Transcripts

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 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 just 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.