A diversion from the house/farm/homeschooling:
Imagine it’s the hottest day of July and it is muggy and a bit underwhelming. The laundry is piled high, you’re just returning home and the fridge is empty; the ‘what’s for dinner’ question awaits your answer while all you want to do is sip something icy and sit on a chair you won’t stick to.
This describes countless a summer day in my life, but on one I was greeted with a special surprise–a promotional box of candy bars. Now, I have liked candy as much as any other in my years past, but the older I get the more wary I’ve become with indulging in the more-than-just candy full of nothing-i-can-identifies. So, this box was especially exciting.
I have a sweet tooth, let it be known; the check-out line chocolate selection is a weakness it’s taken me years to overcome, so this box of melted goodies proved an enlightening surprise. My kids want candy and I don’t want to constantly deny them, though I’m not here to say I think sugar a good idea. It’s not, but it is tasty, and given the opportunity to pick sugar or high fructose corn syrup? sugar. Having the option of artificial colors or beet juice? beet juice. Seeing a candy bar wrapper on which I can decipher each ingredient? inspiring. No preservatives? No GMOs??? These things are unreal. (seriously, they’re called UNREAL). This is just candy, nothing more.
They have less sugar, taste better and are really more of an artisinal treat that satisfy the cravings brought on at the supermarket, or by recent holidays, in a not-as-bad-for-you way. It’s delightful, and the story is a great one, about a parent like me denying children like mine not because we don’t believe in indulging occasionally, but because indulgences ought to be worth it and with Unreal candy you don’t have to sacrifice your real food ideals to the world of fake ingredients, gmos and unethical farming.
Do we eat candy bars everyday around here? No, but I’d venture to guess that my children had never even tasted a snickers before and maybe they won’t ever because there is a way better option. One more example of how unreal our food doesn’t have to be. Even our junk food can be plain junk not franken-junk.
Though our box of sampling candy was completely melted, we froze them and discovered that cold hard real sugar, real cacoa, real caramel, and ‘responsibly sourced’ ingredients taste just as good straight from the freezer as those old candy bars–no, better. And, because the first was melted, we just got another shipment. And it’s a *sweet* stash to share on special occasions with my kids without being part of some experiment on what the human body can process in a lifetime. It’s just candy. Straight-up candy.
Willy Wonka would be proud.
1 Comment
Excellent! Thanks for the recommendation.
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