Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Thursday, October 28, 2021

The Franken Whopper! | Halloween 2021

This Halloween season has honestly been absolutely stacked with tricks and treats to the point where you almost stop appreciating all the cool and wonderful stuff that was thrown our way. I started seeing candy in early August, which is totally unheard of here in Nova Scotia, and I still managed to find these amazing Dare Halloween cookies at a late-season Walmart trip a few nights ago, in which the store was essentially devoid of anything spooky, already replaced with all things jolly and nice.

But I’m not here to write about cookies! Oh, no!

In the dying days of Halloween 2021, Burger King has come out of nowhere with what could have been a shining star of the spooky season! The Franken Whopper!

In years past, Burger King has often had a seasonal offering. Some of the greats include the A1 Halloween Whopper, the Ghost Whopper, and the Nightmare King Whopper with black, white, and green buns, respectively!

Sadly, the Franken Whopper does not come with a coloured bun. It’s really just a regular whopper, but topped with french fries and onion rings.

What’s especially weird about this Whopper is that it was only offered in Canada, which to the best of my knowledge has never had any of the other Halloween sandwiches from the past six or seven years, and you could only purchase it via the BK App.

If I’m being perfectly honest, this feels like a last minute call. Like, someone at BK Corporate said, “We need to boost BK App usage. Let’s trick all these Halloween nuts into using the app to get a Halloween sandwich!” Then they slapped some fries and onion rings on a Whopper and went out for drinks to celebrate.

There was little-to-no information about this happening. As far as I know, no news was released about the Franken Whopper until October 25th and it’s window of availability is legit one week, ending on Sunday, October 31st!

Although the BK I went to – which wasn’t my local BK, I had to go on a journey to get this bad boy, but that’s the fun of this stuff right? – had posters and images adorning every corner of the various burgers and sandwiches available, there was nothing for the Franken Whopper, further proof this thing materialized overnight.

Outside of a few images on the app, there wasn’t a whole lot of effort put forth. I mean, look at that “real shot” of a Franken Whopper. That is an obvious Photoshop job that screams 4:30 on a Friday. There wasn’t even a cool, special burger wrapper or bag. The only thing to identify my sandwich as something different was a sloppy scrawl of what looks like “Fran” on the side.

All that said, this was still a homerun for me. In the dying days of the Halloween season, when honestly even a hardcore Halloween nut like myself is kinda losing steam, having this drop out of the blue was a much-needed shot in the arm. I wanted to run out of my house screaming to get one on Monday, but due to being an adult and “priorities” I had to wait a few days, finally scoring one at lunch today.

No, it’s not really on par with the Halloween Whoppers of yesteryear, but it gave me an excuse to throw on a podcast (special thanks to the Purple Stuff Podcast) and go for a Halloween outing a few days before it’s time to pack it in for another year. For that alone, I loved it.

Also, although it was made clear to me that this lunch would be ~2000 freakin’ calories it was delicious. I modified mine to drop the tomato and double the pickles, which was the right move. I promise you.

So, that’s it. The Franken Whopper! It might fall to the wayside this year, but who knows? Maybe next year it’ll get an international roll out with a proper marketing campaign and a cool green bun! Here’s hoping!

Hope you enjoyed and Happy Halloween!
R

Friday, January 17, 2020

Nostalgia Bomb! - Snow White Cream Soda



What was it?

Snow White Cream Soda was an independent and hard-to-find cream soda that I had in and around the 1990s. It was a clear or colourless cream soda and was not tinted with any dyes to look pink, which was and is common with different brands of cream soda, like Crush.

When was it available?

This one is a toughie! From my research the company that technically made Snow White sodas has been around since in the 1920s and I've seen some very old-looking cans of Snow White Cream Soda for sale on eBay for extravagant prices, but without exact dates on them. I know for certain it was around in the 1970s to the 1990s and potentially even as late as the 2010s, but more on that in the next segment!

What about today?

The short answer is... I dunno. The long-winded one - because you know I can't help myself - is that the company that technically makes the soda still appears to be around and making pop, so there's a possibility that it could be being made and sold right now in some small markets in Canada. I don't think that's the case, though!

Why do I remember it?

Simply put, Snow White Cream Soda was by far the best cream soda I have ever had!

I first started spotting cans of the stuff at a local convenience store that I frequented as a kid in the early '90s. It was never stored anywhere near the big brands like Coca-Cola or Pepsi and would always be mixed up with the cheaper brands, like Cott or RC. This section of the pop fridge was always in complete disarray and held a mish-mash of cans, so you had to actually take the time to dig through them to find something you were looking for.

The can I know and remember is this one, which I found on the site canmuseum.com:


I feel like I remember other winter-themed designs on the can, but I could be totally wrong and I have no way to corroborate it. I'm so sure there was one with a cutesy penguin or something, but the Internet is failing me.

Cream soda is always about the vanilla flavour. It's a really simple drink that hearkens back to an older time. It feels right at home with ginger ale or root beer. I feel like around the '80s some soda companies decided to spice things up and started putting pink dye in cream soda as a way of making it more appealing to kids. This isn't inherently bad - in fact I still really enjoy Crush Cream Soda, which does this - but it seems like the flavours started to vary at this time, too. The taste took a backseat to the colouring.


For a long time Crush actually didn't add the pink dye. The label would be pink, but the soda remained colourless. Nowadays the whole brand is pretty well sold on its vivacious coloured sodas, like orange, pineapple, and grape, so cream soda has gone the same route.

No other cream soda had the formula so perfect as Snow White, which is why I believe I was even able to get the stuff in Nova Scotia. You see, the brand is owned by Breuvages Kiri from a small town in Quebec. Like most small brands, it pretty well only distributes in the immediate area, but you could get their sodas as far as Ontario and northern New Brunswick. They had other flavours, which I was surprised to find out, like orange and lemon-lime, but cream soda was their best and brightest and, as such, was distributed with a further reach.

Sometime during the late-90s I stopped seeing the stuff on local store shelves. It was one of those "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" moments. I'm sure I enjoyed as much of the stuff as I could, but as soon as I couldn't get it anymore I craved it. It was right at home with a bag of Hostess Barbecue potato chips as a Coke, which in my mind is no small feat.

That said it looks like Breuvages Kiri, also known as TechnoBev in Ontario (because this shit isn't confusing enough), weren't done with the soda. The Snow White brand continued on and even added some flavours to try and diversify. In addition to the three I mentioned above I think there was root beer and cherry. This may have occurred around the 2000s, but it could have been earlier. If you could tell, solid information on this brand is pretty sparse. 

At some point before the 2010s the company re-branded their sodas as simply Kiri and appears to still be a local favourite, having carved out a small enough niche to survive all these years in the rough-and-tumble soda business. The thing is their website has thrown a broken link since 2011 when the company reportedly filed for bankruptcy protection, so I'm not sure what's up. There is another Kiri soda brand from Uganda but, unsurprisingly, there's no connection.

I have read that Kiri pushed other flavours, but I've even read that as late as 2011 they were still producing cream soda with the original recipe. Whether it was still branded as Snow White or made under the Kiri label I can't be sure. From what I've read it was found in Giant Tiger stores in Quebec, which are sort of like mini department stores that are a step up from a Dollarama. We have the stores here in NS, but no Snow White to speak of.

So there's still hope that some day I might be able to enjoy a Snow White Cream Soda in one incarnation or another! I'm not holding my breath, though.

Whether Snow White is still around or not is kind of inconsequential, honestly. As much as I'd love to have it again - should it still exist - it was a slice of time in my childhood and teenage years that I can never get back to. When biking to the store and renting some tapes or games and grabbing a cold soda out of the fridge was always a night well-spent, especially if I was enjoying an ice cold Snow White Cream Soda.

And that's why it's a blast from my past!
R



Thursday, October 24, 2019

Halloween Cereals 2019


As is usually the case with Halloween, Christmas, Summertime, etc. all the big corporations find different ways to ingratiate themselves into your grocery list by offering strange seasonal fare you would otherwise never consider purchasing.

You see this sort of thing with all sorts of brands: everything from tea and coffee to snack foods and soda and even kitty litter! Now, I'm definitely a mark for this sort of thing in general, but one product that I seem to key in on is cereal.

I mean it's not hard. I love cereal! I don't eat it every day, but if I see something new and different I can't help it but buy a box.

Usually, you can expect to see some Autumn or Halloween themed cereals on offer at this time of year, but I must say that there wasn't much to be had. Gone are the days that every cereal company kicked out some pumpkin spice variant or kids' cereals spookied up their usual best-sellers.

After weeks of waiting and nearly giving up all hope, I walked into a grocery store the other day and found that they suddenly had a display of three General Mills seasonal cereals! I scored a box of each and the following are my thoughts on them.

Pumpkin Spice Cheerios



This is the biggest surprise for me, personally, and although I was more looking forward to the other cereals on this list I had to try these first.

Now, these certainly aren't new: they've been on the market since at least 2016. I'm fairly certain I've seen them on Canadian shelves in the past, but I've always passed them over. I don't know what it is, but Cheerios have been cranking out new flavours left and right the lately and they're almost always sub-par. Honey Nut and Apple Cinnamon Cheerios are on high-rotation in my house, so its hard to pass up those for something different or limited.

This time around, however, the box completely caught my eye. It wasn't like the old orange box I remembered, and honestly it sold me on at least trying the cereal this time around.


On opening the box I was immediately smacked in the face with the smell of - wait for it - pumpkin! This may seem like a dumb thing to point out, but if we're being honest with ourselves how often does "pumpkin spice anything" ever actually taste like pumpkin? Can you even tell me what pumpkin spice tastes like?

No, you can't!

It's a melange of spices that any company can tweak and change at their will. It usually involves cinnamon and nutmeg, but I can honestly say that I've never had anything that actually included freakin' pumpkin in the mix!

Pumpkin Spice Cheerios actually tote this fact right on the box, stating that it is made with real pumpkin purée mixed with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. A pumpkin spice recipe that's actually in writing! It's a nice touch and it pays off.

I'll admit that one of the reasons I wanted to try Pumpkin Spice Cheerios first was because I assumed I wouldn't actually like them. As I said before, these new flavours of Cheerios rarely land. Pumpkin Spice, though, just have a hint of pumpkin flavour and a dash of spices. There's nothing crazy going on here, which is nice. It almost tastes like Honey Nut Cheerios that had a light dusting and definitely seems light on the sugar. There's actually less of the sweet stuff in this box than Honey Nut or Apple Cinnamon.

I've had two bowls to date as I write this and its actually even grown on me, so I think I would give this a recommend, provided your into pumpkin spice and you're not a total Halloween Grinch!

Count Chocula



The Monster Cereals from General Mills have been around since the 70s and were on any grocery shelf in the US up until 2010. There have been several different kinds, but the flagships have always been Count Chocula and Franken Berry. Boo Berry has become one of the strongest in the line up, with Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy being offered only occasionally since the late-80s, early-90s.


In 2010, General Mills started offering the cereals only seasonally. The staples are Chocula and Franken and Boo Berry, but in 2013 and 2014 all five were actually released.

Now what about up here in the wilds of Canadia?

It wasn't until 2014 that General Mills - after seeing the greymarket created by people near the border driving and selling boxes of their goods here in Canada - decided to bring the cereal to our great country. For whatever reason instead of going for the three main cereals, same as in the US, the only two on offer here were Count Chocula and Boo Berry.

I wasn't completely broken-hearted by this decision, but I was definitely unhappy with it, as well. More to come on that.

The truth is I'm not a big fruit-flavoured cereal guy and I never have been. I think Fruity Pebbles was the only one that I went for with any regularity as a kid. Now, chocolate cereals? You've got my attention! So, easily my favourite of the two since I first started buying them again in the mid-10s (we can say that now, right?) has been Count Chocula.


I've heard the controversy that they've changed the cereals and they're very unlike their original versions, but I never - and I mean never - had these as a kid.

I feel certain that they were available in Canada, but either my parents wouldn't buy them for me or they just weren't available in my neck-of-the-woods. I know that I always wanted to try them and my parents weren't known to be completely against sugary cereals, so I have to assume it was a limited availability issue.

As a result, I love Count Chocula! I get my requisite box each Halloween, share it with the fam, and have a few bowls of that chocolaty goodness. If the texture or flavour of the cereal and marshmallows doesn't stack up the original I am blissfully unaware! I really enjoy them and that chocolate milk created by the cereal is deee-vine!

Franken Berry



And here we are! I've been searching different grocery sites off-and-on over the past few weeks and I've found ghost-listings for Count Chocula and Boo Berry, so I figured things would continue status quo this season, but suddenly a few weeks ago I found a listing for Franken Berry instead of his ghostly compatriot! I was absolutely in shock as this is one of the few "bucket list" items that I wanted to experience from my youth!

As I mentioned, as a kid I could never find these cereals, but being a child of Saturday morning cartoons I was bombarded with commercials for them as I watched channels like ABC or CBS.


I grew up loving the Universal Monsters and seeing these cereals immediately created that connection in my mind, which was literally explored by General Mills and Universal in 1987. My favourite of the monsters has always been Frankenstein's creature, so of course Franken Berry was the cereal I wanted the most.

Alas, it was not to be.

I have to assume these cereals were available in Canada, but that didn't mean they were all over the country. In fact, a lot of times that would mean they were only really widely available in Ontario and West. Here in Atlantic Canada, whether it was due to population or transportation, we often got slighted by different brands. Growing up on an island certainly didn't help matters!

I can remember many times scouring the cereal aisle looking for Franken Berry or any of the Monster Cereals, but never in my lifetime did I get to try this most coveted of cereals... until now!


As I said before, fruit cereals aren't really my jam... and unfortunately that statement remains true with Franken Berry. I didn't dislike it as much as others I've had, but I certainly can't say that this one trumps Count Chocula for me. I'm still floored that I actually got to have it, though! One thing I would say is that it tasted an aaaaawful lot like Fruity Lucky Charms to me, which I picked up as a promotion this summer. I'd almost like to do a side-by-side comparison to see if there's any funny business going on here.

The story doesn't end there, though!

I'm not going to act like I'm the first person to do this - I know I can't possibly be - but as I was sitting and having breakfast with my kids I thought to myself, What would be the perfect way to cut some of this sugary strawberry flavour, when it donned on me: mix Franken Berry with Count Chocula!

I have created a monster, Count Franken Chocoberry!


I actually don't think I can go back to just eating one of the cereals. I've experimented with different ratios and I think a 2/3s Count Chocula to 1/3 Franken Berry gives the best results. It curbs the incredible sweetness of the Franken Berry with the slight - and I emphasize slight - bitterness of the chocolate in Count Chocula.

So, it turns out this Halloween wasn't a bust for cereal! Or at least for me. I didn't manage to get anything new, but you have to work with you've got in getting the most out of the season.

Halloween is only a week away, folks! If it takes mixing together sugary kids' cereals, do what you've gotta do!

Hope you enjoyed,
R

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Nestlé Scary Chocolate Bars


Here we are on September 25th (as I write this) and I'll be brutally honest: the 2019 Halloween season has been a bit of a bust here in Canada.

I've been scouring department and grocery stores since probably late-August and there's just been dribs and drabs of Halloween-y goodness here and there, but zero knock-outs. Heck, although Wal-mart started their displays off a few weeks ago it was only over the last week that they got all their stuff out. For a few weeks it was just lying in the middle of the display section in boxes.

I don't ever expect to see as much cool stuff in the Great White North as you see in the US, but since August it seems like it's been a Halloween onslaught down there. I don't know how they're all keeping up.

To list a few of the hot items just off the top of my head (I can't attest to how long these links will exist):


And this is by no means a comprehensive list!

I can usually rely on the Monster Cereals Count Chocula and Boo Berry to show up in stores around now, as well as Reese Puffs Peanut Butter Bats, but I've seen no sign of them yet! I did find some ghost listings on Walmart.ca the other day for the Monster Cereals, but nothing on the shelves yet.

As a side note: I recently tweeted excitedly about finding the Boo Berry listing, thinking that we haven't had that cereal up here since the 2014 Monster Cereal re-launch, but as it turns out, it's Franken Berry we haven't had up here yet, so I guess if we do get Boo Berry it would be status quo. I'm more of a Count Chocula guy either way.

I was letting it all get me down a bit, but it's time to get out of the funk and start celebrating what we are getting here in Canada and one of the coolest is, without a doubt, Nestlé Scary chocolate bars!


From what I can tell, this is a Canadian exclusive, which rarely happens, but isn't that shocking since Nestlé Canada is a huge presence for the Swiss owned corporation.

So, for the uninitiated, every year Nestlé re-brands its biggest sellers and dresses them up for Halloween. The four bars that get spooky costumes are:

  • Aero as "ScAero"
  • Smarties as "Scaries"
  • Kit Kat which keeps its name, but adds a black cat to the wrapper
  • Coffee Crisp as "Coffin Crisp"

(I can't believe I used two bullet point lists in one post!)


The names aren't just where it stops. Each of these chocolate bars gets a fancy new spooky wrapper to top the whole thing off.


These have actually been out for a few weeks, so this post is coming late, but at first I hadn't even considered writing about the Nestlé Scary bars, because they've really become table stakes in the last few years. I reflexively pick up one of each whenever they hit store shelves, enjoy them with a good horror movie (or four), and then I don't really look back! But that's criminal, because these are so awesome.

There's really nothing different about the contents inside the wrappers, with the exception of Scaries, which are all brown and orange instead of their usual multi-coloured candy coating.


They usually cost a bit of a premium. These days you would never pay more than a $1 for each of these bars, but because of the Halloween branding they're usually closer to $2. This year they actually have an 8-pack available, which makes them much more affordable.


They also come in fun sizes, perfect for giving out for Halloween treats! Here's the one spot that I think Nestlé falls down on this one, however. In my mind, they should re-brand all of their fun-sized bars with the Scary wrappers, but they don't. If you wanted to give out Scaries instead of Smarties, you'll pay a premium there, as well. It's only the most hardcore treat-giver that would spend the money to actually stock these for the ghosts and goblins that come for trick-or-treating.


So that's Nestlé Scary bars! Like I said, before this year I've taken these for granted, but no longer. I've got one of each waiting for me at home so that I can enjoy them throughout October. It may be the same old chocolate, but you slap Halloween on that sucker and you've got a buyer right here!

Now if only I could wash them down with some of that VooDew...

Cheers,
R

p.s. Big props to my homeboy Elmer Bludd for helping me prop up the bars for these pics

Monday, August 20, 2018

Nostalgia Bomb! - Hostess Potato Chips



What were they?
Hostess Potato Chips (no affiliation to the Hostess pastry brand) was the premiere potato chip in Canada, first opening its doors in Ontario in 1935. They started with what would later be known as the Regular flavour, early on branched out to include Salt & Vinegar and BBQ, and later introduced Ketchup, Sour Cream & Onion, Dill Pickle, Roast Chicken, and even a Pizza flavour!

The last known line-up of Hostess Potato Chips

When were they available?

They were available from their inital release in 1935 up until 1996 when the Hostess brand, previously purchased by Frito Lay brand giant PepsiCo, was re-branded as Lay's Potato Chips.

What about today?
Some smaller grocery stores in Ontario, where the Hostess plant is located, continued to receive stock up until the 2010s. Today the only Hostess snack that is readily available are Hostess Hickory Sticks, which still seem to have a strong presence in the snack aisle.

Hickory Sticks are still a popular Hostess brand to this day.

Why do I remember them?
They were the best potato chips on the market! They held their place as Canada's #1 potato chip for as long as they did because they kept things simple and they produced a quality product.

Sure, like all massive brands they dipped their toes in some weird products. In the 1970s Hostess attempted a fruit-flavoured potato chip wing, which crashed and burned very quickly, but their strong main line-up of salty potato chip flavours couldn't be beat right up until they were re-branded in 1996.

What brought them down then? The introduction of higher quality brands, like Miss Vickie's kettle chips. Very quickly the more basic Hostess brand started seeing a drop in sales down to as little as 10% of the market.

It was decided that they would re-brand as Lay's and a huge marketing campaign accompanied the changeover. Mark Messier (famed centre for the Edmonton Oilers) would become the spokesperson for the brand with the slogan, "I bet you can't eat just one!" Why was all this so necessary? Lay's had been in Canada for years under the American brand and it was considered sub-par to Hostess chips. Canada was mind-washed of this and Lay's became the dominate brand almost overnight.

I can't write an article about Hostess potato chips and forget The Munchies! These cute little mascots fit right in during the 80s when everyone was sliding their commercials between cartoons on Saturday mornings. There were three Munchies, yellow, orange, and red. They were sort of like the Keebler Elves of chips.

The Hostess Munchies appearing on a button from the late-80s/early-90s.
For a short time after Lay's took over Canadian shelves Hostess still trickled in, but after a while the well dried up. My biggest problem with the whole thing was that Hostess BBQ chips were my favourite chip of all time. All of the other flavours got a somewhat similar representation by Lay's - in Dill Pickle's case, Lay's actually had the superior flavour - but the BBQ flavour that Lay's sold was nothing like what I was used to with Hostess.

You see, BBQ in the US - in relation to potato chips, anyway - is a much different beast than it is in Canada. To be fair, the US flavour is a better representation of actual barbecue - it is a sweet flavour, with a little spice. In Canada it basically just means hot and spicy. After a time, Lay's actually responded and came out with a hot BBQ flavour, but it just wasn't the same.

Lay's Old Fashioned Bar-B-Q flavoured potato chips.
BBQ Chip Tangent:
When Lay's was first introduced I switched to Humpty Dumpty, which was the real competitor to Hostess in the 80s and 90s, in my opinion. They had a BBQ flavour that was at least akin to Hostess and over time I learned to love that flavour, as well. Humpty Dumpty would see a similar fate to Hostess, however, being swallowed up by a bigger fish and purchased by Old Dutch. For many years the BBQ flavour that Old Dutch produced was actually titled "Humpty Dumpty BBQ", showing how strong the flavour was, but in the last few years they added cinnamon to it and dropped the "Humpty Dumpty" from the title. As a result, I've stopped buying it. My BBQ flavour of choice now? Walmart Canada's Great Value brand. It's actually really quite good! And at only $0.99 a bag it's hard to beat.


The "Humpty Dumpty" was eventually dropped in Canada, but it may still be available in the US.

What makes the whole thing more frustrating is that eventually the "upscale" potato chip concept would wear off and the market leveled back out. If Hostess had just stuck it out and PepsiCo hadn't re-branded everything to Lay's I think that Hostess would still be on top to this day. Even if you don't believe me that Hostess had the best flavours, Hostess' offerings were at least on par with their competitors.

In this day and age of "nostalgia is king", and especially being owned by PepsiCo - who have brought back Pepsi with real sugar as Pepsi Throwback, had a successful re-relase of Crystal Pepsi in 2016, and are now offering cans branded with their old logos and designs - I have this dream that one day there will be a limited run of Hostess chips in Canada. Even if it were under the Lay's brand, but with the original Hostess flavours, I'd be happy.

But until that day comes, Hostess Potato Chips will still be a blast from my past!

Hope you enjoyed,
R

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Nostalgia Bomb! - McPizza



What was it?
In the 1980s McDonald's wanted to break into the pizza market and take on companies like Dominos and Pizza Hut, so the began testing the McPizza. It wasn't until the 90s that the test phase branched out into over 500 stores. Originally it was served as a "family-size", which was brought to the table and placed on a raised rack, but they quickly began serving it in a personal-size format, which could be included in an Extra Value Meal with fries and a drink.

McPizza ad

When was it available?
I've read that the earliest test markets actually started in the 70s, but most articles related to McPizza state that it started hitting test restaurants in the late-80s and by 1991 had branched out to around 500 stores. In Canada, it was phased out in 1999, although I know it left my local McDonald's well before that. Officially, it appears it left almost all McDonald's by the year 2000. It was ultimately removed from most McDonald's menus because it took 11 minutes to cook, which wasn't in-line with their policy of providing food as fast as possible.

What about today?
Much like the start date of McPizza, there is a lot of conflicting information about this, but up until recently my understanding was that you could still get McPizza at two locations; Pomeroy, Ohio and Owensboro, Kentucky. From what I've read, both of those restaurants served their last pizzas as of 2017, but it appears that that largest McDonald's - located in Orlando, Florida - is the only restaurant that still offers the McPizza.

Why do I remember it?
Mostly, because it was delicious.

In an Extra Value Meal
An odd thing about where I grew up is that pizza is like religion. There is no Pizza Hut or Dominos there. They would crash and burn. Everyone gets their pizza from their favourite "joint" and you'll hear many arguments as to which is the best. So when McDonald's came out with McPizza I assumed it would be garbage and would never last, but when I first had it I was hooked. That said, no one in my family would ever go to McDonald's to get a pizza, which is why the personal-sized pie was so crucial. If we all went to Mickey Ds I could get a pizza for myself!

I remember it having a cornmeal crust or something, which was unheard of where I lived. All the crusts were typically the same and I'd dare say that's how it is even today. I can't think of a place that deviates. I'd never had anything like that and I really enjoyed it. Also, I think they added parmesan to their mozzarella cheese, which was something I'd never had before and really liked as well.

McPizza is a bizarre thing, because under the lens of nostalgia and passing time it seems like everyone enjoyed it and wishes they could still get it, but that just can't be the case. I know that most articles I've read state that McDonald's removed it from their meny because of the time it took to cook, but let's real here; if the stuff was selling like gangbusters, they'd still have it on the menu.

The reality is that McDonald's took on a pretty tough market and didn't see enough upside to keep the product going. I can attest to it being good - and I consider myself a pretty tough pizza critic - but money talks and now McPizza is (pretty much) no more.

This is the box I recall
If I'm ever in Orlando, however, and I happen upon this magical McDonald's that still carries McPizza, you can be damned sure I'll be buying it and reliving my childhood for a few gooey, cheesy moments.

I hope you enjoyed,
R

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Nostalgia Bomb! - Crystal Pepsi



What is it?
Crystal Pepsi was a "clear cola" released by PepsiCo. It had no caffeine, but had a flavour similar to a cola, with no lemon-lime or vanilla flavouring to delineate it from other clear soda pop, like 7-Up, Sprite, or some cream sodas.

When did it come out?
Crystal Pepsi was originally released from 1992 to 1993. During that time everything had to be clear or pure. This is when Zima hit the market. PepsiCo decided to try and sell a caffeine-free, clear, clean soda, but it didn't really catch on and only lasted in North American markets for about a year, with a slightly longer run in Europe.

The original packaging - I don't recall ever seeing Diet Crystal Pepsi
What about today?
In 2015 PepsiCo released a small batch of Crystal Pepsi in the United States and it sold very well. In mid-2016 it was re-released across the US and Canada as a seasonal drink.

Why do I remember it?
I don't think I drank copious amounts of Crystal Pepsi when it was first released, but I can clearly remember having it. A friend of the family actually worked at the local Pepsi bottling plant and brought us a bottle to try before it hit store shelves later that year. As I recall it didn't quite taste like regular cola and had much sweeter taste.

I can't say how much the new Crystal Pepsi tastes like the original, but I can say that it still has a slightly sweeter than cola taste. I know the new formula uses high fructose corn syrup, where the original product would have used actual sugar, so that might account for any differences. Also, this new formula contains 64mg of caffeine.

Crystal Pepsi today

Originally Crystal Pepsi was almost marketed as a "healthy" pop alternative; a clear drink with less caffeine and less sugar. These days no one was any illusions that there can be a healthy soft drink, so I feel like PepsiCo just left the caffeine and HFCS in there and let it fly.

I'm certainly not as excited about this Pepsi seasonal offering as I was for Pepsi Throwback, which I bought in copious amounts when it was released in 2013. I believe Throwback may still be available in the US - I hear there are even cherry and vanilla variants - but here in Canada it was only around for a limited time. That said, I'm enjoying a little taste of nostalgia with Crystal Pepsi and I think I'll be sad to see it go at the end of the summer.

Crystal Pepsi is a definite blast from the past!

Hope you enjoyed,
R