Here's the question: What's is the best mass-produced food product ever invented?
I've thought about this for a long time, to the point where I heard the sound of one hand clapping.
By the way, the sound goes "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."
My answer, and I'll put my choice up against any competition, is the Ice Cream Sandwich.
I don't know and don't care what that black stuff is that functions as the buns of the food product, but it is the superior mass-produced food product ... ever.
Mrs. Nasty's candidate is a foodstuff that has many variations, the potato chip.
I can see why many people would choose the potato chip as the main competitor to the ice cream sandwich, its main rival to the correct answer to this question.
Or do you have other competitors for this important question?
I invite you to provide any worthy candidates.
I still side with the glory of the ice cream sandwich even though the either-or choice between sandwich and chip exemplifies the sweet/salty dynamic. And of course, we're talking about matters of taste here. People could go around and around about this almost metaphysical question forever.
The choice between ice cream sandwich and potato chip reminds me of a little test Audubon put on recently where they pitted two of the smartest birds against one another in an intelligence test. You can read all about it in "Crow vs. Parrot: Who Is the Wisest in All the Land?"
But the problem with that test is that they should have used ravens instead of crows because the Common Raven is a highly intelligent species. Ravens would have kicked parrot and crow butts that day.
In my mind, the ice cream sandwich is the best food product ever invented just like the raven is the smartest bird in the world.
9 comments:
For a general response, its hard to beat potato chip in my mind.
For a more specific food item, I would probably go with an Oreo. Who doesn't like Oreo cookies?
The Oreo is a solid candidate.
One person I talked with about this important question proposed Cookies-n-Cream ice cream as her favorite food product.
I wonder if someone makes cookies-n-cream ice cream sandwiches? Win-Win.
I can answer this for my mom. It's potato chips.
But this is a tough one for an omnivore with a short attention span. Mike has been craving drumsticks lately, but denies that he thinks they are "good."
I did just eat a mini ice cream sandwich, so those are on my radar, but there are a range of sugary treats that have been high on my list at one time or another: marshmallow creme, payday bars (good to carry in a purse because they don't melt), peanut m&ms, good 'n' plenty. But for a long time I believed that the snickers bar was a solid meal replacement, and I guess I would expect to see this one in a mass produced treats hall of fame.
The Snickers bar is another worthy candidate since it is darn popular. I was pleased when they came out with Snickers Almond. Peanuts are easily trumped by almonds in my mind, which is why I've always like Mars bars.
This thought should have been placed in my recent "Notes..." post since I pondered this question on the drive to Iowa, but why hasn't anyone tried using pistachios in chocolate bars? Pistachios are great nuts.
Mike would like to nominate the Triscuit. And I'm going to eschew the popularity argument in this context, even if it does help the snickers bar. Hell, nacho cheese flavored doritos are popular. They outsold all of the others Frito-Lay items in my dad's 7-11 store by a mile. I came to respect the rugged individualists who bought Funyuns. The Frito-Lay guy only brought us six bags of those but filled two huge wire shelves with Doritos.
I surely saw some poor breakfasts purchased at that store, many of them featuring nacho cheese flavoring.
...maybe this is why (from wikipedia):
"Bulk container shipments of pistachio nuts are prone to self-heating and spontaneous combustion because of their high fat and low water content"
But I suspect the real reason is that Americans aren't used to them, which I assume is the reason you don't get hazelnuts in American chocolate bars but they seem to be the default nut in Europe. You can, I think, find middle eastern candies that contain pistachios.
The Triscuit? That doesn't do much for me at least.
Doritos are a decent contender, but the simple chip would best them in a one-on-one competition.
Cheese puff-like products (Cheetos) should be in the conversation too.
I wonder if I can find a YouTube video of pistachios spontaneously combusting.
On a recent episode of Community, the gang ate a fancy dinner of Twinkies on top of Cheetos. Twinkies seem to be a staple of American vending food cuisine, but I'm afraid my vote is for Oreos.
I'd have to go with Oreos over Twinkies too.
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