"Remember Hydrox? Kansas City created the original Oreo cookie" (article and audio)

[Mario500]

"Remember Hydrox? Kansas City created the original Oreo cookie" (article and audio)

Oreo is the best-selling cookie in the world today. But few people remember the product that Nabisco blatantly ripped off: Hydrox. A creation of Kansas City’s Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, Hydrox was billed as the “aristocrat of cookies,” with a novel combo of chocolate and cream filling. So why, more than a century later, is Hydrox still mistaken as a cheap knockoff?

[Mario500]

(note: one moment of profanity in the audio mentioned here)

[Shane]

That is what I thought. That Hydrox was a generic cheap ripoff. Pretty sure that was the kind we used to get as kids.

[Booyakasha]

I don't know why anyone would buy non-generic cookies unless they had a reason to. Like, if there's a limited edition, or a sale, or there's some angelic girl scouts outside the store, and they're all sweet and earnest and charming. I don't really care about money----------I'll spend thirty bux for six boxes of girl scout cookies out of pure civic-mindedness.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

I don't think I've ever had Hydrox. Is it the one with the penguin on the box or something? I might've at least seen it but don't remember seeing it for a while now. I'm surprised Oreo didn't buy their competition up, maybe they're just that irrelevant, which is sort of sad.

[Booyakasha]

Hydrox is okay, but they're not appreciably better than Kaleidos, the dumb Kroger store brand, so like who cares.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

Hydrox is okay, but they're not appreciably better than Kaleidos, the dumb Kroger store brand, so like who cares.

How do would you rank the three with Oreo in there?

[Booyakasha]

They all taste more or less identical to me, but then I'm a big idiot who regularly carpet-bombs his taste buds with flaming hot peppers and sriracha and wasabi and all, so like who's to say I'm any kind of reliable judge.

It's definitely possible to ruin your sense of taste------------my grandpa drank scorching hot coffee all day every day, and it burned and scarred his whole mouth to the point that he basically had to paint his food midnight-black with pepper in order to taste anything at all.

...it's kind of sad. He went through the Depression, fought in the war, went to college, played pro basketball, and raised eight kids on a schoolteacher's salary, and in the end his efforts to keep himself awake and active for work wound up denying him the simple pleasure of eating an apple or a grilled cheese without it tasting like schutt und asche in his mouth. Doesn't quite seem fair.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

Sorry to hear about your grandpa, that's definitely not fair. Sounds like an upstanding guy. I never knew drinking hot stuff could do that but it makes sense. I did hear about smokers diminishing their sense of taste, and figure excessive spicy food can too, I suppose.

Maybe I'll try that store brand then next time I want Oreos. I hope it has that "ashy" kinda flavor, for lack of a better term.

[Booyakasha]

It's unfortunate, but I don't think he'd have had it any other way.