episode 40: Nerds Gummy Clusters and NFL’s Uncrustables
this week we are talking about the meteoric rise of Nerds gummy clusters, the NFL's obsession with Uncrustables, and more!
40 episodes!!!! 200 subscribers!!! thank you all for reading!!! also, please go vote!!! food is fun, but food is also political. the intersection of culture, climate change, and our food supply is inevitably tied up in our government. find out how to vote where you live at iwillvote.com.
the Nerds gummy cluster supremacy 🍭
Nerds gummy clusters are really having a moment! articles in the NYT, WSJ and Axios this week, just to name a few, have featured the candy’s meteroric rise to the top, and what became the saving grace for Nerds. invented in 1983 by the Willy Wonka Candy Company, the loose, small tart candies came in little pink and purple cardboard boxes. after Nestle bought the company, decades later, they released the Nerds Rope, a long candy with a gummy core and little nerds coating the outside.
however, Nerds Rope had flaws, the Nerd coating fell off as you ate and the gummy core was too sticky. by the late 2010s, when a group of scientists was tasked with a plan to make Nerds relevant again, they returned to the gummy rope idea - but improved! they used little molds to create the gummy-bear-like gel core, and then tossed the orbs in mini Nerds. the product got mixed reviews in consumer trials in 2020, but the company risked it and took it to production. the candy got a huge boost when Kylie Jenner posted a rave review to her Instagram and the free advertising came rolling. fast forward to 2024, gummy clusters generates more than 90% of revenue for Nerds. sales have boosted from $50 million to $500 million!!! the Nerds glow up did them good!
&controversy with &pizza 🍕
the local chain &pizza is facing backlash for a recent advertisement made in poor taste. the chain was promoting a new dessert called “Marion Berry Knots,” a sweet dough filled with marionberry and dusted with powdered sugar. the copy read “these knots will BLOW you away” which was a reference to former DC Mayor Marion Berry, who was arrested for possession of cocaine in the 1990s. the pictures depicted the powdered sugar like cocaine, in small plastic baggies, and the release read, “knots so good it’ll taste like a felony.” safe to say, DC was incredibly unhappy. the late former mayor’s wife, Cora Masters Berry, called the ad “racist and disrespectful” as local DC Councilmebers condemned the ad - and some activists even called for a boycott of the restaurant. the CEO of &pizza refused to address the reference at first, simply stating the marionberry in reference was just the fruit, not the former mayor. this week, the company posted an apology after meeting with community members, in which &pizza announced a variety of initiatives to support minority-owned businesses in the wake of their insensitive comments.
the illusion of fishnets 🍊
turns out there’s a sneaky reason why fruit and vegetables are packaged in that bright red/green fishnet packaging — it makes the fruit look more ripe! as this TikTok from Scientific American explains, due to a phenomenon called the Confetti Illusion, when fruit is sold in packaging close to the color of ripeness, our brain thinks the fruit is as ripe as it appears. the fruit appears brighter than it is because of two components: one, light bounces off the netting onto the fruit that makes the fruit look a differenrt color, and two, the netting creates an optical illusion - to have stripes laid over an image distorts the color from the original image. buyers beware!
NFL <3 PB&J 🏈
never have I thought about this pairing - but turns out professional football players love them some PB&J! The Athletic from NYT had heard reports that NFL players loved Uncrustables, a circular peanut butter and jelly packaged sandwich. so, at the end of the 2023 NFL season they investigated exactly how many Uncrustables the football players ate. from the data they collected, they estimate these teams go through 3,600-4,300 Uncrustables every week, and at least 80,000 a year! the article has a fun graph that shows the weekly consumption by team if you’re interested (if you know NFL teams, unlike me).
the co-inventor of the Uncrustable is a former football player himself, who made the sandwich in the mid-1990s at the suggestion of his wife. they perfected the round sandwich by coating each side with peanut butter, putting jelly in the middle, and cutting it into a circle with a crimped edge to prevent leakage. the relatively shelf stable snacks proved to be useful for traveling football players, and a simple lunch for kids across the country all the same. read more in the report here!
a grate cheese robbery 🧀
a big cheese retailer in London has reported that they are the victim of a “grate” cheese robbery! Neal’s Yard Dairy in London stated that 950 wheels of artisinal cheese (three different types of cheddar!!) were stolen from a scammer posing as a legitimate French cheese retailer. this theft caused a huge blow to the company, as the cheese was worth more than $389,000. suppliers of the fancy cheddar urged consumers to be on the lookout for great cheese at suspiciously low prices. read more here.
listeria (again!) 🤢
last week it was precooked meat, this week its frozen waffles and smoked fish - why is there listeria in everything? the answer is good ‘lol Trump-era deregulation! yay! listeria is caused by food products that have contact with animals or dirt, and thrive grow in low temperatures. prepackaged foods, which are a large portion of what we eat, are stored in cold storage sometimes for too long, which allows listeria to grow. the processed food realm is overseen by the FDA, and enforcement of safety standards fell drastically when Trump deregulated many parts of the food system, leading contamination (like lead in our cinnamon!) to go unnoticed. the FDA needs to be directed to ramp up inspections and better enforce necessary safety actions when needed. read more here.
Nutter Butter nuttiness 🥜
I have little to say here except Nutter Butter’s TikTok account has gone full unhinged. yes, i’m talking about the sandwich cookie. it’s giving dystopian weird Gen Z memes that I cannot understand, sometimes they’re funny and sometimes they’re scary!! there’s some videos from the account in this article that shows the range of their wacky content. the comments on Nutter Butter’s videos are full of other brand accounts (like Charmin or Sour Patch Kids) commenting hype messages on these wildly edited videos with mysterious recurring characters that have warranted its own subreddit. prepare to be weirded out!
Simu Liu calls out “Bobba” 🧋
actor Simu Liu called out cultural appropriation of boba tea in a painful exchange that went viral on the internet. Liu was a guest judge on a Canadian version of Shark Tank called Dragon’s Den, where two white people were presenting a bubble tea brand called “Bobba.” boba tea is a Taiwanese tea-based drink with tapioca balls that has grown in popularity in other countries in recent years. however, the founders of Bobba villainized the original in their boosting of their own product, calling the original boba tea “trendy, sugary” and claiming customers could never know the contents of boba (some othering/fearmongering here). the “Asian, but better and healthier!” framing is reminiccent of attacks on MSG and “clean” versions of Asian foods. Liu voiced concerns that the business owners were appropriating Asian culture and criticized their lack of acknowledgement of the origin of the drink. in response to massive internet critique, the brand is allegedly looking into better representing the origins of the drink as they continue to keep the company alive. read more here.
restaurant review: Bar Americano 🍕
hittin’ up all the new spots! Bar Americano is a new cafe from the folks who run Sonny’s and Doubles on Georgia Ave. the spot is located in a kiosk on the national mall, which is huuuuuge news, seeing as there’s basically no food (besides food trucks) in that area. Bar Americano has a large menu of baked goods and thick-crust pizza, plus a great natural wine and coffee menu. a lovely spot to do whatever the DC version of leaf peeping is.
f*cked up food 🤢
today I have a TikTok version of chaotic food for you. gummy cluster related!! its blasphemy!!
d.c. happenings
openings
Ingle Korean Steakhouse coming to 14th
Mikey and Mel’s Deli coming downtown
Bar Angie coming to West End
Alero opening on H St
Maman Joon opening in Truxton Circle
Chadol Korean BBQ soft opened in Bryant St Market
Life Alive Organic Cafe coming to West End
new spot opening at old Los Companeros in AdMo
Billy Hicks opened in Georgetown
Dolphin Cafe opened near downtown
yet another Tatte coming to Admo
closings
Slash Run closing in Petworth :/
Maharaja Biryani House temporarily closed
Alta Strada in Mt. Vernon closed
Taffers Taven closed
other
Pop Up Bottle Shop this weekend at Corduroy/Baby Wale in Shaw
home cooking 👩🍳
my office holds a much-anticipated event a few times a year: an in-office farmers market! my coworkers and I clamor for (free!) fresh produce from local farms - and this time I came away with a haullllll: lettuce, onion, sweet potatoes, squash, cabbage, and peppers. I went wild in the oven and roasted all the veggies to make lots of fall harvest salads, butternut squash mac and cheese, and sweet potato nachos. I had never had fresh locally-grown lettuce and man….now im spoiled. how will I go back to my sad pale Lidl romaine!!
thanks all, hang in there through next week!
Wow I hadnt seen the nutter butter stuff wtf lol 😵💫