I just bought some M & Ms, which I don’t think I’ve done since I was… Well, I don’t ever remember buying myself a bag of M & Ms, but I assume I have before. I mean, a small bag of M & Ms for myself, not some giant bag I throw into a bowl for a party and never look at again, except when I mindlessly stick my hand in it later and insert the M & Ms into my mouth without looking at them or remembering I did it. On those rare occasions, I could be throwing a handful of chocolate-covered ants into my mouth and wouldn’t really notice.
No, I’m saying that I bought my OWN bag, and slowly ate them, and really looked at them before I put them in my mouth. And what I want to say is, as tasty as they were (and they were), they were alarming.
What’s with the colors? And why don’t more people talk about this? They are the brightest, brashest purples and greens and blues and yellows I’ve ever seen a food item be. Food isn’t those colors. The only thing that’s any of those colors and edible is… M & Ms. Why is this? It felt like I was eating tasty Fisher Price toys, or very yummy legos.
And I could get used to this–I like bright colors a lot, and chocolate even more. But it seems so unnatural. That part’s obvious, but it got me wondering if I could somehow connect crass-looking, overly colored American candies to American culture. Yeah, that’s where I’m going with this…
I also want to be sure everyone knows that M & Ms are actually a rip-off of Smarties, which is a Canadian, I mean originally English candy. A member of the Mars family saw some English solders eating Smarties (apparently ‘melts in your mouth, not in your hands’ was a helpful war tool) and proceeded to lift the idea. I ate Smarties in Canada when I was a kid and missed them when I couldn’t find them in the U.S. years later.
Come to think of it, Smarties were obnoxious colors too. So I guess that blows my “crass America” concept. Well, insofar as being able to use candy as the symbol, anyway.
5 Responses to It’s the Little Things…
They have white chocoloate m&ms now, available in less garrish, pastel colors. Does that help your theory any? Or is it a sign of chocoloates taking on upper-class pretentions?
Smarties are great! Apart from the fact that they just taste better (I will accept anyone’s challenge to prove me wrong), they also usually come in these neat tubes. I don’t think there are enough tubed candies in the States. Oh, and they’re available in the Indian grocery store!
M&Ms (or Smarties) during wartime — there’s an idea. A boon for those poor souls whose rifles slipped due to chocolatey hands.
M&Ms are very classy. Not only do they have white chocolate ones now, but they have dark chocolate ones, too. Mmmm. (And Mmm!) Plus, they help recover priceless works of art. Wha?
M&Ms offered a reward of 2 million dark chocolate M&Ms for the recovery of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” (which was stolen, for the second time, a few years ago). Two days later, it was recovered. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060831/cgth066.html?.v=44
Stolen masterpieces recovered: M&Ms – 1 Smarties – 0
ROTFLMFAO!!!! I too got the dark chocolate appreciative gene that Kris has. [Does anybody know or care that a kris is one of those serious daggers with waves in it like a snake? Talk about dark.]
But I’m going to find Smarties and see what the fuss is about. Maybe a blindfolded taste test.
I was recently given a bag of those “rich color” M&M’s. They are also “mega” sized (really big ass M&M’s). I am now the most popular person at work.
I like the new color scheme. But I don’t think they would sell less in any color.
I grew up on Sixlets. I used to think that they were a poor man’s M&M. I now know they are a totally different animal, and I still love them. They come in a tubish bag also.
I’m a dark chocolate nut. Being that I don’t like chocolate a whole lot, I can satisfy a whole year’s of cravings with one bar of Hershey’s Special Dark. It’s also good for your heart.
You know, I’m not an M&Ms person. I’ve always been a Reeses Pieces fan instead. And the two seem to be mutually exclusive–do you like your candy buttons to be hard when you bite them, or do you like them to dissolve into warm goo? I’m a warm goo guy.
Plus the colors on Reeses Pieces seem less likely to give you rainbow diarrhea.