The Things We Do

 Well, "Limited Edition" sells anyway but, still, I was curious about Everythign Bagel Pringles. Even for Pringles, which have not shied away from unusual flavors, this seemed random if not quite a reach.  Truth be told, my taste for everything bagels has diminished. They have become more of a mess than they are worth. Fortunately, I never fully abandoned onion as my go-to bagel, so no hard feelings there, and even grown fond of the blueberry variety.  But as for the Pringles, as the can suggests you taste the cream cheese more than anything. This is understandable. Short of loading the potato crisp with poppy, onion and sesame seeds that is the strongest flavor to evoke the traditional everything bagel. And, hey, you are not left with a table dotted with poppy and sesame seeds afterwards. 

 This year Polar released two new flavors for winter, Black Cherry Vanilla and Pomegranate Champagne and they are two of the best things Polar has created in years, pity they are limited editions. While non-alcoholic they, the Pomegranate Champagne especially (not surprisingly) have some of the appeal of the new hard seltzer craze which grew last summer and a stronger over all flavor than is customary with Polar. 

 Almost by accident I came across a Mirinda, an orange drink with roots in Spain but which has since been dispersed throughout most of the world since purchased by Pepsi Co. in 1970. Nevertheless it remains exceedingly rare in the States. Perhaps Pepsi feared it would not hold up to competition with rival Coca Cola's Fanta, echoing a hard lesson from the drink's introduction in Brazil in 1996, where it lasted only two years before conceding the competition to national favorite Sukita. Be that as it may it has enjoyed a small presence in the United States under the guise of Tropicana's Twister drinks.  Though it has met its demise in New Zealand is virtually gone from Australia, Mirinda enjoys strongholds in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. It holds its own against popular American competitors (get one if you can at foreign shops), having a juicier, less fizzy feel than most sodas. Like Fanta, orange is it's dominant flavor but special editions have been released...

 JellyBabies haven't and almost certainly will not catch on in the United States. The texture is stale and the overuse of powdered sugar gives these British gummy snacks the taste of very bad Turkish delights. 

  A growing sport for American candy enthusiasts is trying international variations of  our staple bars. As it does with Pringles, Japan takes the cake for the widest varieties of Kit Kat bars. However, Hong Kong is catching us to the land of the rising sun. Returning from a recent business trip, a colleague brought back bags of assorted Kit Kat varieties (strawberry, cheesecake and, most peculiar of all, cracker).  The story of the Milky Way bar abroad, however, is a little more tangled and mundane at the same time, but interesting nonetheless. Introduced by Mars Incorporated in the United States in 1924, the Milky Way bar, with its gooey  caramel and nougat filling, soon became a staple of American confectionery .  Eleven years later Milky Way made its English debut and subsequently made its way throughout Europe. Hence a variant of the Milky Way was formed that continues to this day. It is smaller than its American older brother and was stripped of the carame...

 Ho-Ho-Ho-ly Smokes! Just when i thought they could think of nothing weirder than the (blessedly shelved) chips & dip ice cream by Ben & Jerry's, Mountain Dew releases a holiday themed flavor. Gingerbread Snap'd, a lemony looking drink with feuding gingerbread men surrounding its label, looked too...ahem...peculiar not to try. Here's the rub, it tastes but little different than the traditional Mountain Dew. Drink it blindfolded and I challenge even the most devote connoisseur to tell me the difference. There is a slight ginger tingle at the end, but the drink shows restraint for its professed wackier flavor, for better or worse.