|
May 21, 2004:
The
Magic Of Candy
II
Interview
with Steve Almond author of Candyfreak
Mike
Carruthers:
Candy bars have been around since about the turn of the century,
but didn't really take off until a few years later.
Steve
Almond:
I would say that the major thing that brought candy bars, which
are a uniquely American artifact, into the mainstream was the
Dough Boys.
Steve Almond,
author of the book Candyfreak...
The soldiers
of World War I, were essentially fueled by candy bars. And the
quartermasters would get these big blocks of chocolate, but
of course that's not very convenient. The manufacturers said,
"listen, let us make the candy bars, we could make a single
serving portion, and we'll be able to, you know send those directly
to the soldiers.
When the
soldiers came back from World War I they came back with an appetite
for candy bars.
There was
a candy bar boom after World War I, in which 30,000 different
brands were introduced in the space of literally a decade. You
have to remember this is the era before the onslaught of cookies,
and Pop-Tarts, and breakfast bars, and chips and all that stuff.
There was fruit and there was candy.
The Goo
Goo Cluster is credited as the first candy bar with multiple
ingredients. And have you ever wondered how Three Musketeers
got its name.
Because
it used to be 3 bars. It used to be 3 bars in one package, a
chocolate nougat enrobed in milk chocolate, a vanilla nougat
and a strawberry nougat, that was the Three in Three Musketeers.
Of course the most popular proved to be the chocolate and
so they discontinued the other lines.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net,
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
|
