What Happened to the Choco Taco? The Real Reason It Disappeared
Why was the Choco Taco discontinued? The inside story of Alan Drazen’s 1983 invention, Klondike’s assembly line problems, and the cold reality of corporate SKU cuts.
Why Zima Was Never the Flop You Remember
Pop culture remembers Zima as a 1990s disaster, but it sold 400 million bottles in year one & lasted 15 years. Here is the real story behind the beverage.
Why Do People Say Hershey’s Tastes Like Vomit?
Why do visitors claim Hershey’s tastes like vomit while Americans swear by it? Discover the chemistry of butyric acid, milk crumb, and the British fat rules.
Few dinner failures are more disappointing than cooking a well-marbled New York strip or ribeye to an exact medium-rare, trying to do everything right, only for it to turn out super-tough and require far more jaw work than you expected. The immediate reaction is to look for a culprit. You wonder if the thermometer was … Read more
It is an enduring article of consumer faith that if we can put a man on the moon we should be able to make a decent frozen microwave burrito, one that doesn’t blow out its side seam or bake into drywall. Because it remains one of the most notoriously inconsistent convenience foods in the freezer … Read more
For over a century, commercial food packaging has trained us to rely on an reliable mental rule: If it comes sealed inside a metal can, you can store it in the pantry or cupboard. Metal cans are supposed to be culinary time capsules. Except around the holidays, an alarming number of home cooks run into … Read more
When you’re on a budget, there’s no mistaking the pull of the lower six inches of the cereal aisle. Above, at eye level, beautiful boxes of Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Honey Nut Cheerios stand neatly aligned like hardcovers in a library, commanding six or seven dollars for just twelve ounces. But look down … Read more
The real origin of blue raspberry is the subject of a lot of misinformation. Every kid who grew up eating sour blue raspberry candies or drinking Blue Raspberry Slurpees eventually hit the same wall of childhood skepticism. “Wait a minute, raspberries aren’t blue.” It’s one of the few culinary fictions that almost everyone notices, yet … Read more
Almost everyone remembers the grocery store speech, even if families disagreed on how to give it. Depending on where and how you grew up, consumer frugality took on different forms. In genuinely poor rural households, store brands were often viewed with deep suspicion. When every dollar counted, buying an unproven off-brand was an unacceptable gamble. … Read more