Thermal Eye on America

Ok, look, I like odd variations on common snacks as much as the next person.  In fact, I could make a pretty strong argument for me liking them more than most of the next people.  But still, Nestle needs to be stopped.  Specifically, Im referring her to the KitKat.  In America, we mostly have just the normal chocolate KitKat, with a couple of minor variations (one with caramel, one giant variation, and maybe one more).  I suspect this is because, due to a licensing agreement that predates Nestle purchasing the inventor of the KitKat, the U.S. is the one place that Hershey makes and sells the KitKat.  Apparently, Hershey has a much better idea than Nestle when to leave well-enough alone.  Nestle, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to know when to stop.  

    I first became aware of the problem when I saw a post on Peter Lynn’s blog Man vs. Clown.  I’ve followed his blog for a while, and find him one of the more entertaining writers out there; I was therefore quite happy to see him writing from China about trying a few of the foods I know quite well, such as Pocari sweat, and okonomiyaki-flavored potato chips.  Then, later in that post, he said “green-tea Kit Kat really just tasted like a regular Kit Kat, except a little more synthetic.”  As it happened, I’d bought some green-tea KitKats at the airport in Tokyo the night before (green tea outside, red bean inside), and that hadn’t been my impression at all.  Still, realizing I could have just been uncritical due to my hunger at the time, I tried some again, and did find them significantly different, at least in aftertaste.  I posted a comment to this effect, then walked to the zoo (but that is a story for another time….).  On my way back, I stopped in a convenience store, and looking through the odd snacks I found the chocolate-outside, green tea inside ones he had been referring to (and yeah, they didn’t taste very different at all).  I also picked up some chocolate outside-apple inside ones which I haven’t tried yet.  I then went to a site listed on the side of the package, www.breaktown.com, and got a glimpse of some of the variety available (I have also gotten the 3rd variety of green tea KitKat, green tea both outside and inside - definitely the best of the three).  Then, here in Australia, I picked up a giant KitKat, of the “Cookie Dough” variety.  And yes, granted, it was one of the best candies I’ve ever tasted (thick wafers, cookie dough and caramel, coated in chocolate), but honestly, there’s such a thing as trying too hard.

  (anyone interested in even more varieties of KitKat can check the Wikipedia entry on them. Personally, I think that would just be encouraging them) 

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 4:07 am and is filed under Travel, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.