Thing

There's a lot of talk these days about gender and toys (particularly video games).  While women suffer the brunt of many of these gender relating products, I often find myself suffering as well.  Many candy themed items seem to be geared towards girls. Take a look at today's Cool Candy Thing for example.  It's a great little chocolate melting machine, and it comes with a set of molds wrappers, and fun stickers.  On a technical level it's very effective, and it looks like a lot of fun.  The problem is the fact that it's obviously designed to fit into a girls stereotype.  The pot is bright pink, all of the molds are the shape of cute little flowers, kissy lips, and other "girl" related things. And the stickers have slogans like "BFF", "Love" and some have cute little animal faces. It just seems like this toy isn't designed for my male ego.

Then I thought about it for a little while, maybe the problem is mine.  I like flowers, and I like getting kissed, I even like the colour pink.  Maybe the problem is that I immediately associate this with being a girls toy (although the girl on the box doesn't help, also the fact that it asks for Mom's help, and not Dad's), instead of imagining making these fun shaped chocolates myself.  So I've changed my mind, I'm not going to protest this toy, instead I'm going to put it on my Christmas list.  And if Santa is good enough to give me one, I'll post all kinds of fun pictures of me and my chocolaty creations.  This isn't a girls toy, it's a pink toy, and those aren't girly stickers and molds, they're whimsical and I can be whimsical too!

CC

This Week In Candy

Well Halloween is over, and hope you guys are enjoying all of your spoils.  Some of you are probably too old to trick or treat, but don't feel too sad.  After a few more years you'll start thinking about families of your own, and when you do just remember, you'll have a little child that will go trick or treating for you. Some of you might even have more than one kid, that means twice the trick or treating loot.  I call it the circle of Halloween life, and it moves us all.

Now that Halloween is over we're working on a few articles to keep you guys entertained while the weather gets cold outside.  We have our jaw breaker challenge that was called off on account of me getting a flu, but it's going to be starting for sure this week.  We're also finishing up an article all about army rations, I assure you it involves eating at least one horrible food.  I'm also working out the details for a sexy chocolate smelling challenge, but I need to find some local volunteers to help me out.

This week on our Instagram feed known as "Snack Facts", we're looking at PEZ.  We got a little help from our friends @PezNewsletter and we learned a little bit about this square shaped treat.  You don't have to be on Instagram to follow this feed, you can also follow "Snack Facts" on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Finally this week's new review is of a treat that's trying to change the way we think about ingredients in candy.  The concept is can we make classic candies, without "fake" ingredients.  You can read about how well I thought they achieved this goal right here.

CC