THE NEW
NEW AT THE MARKET
MAGICALLY AND CHOCOLATY DELICIOUS?
February 15, 2005 - In the latest round of corporate greed, Lucky
Charms, always one of my favorite cereals of all time, has fallen
prey to Corporate America's fascination with brand expansion and has
added chocolate to its original recipe.I usually
instinctively and stubbornly shun such abominations when I see them,
but this time, I greedily grabbed the box from the shelves of the
HEB and brought it home with me. Would Lucky Charms still be
good? Is it just a rip-off of Count Chocula, General Mills'
other chocolate marshmallow cereal? Why would this cereal ever
be made?
Upon further review of the cereal box, I realized that perhaps
General Mills wasn't all to blame, the story on the back of the box
was that Lucky had kept this top secret cereal tucked away for
years, and kids were only finding out about it now. |
Frosted Lucky Charms are magically delicious.
Chocolate Lucky Charms are a Count Chocula rip off. |
The cereal itself doesn't betray the original idea behind Lucky Charms -
seven lucky and colorfully shaped marshmallows surrounded by some
frosted pieces of grain, which invariably gets soggy and boring fast.
It just seems a bit contrived really,, but yet, I still acted like a
giddy child when I finally opened up the box and got a whiff of the
sugary cloud that lifted out from the inner bag.
| On first sight, the marshmallows were
the only real difference between Lucky Charms and Count Chocula.
Even with today's fancy and multicolored monster marshmallows in
Count Chocula, the cereal still retains its traditional brown and
white tone. In contrast, the frenzy of color the Lucky Charm
marshmallows brought to the bowl confused me a bit.
Upon first taste, the cereals became indistinguishable, and as
the bowls disappeared, and the milk, soaking up the chocolaty
goodness, turned brown. Drinking chocolate milk to top off a
few bowls of sugary marshmallow cereal always is a special treat.
Perhaps that is why Lucky spent so many years hiding this cereal
from those pesky little kids.
Overall, the cereal did not let me down. The taste was all
there, but the choosing to eat Chocolate Lucky Charms over Count
Chocula would be like cheating on a sexy, fun and charming
girl for one with a nice smile in a bar. Why oh why would one
do that??? Call me a sappy romantic when it comes to
sugar in the morning, but make mine a Monster.
RATING:
Look: A lot like Count
Chocula, with brighter, traditional Lucky Charms shapes and
colors.
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3/4 sugarcubes |
Smell: Sugar, sugar, sugar
and processed, dried marshmallows. A lot like what heaven
must smell like.
|
4/4 sugarcubes |
Taste: Just like Count
Chocula, actually, exactly like Count Chocula,
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4/4 sugarcubes |
| Additional Comments:
Why mess with an original? It's not only watering down the
original Lucky Charms, but its stepping on the Count's toes.
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THE OTHER FINDS...
Much to my dismay, I found the following items strewn about the
supermarket, which nearly turned my stomach at just how easy it is
becoming for America to become even fatter and lazier. Yes, I
didn't dream it possible either, but it's true, read on:
- PEANUT BUTTER IN A TUBE
Yes folks, as if removing peanut butter from a plastic jar with a
knife is too much trouble, kids and adults alike can now squeeze
out their favorite use of peanuts from a convienent tube that
looks a lot like toothpaste. There's no telling what
additional ingredients were added to the recipe to make the peanut
butter 'flow' better, but I was to scared to see if
olestra was an additive.
- UPSIDE DOWN NESTLE QUIK
With a no-drip spout nonetheless! While this may seem like a
good idea, with the body blows of tubed peanut butter and
chocolate Lucky Charms, I wasn't ready for more changes to stable
products. There was a certain charm and elegance that was
produced when a bottle of chocolate was squeezed into milk.
While this may seem like a good idea to those of you with
children, I think this just leads us down the wrong path.
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