Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Jan. 13, 2004 / 19 Teves, 5764

Lenore Skenazy

Skenazy
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Wanted: Unadulterated candy machines


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | It was bloodless. Silent. All right, it was completely ignored. And yet, it affects us all: the candy machine coup.


Right under our very noses - and mouths - the candy machine has undergone a radical regime change. Think candy still rules the racks? Wrong-o. It's snacks. They're muscling in on previously sacred (that is, candy bar) territory.


If your vending machine is anything like the one here, it is a glass booth filled with coils clutching what should be a bevy of chocolate bars, with the occasional Chuckles thrown in for the choco-phobes who shouldn't be hanging around candy machines in the first place.


But now, it seems, the choco-phobes have won. Snacks both salty and sweet occupy five of the six rows - Pop-Tarts packets, muffinettes, pretzels, popcorn, trail mix, not to mention "Grandma's Cookies." Grandma being a factory. Even the single row of candy bars isn't safe from snackification. A packet of Lorna Doones sneaked in there.


What is going on? Oh, you know - America's ever more tortured relationship with food.


A healthy relationship involves commitment - something Americans aren't willing to make. Many feel eating a real meal requires too much time and effort. And so we turn to the machine, our new-age Automat.


Breakfast, a Pop-Tart. Lunch, a bag of chips and a Coke.

Donate to JWR

But even as we feel bad taking time out for food, we also feel bad taking time out from food. (I told you the relationship was tortured.) Remember how much Americans used to smoke? Now we're nibbling instead. And since it's hard to nibble Almond Joys all day long, we are mainlining a steady stream of alternatives - Cheetos, then a muffin, then pretzels. ... The candy machine is an enabler.


Finally, one also can't discount America's extremely strange idea of what constitutes "healthy" eating. "Candy is the quintessential empty calories," says Jennifer Berg, head of food studies at New York University. "But a corn chip sort of suggests vegetables. And even cookies suggest wholesomeness."


It has gotten to the point where eating candy is considered sinful.


"A candy bar is just about pleasuring yourself," says foodie Michael Stern, co-author of the "Harry Caray's Restaurant Cookbook." "It is one of those sheer indulgences that I'm much happier doing in the privacy of my car."


Whoa. That puts it on par with, well ... all sorts of stuff. Candy is clearly becoming too taboo for public consumption.


Consider it gone with the vend.

Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.




JWR contributor Lenore Skenazy is a columnist for The New York Daily News. Comment by clicking here.

Lenore Skenazy Archives

Up

© 2003, New York Daily News