Snickers
For the last year I've been working on getting in shape, which for me means building muscle. In order to do that, you have to eat more calories than you burn to add mass to your body. This has translated into eating at least 5 meals a day at 600 calories or more for me. I'm a very busy person, so stopping to eat is like the last thing I want to do. So in an effort to eat more calories even when I don't feel like it, I've ended up sometimes eating junk food; specifically Snickers King Size which is 500 calories a bar. Yeah, I know that I shouldn't be eating crap like that to be healthy but when you're in a calorie deficit, you do what you have to do.
After sucking down a few Snickers here and there, I can honestly say that they don't taste like I remember them tasting. When I was a kid, Snickers was my poison of choice and I knew it well. I remember them being more peanutty than they seem to be today. I stopped eating candy bars long ago and have only picked them up again recently because of the calorie deal. I would say that there was a good 15 year hiatus from Snickers for me. And now that I'm back, I really think that at sometime they changed the formula. But this is the clincher, how could one really know if they did or not?
Before I suggest though that they did indeed change, I recognize that there is a very real possibility that my taste buds have changed. I mean between all of the scalding coffee and tea, there is a good chance that I have some permanent damage to my tongue. I've never heard of that, but it seems reasonable to me. However, other stuff still tastes the same as before so I'm not entirely sold on the idea.
So the question is, did they change Snickers or not? The reason I say that one may never know is because unless you eat it all the time, you wouldn't necessarily catch it. If you eat a Snickers a couple times a year, you probably might think that you just got a bad bar if it tasted different than you remember. Only the regulars would know for sure that it changed, and even then, would they be vocal enough to get them to change back. It obviously worked like that for Coke, but lots of people drink Coke. Are there enough people that eat Snickers regularly to notice the difference and then make a stink because they changed the recipe? I think a big factor is the fact that food in general is perishable. You can't hold on to a Snickers bar from 1985 and then compare it to one today. That's why I say it is almost impossible to really know. Also, they might be changing the formula just a little bit at a time and gradually you wouldn't notice as it changed. It's like the company that shaves an ounce off of the cereal box or the can or whatever and they are betting that you won't notice. Maybe they are changing the formula ever so slightly and betting that the peeps won't notice. Unless you had confirmation by someone at the company I think you would never know for sure. I don't like the thought of that.
I challenge you to do this. Go buy some Welch's grape juice as well as some organic pure concord grape juice, (you pick the brand.) The organic stuff is going to be way more expensive, but buy them both and then go home and try them. The organic pure grape juice is almost like non alcoholic red wine in flavor and appearance. The Welch's looks and tastes like grape drink/aid/purple stuff in comparison to the organic stuff. I bet though, that at one time, way back in the day, Welch's stuff was probably just like the organic stuff now. They just cheapened it up along they way and now peeps don't know any better unless they compare grapes to grapes.
I'm just saying.
After sucking down a few Snickers here and there, I can honestly say that they don't taste like I remember them tasting. When I was a kid, Snickers was my poison of choice and I knew it well. I remember them being more peanutty than they seem to be today. I stopped eating candy bars long ago and have only picked them up again recently because of the calorie deal. I would say that there was a good 15 year hiatus from Snickers for me. And now that I'm back, I really think that at sometime they changed the formula. But this is the clincher, how could one really know if they did or not?
Before I suggest though that they did indeed change, I recognize that there is a very real possibility that my taste buds have changed. I mean between all of the scalding coffee and tea, there is a good chance that I have some permanent damage to my tongue. I've never heard of that, but it seems reasonable to me. However, other stuff still tastes the same as before so I'm not entirely sold on the idea.
So the question is, did they change Snickers or not? The reason I say that one may never know is because unless you eat it all the time, you wouldn't necessarily catch it. If you eat a Snickers a couple times a year, you probably might think that you just got a bad bar if it tasted different than you remember. Only the regulars would know for sure that it changed, and even then, would they be vocal enough to get them to change back. It obviously worked like that for Coke, but lots of people drink Coke. Are there enough people that eat Snickers regularly to notice the difference and then make a stink because they changed the recipe? I think a big factor is the fact that food in general is perishable. You can't hold on to a Snickers bar from 1985 and then compare it to one today. That's why I say it is almost impossible to really know. Also, they might be changing the formula just a little bit at a time and gradually you wouldn't notice as it changed. It's like the company that shaves an ounce off of the cereal box or the can or whatever and they are betting that you won't notice. Maybe they are changing the formula ever so slightly and betting that the peeps won't notice. Unless you had confirmation by someone at the company I think you would never know for sure. I don't like the thought of that.
I challenge you to do this. Go buy some Welch's grape juice as well as some organic pure concord grape juice, (you pick the brand.) The organic stuff is going to be way more expensive, but buy them both and then go home and try them. The organic pure grape juice is almost like non alcoholic red wine in flavor and appearance. The Welch's looks and tastes like grape drink/aid/purple stuff in comparison to the organic stuff. I bet though, that at one time, way back in the day, Welch's stuff was probably just like the organic stuff now. They just cheapened it up along they way and now peeps don't know any better unless they compare grapes to grapes.
I'm just saying.
posted by Wurfel at
2:44 PM
1 Comments:
I hear ya. I think about this all the time. This was a great post. I got what I would call a "bad" group of "fun sized" tonight. They tasted flat. Not peanut-y. Not even really chocolat-y or nougat-y, and w/out that, what's left? vague cardboard and sugar? I only eat them a few times a year. I find, when I eat healthier, my former snacks are not as satisfying, (no pun in the reference intended). Thus, it may not be the coffee and tea to you tongue, but the over-all healthy quality of your normal diet that might be having an influence on how certain, not so healthy foods taste. That said, I think that the economy is affecting the quality of chocolate available at the consumer level, (I've seen this mentioned elsewhere on the web). The cookies and snacks I enjoyed so much as a kid and teen are simply gone from product shelves, and replaced by stuff that tastes like trash and cardboard. Bulk candy has changed to mostly non-chocolate, except for tootsie rolls, and are those really chocolate?? Ice cream and coffee isn't sold in gallons or by the pound, starting this year. You pay the same amount, but the sizes have changed. For real. And I've long suspected your grape juice comparison. Things change, usually worse somehow, and no one notices.
Hmmmm.
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