100 Years Ago in Pop Culture: Twist, Lick, Dunk

This past March Nabisco’s Oreo cookie celebrated its 100^th birthday.  It was first produced in its New York City factory at Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets, known today as “Oreo Way.”  How’s that for a compliment?

Layers and layers of love. Photo from: facebook.com/oreo

But here’s a little known fact.  Sunshine Biscuits beat Nabisco to the market with Hydrox, also a creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie, by four years.  It still has its fans who preferred the crisper cookie because it “stood up to the milk” when dunked, but it’s no longer on the market.

That leaves Oreos as king of the hill and the best-selling cookie of the 20^th century and, probably, beyond.  The snack company keeps turning out new and different choices to keep it interesting.

Do you love the filling, but it disappears too quickly when you lick it?  Try Double Stuf, it has twice as much, well, stuff.

Is the white creme filling too ordinary for your taste?  Try cool mint, peanut butter, or berry burst.

Do you love chocolate?  Go for a chocolate Oreo or a fudge-covered Oreo.  Is your treat still not sweet enough for you?  Bake them inside a chocolate chip cookie or smash them up and have an Oreo milkshake.  An Oreo truffle is made with crushed Oreos and cream cheese and covered with melted dark chocolate.  Yes, you can do this at home.

And now Halloween is upon us.  In the past, Oreos offered a yellow and orange candy corn creme.  I couldn’t find it in the grocery store this past week, but hopefully candy cane Oreos will be on the shelves at Christmas.

All year long Nabisco has been celebrating by commemorating other events.  In honor of Shark Week, it made an Oreo with a bite taken out of it (or it looked that way).  For Gay Pride, it promoted Oreos on Facebook showing layers of filling for each color in the rainbow sandwiched between the requisite chocolate wafers with the caption, “Proudly support love!”

Oreo devotees were distressed when they realized Nabisco wasn’t actually producing this cookie; the picture was for promotional purposes only.  On the other hand, conservative groups called for a boycott because of the promotion.  In response the company pushed back.  We have “a proud history of celebrating diversity and inclusiveness,” it stated.  “We feel the Oreo ad is a fun reflection of values.”

And that’s the way it should be.  Keep twisting, licking, and dunking.  But be warned:  Not all flavors are available all the time.

© 2012 Susan Marg – All Rights Reserved