Hey, everybody! Reader here.
Earlier this week, Stacie and Zenga were asking everybody about some strange food combos that they enjoy.
I don’t know that there’s any one particular combo that I enjoy to this day, though I had a phase when I was a kid, where I enjoyed dunking certain foods in beverages.
On one hand, I had a period in which I used to dunk my toast, just plain ol’ buttered toast, into chocolate milk.
Sure it used to taste good, but it would make my toast soggy, which, at the time, I must’ve been okay with. But now? Not so much. The thought of soggy toast kinda grosses me out!
On the other hand, I was never one to dunk my cookies in milk. But, for a while, I used to dunk my Mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies in orange juice.
Maybe I though I was “healthying up” my cookies by dunking them in OJ filled with Vitamin C. But when I think about it, we used to drink more orange juice made from juice crystals that were full of sugar, rather than actual orange juice. So the health benefits were pretty negligible!
This brought me to the other day, when I though I’d try something different, when I mashed together my three favourite snacks – Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Old Dutch Mexican Chili potato chips, and Hawkins Cheezies (the only acceptable cheese snacks, because Cheetos are gross!). I made them into a snackable sandwich, that I dubbed the “Chili Cheese Reese.”
Was it any good? Here’s my reaction…
Not the worst thing I’ve eaten, but I think I prefer those three delicacies separately, rather than together.
Now, as I assembled my all-star snack lineup, it got me thinking about one in particular… Cheezies.
As I mentioned, I love ’em. To me, they’re sooooo much better than Cheetos and every other cheese-snack. There’s something about the taste, texture and overall deliciousness, that just makes them better, to me, anyway!
I never really looked into Cheezies, but I’ve always just assumed they we an all-Canadian creation. Looking at their website, much to my surprise, they were actually invented by James Marker – an American!
He was born in Dayton, Ohio, and was vice president of the Hawkins company, that began making Cheezies down in the States, but moved production to Ontario in 1949.
The W.T. Hawkins company soon realized that no other product they could possibly make would be as good, and in 1959, the company said “to heck with it,” dropped their other products and only made Cheezies from then on, and since then, they’ve become one of those “only in Canada” snacks, that have become a national icon.
I hesitate to estimate how many I down in the course of a year, but suffice it to say, the total is probably far more that I should be eating! But they’re so goooooood!
There are other snacks that are generally only available in Canada, and some I love? Some, not so much.
Like the Coffee Crisp. One of my favourite chocolate bars, even though I’m not a big coffee fan. One time, though, I made the mistake of grabbing a special edition “double-double” edition Coffee Crisp. No thanks! Didn’t care for it at all. I’ll stick with the original!
And Smarties? Bring ’em on. There’s something about the flavour of the milk chocolate in Smarties, that makes them tastes so much better than M&M’s
Other yummy treats than can only be found north of the 49th parallel, include Jos Louis cakes – the spongy cake, filled with vanilla creme, and dunked in chocolate.
Hostess Hickory Sticks are also a tasty treat, and Mackintosh Toffee is another good one.
But I admit, I may be risking my Canadian status, when I offer up this hot take – what some may consider “fightin’ words”…
Ketchup and All-Dressed potato chips? Not a huge fan.
It’s not that I won’t eat them, if that’s what’s there. But let’s just say they’ll never be my first choice
And the same with anything maple-flavoured.
I love maple syrup on my pancakes and waffles, but beyond that, I’m good. I don’t need maple cookies, or or maple-flavoured Coca-Cola.
And the Cherry Blossom, which debuted back in the 1890’s? No thanks. Not my cup of tea.
We all have our favourite comfort snacks, and I’ll stick with mine. To each their own, but I will admit, I need to work on self-control around mine. Everything in moderation, right?
Snack away, my friends!
