1
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,360
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to food Stuff. I'm an Eries and

2
00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,760
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vocal Baum. And uh, one of my very

3
00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,200
Speaker 1: least favorite holidays is coming up as we record this episode.

4
00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:20,520
Speaker 1: I wish I was clever and could think of a

5
00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,720
Speaker 1: joke holiday that is not Valentine's Day, which is the

6
00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:29,040
Speaker 1: actor ground Dog's Day. Screw that ground Dog? True? Right?

7
00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 1: Uh no, no, no, I mean that's an excellent movie.

8
00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,040
Speaker 1: Be ground dogs are terrific animals. It's true, that's true.

9
00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,639
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day is awful, though, yes, or as it's sometimes known,

10
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:45,200
Speaker 1: Singles Awareness Day are sad or Galentine's Day, depending on you.

11
00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,200
Speaker 1: You know what you like to celebrate our February fourteenth

12
00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:50,720
Speaker 1: as I know it, because I usually forget it's happening.

13
00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,520
Speaker 1: This might be why some of my previous three relationships

14
00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:59,320
Speaker 1: ended because their birthdays. We're on Valentine's Day, three in

15
00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,400
Speaker 1: a row in a their birthdays from a Valentine's Day,

16
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,119
Speaker 1: and it was a lot of pressure. You know, Valentine's

17
00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:06,560
Speaker 1: Day is coming and I don't want to celebrate it,

18
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:11,000
Speaker 1: and it's their birthday and I forget both and because

19
00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,800
Speaker 1: oh I call it obligation days sometimes. But hate Valentine's Day.

20
00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,679
Speaker 1: If any of you like it, that's totally your bag.

21
00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,320
Speaker 1: It can be great. Feel like candy or you know,

22
00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,480
Speaker 1: candy is a thing that I enjoy, these little rose

23
00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,679
Speaker 1: things she'd give me. That was nice. Oh that's sweet.

24
00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,200
Speaker 1: Yeah you're saying about candy. Candy, Yeah, type of candy

25
00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:33,640
Speaker 1: that I don't like. I'm just talking. I'm just I'm

26
00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,240
Speaker 1: just wenching about things today. Are conversation hearts are awful.

27
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,280
Speaker 1: That's what we're talking about today, and that's our topic. Yeah, yeah,

28
00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,280
Speaker 1: I mean it's great to talk about something you're you

29
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,000
Speaker 1: get to hate on you hate it, I guess. I

30
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,320
Speaker 1: guess hate is a strong word. I just don't understand

31
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:53,200
Speaker 1: why they're candy or popular. Yeah, I don't really like

32
00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,160
Speaker 1: them either. But in case you don't know what we're

33
00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,840
Speaker 1: talking about, conversation hearts. Conversation hearts so like those chalky

34
00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,120
Speaker 1: colorful heart candies. They have messages on them, usually in red, yes,

35
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,520
Speaker 1: usually in red, and they sometimes go by conversation hearts,

36
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,280
Speaker 1: love hearts, message hearts, or yeah sweethearts. So a lot

37
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:13,680
Speaker 1: of a lot of names with hearts in there. They

38
00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,200
Speaker 1: traditionally say things like be mine, aren't kiss me? But

39
00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,560
Speaker 1: nowadays they might say something like tweet me. In the

40
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,440
Speaker 1: past they said fax me, fax me. I absolutely think

41
00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,600
Speaker 1: they should bring that back, I know. And can you imagine,

42
00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,200
Speaker 1: like get this heart like I'm gonna fax him later,

43
00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,799
Speaker 1: Like I don't know how romantic. You're just waiting to

44
00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:37,799
Speaker 1: hear that awful phone sound. Oh yeah, uh yeah. Some

45
00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,000
Speaker 1: have emoji. Um the main company that makes them in

46
00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:45,359
Speaker 1: America and Echo Sweethearts print some eighty sayings every year,

47
00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,640
Speaker 1: about thirty traditional ones, twenty totally new ones, and the

48
00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,560
Speaker 1: rest is a mix of popular ones from recent years.

49
00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,400
Speaker 1: And in two thousand four, a Michigan man went all

50
00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,200
Speaker 1: over to get enough marry Me Sweethearts to propose to

51
00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,760
Speaker 1: his girlfriends. Eventually he just couldn't find enough, so he

52
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,120
Speaker 1: emailed the company and they just sent him a box

53
00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,560
Speaker 1: of Marymies for for free. Yeah A'spparently they're like officially

54
00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:11,120
Speaker 1: unofficial corporate policy. If you take the time to write them,

55
00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:13,440
Speaker 1: I mean, don't abuse this power, you guys, Yeah, because

56
00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:15,079
Speaker 1: then you'll be one of the reasons they had to

57
00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:16,240
Speaker 1: get rid of it. You don't want to be that

58
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:18,080
Speaker 1: you don't want to be that guy. But his wife

59
00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,200
Speaker 1: also in that way got him a matching gift for

60
00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,440
Speaker 1: their wedding. This this Michigan man, his his wife got

61
00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,520
Speaker 1: him a box full of sweethearts that say I do Oh.

62
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:32,440
Speaker 1: They also make sugar free sweethearts with splenda, dazzled tarts

63
00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:37,400
Speaker 1: with a sparkly sour dust coating, dasseled tarts. There's also

64
00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,720
Speaker 1: Sweethearts on Espanol, and you can customize your own. I

65
00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,680
Speaker 1: looked into this and uh, it's quite expensive. You can

66
00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,280
Speaker 1: fit five letters on the top row and four on

67
00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:49,920
Speaker 1: the bottom and less. One of those letters is w

68
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,000
Speaker 1: W W and then you have to knock a letter

69
00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,040
Speaker 1: off each row. M hm. And this might be the

70
00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,160
Speaker 1: most surprising fact of the episode to me. They are

71
00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:04,040
Speaker 1: the best selling Valentine's Day candy, even when you include

72
00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:09,560
Speaker 1: box chocolate. Yeah, they account of the Valentine's Day candy markets.

73
00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:14,800
Speaker 1: What I know. I mean, they're fine? Are are they? Are? They?

74
00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,000
Speaker 1: I mean the novelty of getting a message on there?

75
00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,520
Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, They're certainly not chocolate, no, And

76
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,799
Speaker 1: I will say they They're very specific about boxed chocolate

77
00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,920
Speaker 1: and the facts I read about it, so maybe it's

78
00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:33,160
Speaker 1: not necessarily chocolate in general, but a right, Yeah, anyway,

79
00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,920
Speaker 1: But that number does mean something because here in the States,

80
00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:42,080
Speaker 1: as Americans spent a collective one point seven billion on

81
00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:48,320
Speaker 1: candy for Valentine's Day, and each year eight billion sweetheart

82
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:50,720
Speaker 1: candies are produced, and a large chunk of those are

83
00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,200
Speaker 1: sold between New Year's Day and Valentine's Day, like basically

84
00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:56,840
Speaker 1: all of them, right, pretty much like they produced them

85
00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,360
Speaker 1: year round to sell them in six weeks be actually,

86
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:05,120
Speaker 1: and this is enough to go from Rome, Italy to Valentine, Arizona.

87
00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:10,159
Speaker 1: There's a Valentine Arizona apparently twenty times one hundred thousand

88
00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,000
Speaker 1: pounds of sweethearts. I saw an interview with an Eco

89
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,040
Speaker 1: marketing director from reporting they make ten to fourteen million

90
00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:23,239
Speaker 1: pounds a year, but that hundred thousand number is reported

91
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,520
Speaker 1: on Echo's website. Who can we trust? Conspiracy everywhere everywhere

92
00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:29,479
Speaker 1: we go, Like it's a lot of candy hearts either

93
00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,240
Speaker 1: way it is. It is so um, what's in these things?

94
00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:38,120
Speaker 1: Lauren Well sugar or an artificial sugar substitute as the case,

95
00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:43,320
Speaker 1: maybe corn syrup, corn starch, gelatine, gums for adhesive properties,

96
00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,359
Speaker 1: flavors and colors. You mix all that up into a

97
00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,080
Speaker 1: dough feed the dough through a machine that presses it flat,

98
00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,040
Speaker 1: stamp on the lettering, cut the heart shapes out of

99
00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:54,560
Speaker 1: the of the flat dough, Dry the hearts in a

100
00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,920
Speaker 1: drying tunnel, and then repeat with a bunch of other

101
00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,600
Speaker 1: colors and flavors. You mix them up the box him.

102
00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,000
Speaker 1: Apparently the machine that they used to mix them together

103
00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,920
Speaker 1: is colloquially referred to as the rocket launcher. That sounds

104
00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:14,159
Speaker 1: very epic, um and I the video you can watch online.

105
00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,279
Speaker 1: There's videos of this of the candy hearts being manufactured,

106
00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:22,120
Speaker 1: and it is kind of hypnotizing, very colorful. It is. Yeah,

107
00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:24,160
Speaker 1: I don't know if rocket launchers what I'd call it,

108
00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,880
Speaker 1: but it's colorful. M hm um. And and they do.

109
00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,680
Speaker 1: They do, in fact, have different flavors. I know that

110
00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,640
Speaker 1: chalky might seem to be the base level across all

111
00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:40,800
Speaker 1: of them, but uh, supposedly the flavors range from lemon orange,

112
00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:48,560
Speaker 1: extreme tangerine, pink, lemonade, apple, sour apple, green apple, blue raspberry, strawberry, RedBerry, grape,

113
00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:53,159
Speaker 1: wild berry, grape, and fruit punch, depending on what variety

114
00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,839
Speaker 1: you're dealing with. There are also single type boxes of

115
00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:02,080
Speaker 1: chocolate flavored hearts. Oh, that's a lot more flavors. I

116
00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,479
Speaker 1: thought there would be five. Maybe you've got all the

117
00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,000
Speaker 1: different different different types of boxes. You've got those dazzled

118
00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,800
Speaker 1: tart am intrigued by that. They have retired a few

119
00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:17,320
Speaker 1: flavors over the years, like mint and banana mint separately.

120
00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:19,520
Speaker 1: There it wasn't like a mint banana flavor that I'm

121
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:25,920
Speaker 1: personally aware of. Okay, okay. They also retire messages every

122
00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,240
Speaker 1: year and in order to make room for new ones,

123
00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:31,760
Speaker 1: and some of those new ones every year run along

124
00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,880
Speaker 1: a theme. They have themes for each year. Prior year's

125
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,640
Speaker 1: themes include Loves in the Forecast with messages like get

126
00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:45,080
Speaker 1: my Drift and heat wave. Okay, I might appreciate that. Um.

127
00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,120
Speaker 1: There was the Game of Love with messages like dream

128
00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:53,120
Speaker 1: Team and number one Fan. There's Fashion Forward with Vogue

129
00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:58,760
Speaker 1: and tray Chic, and Animal Attraction which included perfect and

130
00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:04,400
Speaker 1: take a walk, take a walk see I would be offended,

131
00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:08,760
Speaker 1: how dare you? Candy heart? And then throw it down.

132
00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,240
Speaker 1: But but this ties into a long standing tradition of

133
00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:17,440
Speaker 1: of kind of kind of mean it does it does?

134
00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,520
Speaker 1: And speaking of while I was researching this, I found

135
00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,160
Speaker 1: the best left worst old timing tradition I've got a

136
00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:25,520
Speaker 1: lot of you've heard of this, but it was my

137
00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,800
Speaker 1: first time encountering it. In the nineteenth century, if you

138
00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,560
Speaker 1: had a suitor he wanted a ditch, or just generally

139
00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,319
Speaker 1: someone in your life you didn't like, you might send

140
00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:39,599
Speaker 1: them of Vinegar Valentine, Vinegar Valentine Valentin. I think, I

141
00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:41,760
Speaker 1: think I've heard of that, but I hadn't ever looked

142
00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,679
Speaker 1: into it. Oh man. These were cheap cards that usually

143
00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:48,439
Speaker 1: have these really uglier, rude images on them, captioned with

144
00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,360
Speaker 1: an insult of some sort. If the person really didn't

145
00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:56,600
Speaker 1: like you, they might write up in detail, exquisite detail,

146
00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,400
Speaker 1: all of your flaws as they saw them. And oh man,

147
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,920
Speaker 1: and they say that people are mean on on the internet. Goodness,

148
00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,160
Speaker 1: I know you can look these up online and most

149
00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:10,640
Speaker 1: of them were directed at women and they were so mean. Yeah,

150
00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:12,839
Speaker 1: I I thought of it like if Spencer's made a

151
00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,679
Speaker 1: Hallmark card. If you guys know what Spencers are, I

152
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,440
Speaker 1: don't know that they're that common anymore. Gad Zooks, I

153
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,800
Speaker 1: guess is another brand like that. Yeah. Um. They would

154
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,960
Speaker 1: say things like you are a nerve destroyer when a

155
00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,199
Speaker 1: pig's getting slaughtered, the noise that it makes is sweeter

156
00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,199
Speaker 1: by far than your tills and shakes and the howling

157
00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:35,920
Speaker 1: of cats in the backyard at night compared with your

158
00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:40,400
Speaker 1: singings a dream of delight, Oh wow yeah, or you

159
00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,240
Speaker 1: saucy puss. I am afraid that at last you'll die

160
00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,960
Speaker 1: a made Let nothing tempt you to be witty. You

161
00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,960
Speaker 1: cannot and you are not pretty. Oh yeah, oh no,

162
00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:55,280
Speaker 1: but here's one. Here's one for for the men. Okay, hey,

163
00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,360
Speaker 1: lover boy, the place for you is home upon the shelf,

164
00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:02,040
Speaker 1: because the only one who issue is a jackass like yourself.

165
00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:07,880
Speaker 1: Oh snap, or another, Your bright shining paint is seen

166
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:12,280
Speaker 1: at all shows and invariable down and the bald headed rose.

167
00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,880
Speaker 1: Or you make conspicuous by your tender care, your too

168
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,360
Speaker 1: ardent love for that one lonesome hair. Oh man, I

169
00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:24,120
Speaker 1: know these are tough. Yeah yeah they When they were popular,

170
00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,600
Speaker 1: they account accounted for over half of all cards sales

171
00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:30,800
Speaker 1: on Valentine's Day. And I laugh, but I'm really glad

172
00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,959
Speaker 1: this went away, because if I had gotten one, it

173
00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,080
Speaker 1: would have destroyed me. However, as a joke with a

174
00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,920
Speaker 1: friend could still be fun. Oh yeah, yeah, um for

175
00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,679
Speaker 1: for a while. Despare ink, which is known for its

176
00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:45,960
Speaker 1: anti motivation posters. Yeah, made a line of bitter sweets

177
00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:50,280
Speaker 1: with messages like mutual disgust and ps I love me.

178
00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:53,920
Speaker 1: See I I did this once and it really backfired

179
00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:56,880
Speaker 1: on me because I gave somebody something that said, um,

180
00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,320
Speaker 1: you will fail or something, and then he failed his Oh,

181
00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:04,640
Speaker 1: and I felt really bad. Not your fault, that's I know,

182
00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:13,080
Speaker 1: but it wasn't great. Apparently, Necho still receives consumer suggestions

183
00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,280
Speaker 1: for breakup hearts, inscribed with stuff like get a prenup

184
00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:21,120
Speaker 1: or call my lawyer. However, even traditional nice sweethearts can

185
00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:24,880
Speaker 1: be turned to less than loving purposes. They make a

186
00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:29,640
Speaker 1: pointed appearance in Anne of green Gables from Once when

187
00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,160
Speaker 1: nobody was looking, Gilbert took from his desk a little

188
00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:34,960
Speaker 1: pink candy heart with a gold motto on it you

189
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,679
Speaker 1: are Sweet, and slipped it under the curve of Ann's arm,

190
00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,280
Speaker 1: whereupon Anna Rose took the pink heart gingerly between the

191
00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,440
Speaker 1: tips of her fingers, dropped it to the floor, ground

192
00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,160
Speaker 1: it to powder beneath her heel, and resumed her position

193
00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:52,280
Speaker 1: without deigning to bestow a glance on Gilbert. That's harsh.

194
00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:56,360
Speaker 1: That is Valentine's Day drama. Yeah, so there's reasons why

195
00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,480
Speaker 1: we don't like this holiday. It's fraught with peril and terror.

196
00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:01,760
Speaker 1: It is, so you know, it's not fraught with peril

197
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,920
Speaker 1: and terror. What Lauren add brakes for we're wonderful sponsor

198
00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,840
Speaker 1: and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Thank you. So history,

199
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,560
Speaker 1: the first romantic message type candy that we know of

200
00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:27,120
Speaker 1: comes from eighteen twenties France, when it wasn't uncommon to

201
00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:29,800
Speaker 1: receive a bum ball on New Year's Day that came

202
00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:35,360
Speaker 1: with a message or story, possibly romantic or seductive in nature. Yeah,

203
00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:37,920
Speaker 1: that the rapper that it came in the envelope might

204
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:41,200
Speaker 1: have something in there, something written on the envelope shirre exactly.

205
00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:44,800
Speaker 1: And in the eighteen fifties in Britain you could find

206
00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:49,120
Speaker 1: manufactured hard candies that came with short printed messages like no,

207
00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:55,240
Speaker 1: I won't ask mama how romantic I like that. The

208
00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,400
Speaker 1: eighteen fifties British folks were definitely from the South. I

209
00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:01,719
Speaker 1: just had a whole meeting that devolved into who has

210
00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:03,880
Speaker 1: the most Southern accent? So I think it's on my

211
00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:08,280
Speaker 1: on the brain. But the temperance movement caused the whole

212
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,000
Speaker 1: thing to fizzle out. When they made and handed out

213
00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,640
Speaker 1: their own candies that said things like misery, sickness, and

214
00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:18,920
Speaker 1: poverty are the effect of drunkenness. Oh yeah, that's good,

215
00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:25,120
Speaker 1: damper things. Around the same time, in seven, Oliver Chase,

216
00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:29,120
Speaker 1: an English immigrant and pharmacists living in Boston, was looking

217
00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:33,160
Speaker 1: to get in on the through lozenge business. Throughout lozenges,

218
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:35,320
Speaker 1: of course, we're talking about Wait, what why are we

219
00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,600
Speaker 1: talking about there? Throughout lozenges? Hmm, this is a good question.

220
00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:42,920
Speaker 1: Lozenges were the shiny new darling of the medicine delivery world,

221
00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,000
Speaker 1: and Chase wanted in on that action. And yes, we're

222
00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,200
Speaker 1: talking about another food stuff linked to the medical field.

223
00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,880
Speaker 1: These lozenges were kind of the spoonful of sugar or

224
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,720
Speaker 1: the candy coating or even the gel capsule of the time.

225
00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:57,960
Speaker 1: You'd grind up your meds and add them to the

226
00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:01,200
Speaker 1: sweet dough that, once dried, wouldn't melt in the patient's

227
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:06,960
Speaker 1: mouth or stomach. Right, But making lozenges wasn't an easy business,

228
00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,480
Speaker 1: nor was it cheap at the time. You had to

229
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,040
Speaker 1: make them by hand. Yeah, you had to grind up

230
00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,079
Speaker 1: and refined sugar with stabilizers like gums, with a mortar

231
00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:18,600
Speaker 1: and pestil to make the dough and then roll it

232
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:23,640
Speaker 1: and cut it into shapes. And Chase decided lozenge making

233
00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,080
Speaker 1: was in need of an American industrialization makeover, and that

234
00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:29,760
Speaker 1: he was the fellow to dupe. He came up with

235
00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:33,520
Speaker 1: this tabletop, hand craked device that did it all. It

236
00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:36,960
Speaker 1: could grind and need and shape the ingredients into lozenges.

237
00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:40,920
Speaker 1: He realized fairly quickly that maybe the lozenge wasn't all

238
00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:44,440
Speaker 1: it was cracked up to be. But that candy business, though,

239
00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:50,280
Speaker 1: that's going places. That same year seven he founded Chase

240
00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,240
Speaker 1: and Co. With one of his brother's silas. He would

241
00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,400
Speaker 1: patent a mill for powdering sugar into different grades of

242
00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:00,880
Speaker 1: granularity in eighteen fifty one him one of the first

243
00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,920
Speaker 1: things Chase and Co. Sold or disc with sugar and flavoring,

244
00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,440
Speaker 1: known as wafers. According to some sources, these things were

245
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:12,120
Speaker 1: so popular Union soldiers carried them in their packs during

246
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,880
Speaker 1: the Civil War, calling them hub wafers. They were cheap

247
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,840
Speaker 1: and portable. Admiral Richard Bird certainly thought so he bought

248
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,760
Speaker 1: two tons of him on his South Whole expedition. They

249
00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,880
Speaker 1: would become so incredibly popular for their lasting properties and

250
00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:31,720
Speaker 1: more on that in just a little bit. In the

251
00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:37,680
Speaker 1: context of sweethearts, Chase and Co. Started off selling colloquials

252
00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,640
Speaker 1: or cockles, which were sugar lausages pressed into the shape

253
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,040
Speaker 1: of a shell with a note inside about what your

254
00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,880
Speaker 1: future would bring. Yeah, kind of fortune cookie esque. They

255
00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:51,160
Speaker 1: gained a lot of popularity at events like weddings, where

256
00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:55,240
Speaker 1: the message inside might jokingly have you quote say something

257
00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,040
Speaker 1: like please send a lock of your hair by return mail.

258
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,800
Speaker 1: I laughed so hard when I read that, because I

259
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,440
Speaker 1: don't know. I hope that was a joke. I don't

260
00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,400
Speaker 1: know it was. It was. It was a common like

261
00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:13,920
Speaker 1: sweetheart thing, not start to the candy, but to to give,

262
00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:16,080
Speaker 1: to give a lover or lock of your hair is

263
00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:18,280
Speaker 1: like a keepsake. I guess I'm thinking of it in

264
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,240
Speaker 1: terms of the candy heart, where you might get it randomly.

265
00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:26,040
Speaker 1: You know, if I got that random request, you'd be

266
00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:31,800
Speaker 1: like at anyway. The company was also selling their lozenge

267
00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:35,480
Speaker 1: makers and sugar grinders, which helped them grow. Right and

268
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,520
Speaker 1: Oliver had another brother, Daniel Chase, and Daniel had been

269
00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:42,720
Speaker 1: watching the success of his brother's company and trying to

270
00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:44,800
Speaker 1: figure out how he could get in on it, and

271
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,360
Speaker 1: as the market for Valentine's Day cards grew, Daniel thought himself,

272
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,000
Speaker 1: what if we instead of printing the message on paper,

273
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:56,840
Speaker 1: we put it directly on the candy. On the candy,

274
00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,880
Speaker 1: talk more about that after one more quick break for

275
00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:15,680
Speaker 1: a word from our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsor.

276
00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:21,080
Speaker 1: So in eighteen sixty six, Daniel Chase created an addition

277
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,480
Speaker 1: to his brother's machine that could stamp vegetable based food

278
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:27,560
Speaker 1: die onto the tops of these pressed sugar lozenges with

279
00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:30,440
Speaker 1: a with a felt roller as the dough was being

280
00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:34,000
Speaker 1: rolled through the cutter, and these were pretty big wafers

281
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,480
Speaker 1: at the time. Some of the original messages included Mary

282
00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,639
Speaker 1: and white, you have chosen right, married and pink, he

283
00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:43,959
Speaker 1: will take to drink married in satin, Love will not

284
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:48,600
Speaker 1: be lasting? And how long shall I have to wait?

285
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:57,119
Speaker 1: Please be considerate? Please be considerate? I think, Oh, no,

286
00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:00,560
Speaker 1: that's great. I love those like old time You're don't

287
00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,040
Speaker 1: work any but don't work? Yeah. Oh, and here here's

288
00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,080
Speaker 1: one that was printed a like a riddle on both sides.

289
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:09,640
Speaker 1: A question on one side, answer on the other. Why

290
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,159
Speaker 1: is a stylish girl like a thrifty housekeeper? Why? Because

291
00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:20,680
Speaker 1: she makes a big bustle about a little waste. Ohs um,

292
00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,359
Speaker 1: but some of them had messages that are still in

293
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,640
Speaker 1: use today over a hundred years later. Um. I mean

294
00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:30,200
Speaker 1: these are the slightly more classic ones that be mine,

295
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:35,639
Speaker 1: be good, be true, kiss me, stuff like that. Yeah.

296
00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:39,840
Speaker 1: These had all been made uh manually or with manually

297
00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:44,040
Speaker 1: operated machines rather up until the eighteen seventies, which is

298
00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,600
Speaker 1: when Chasing Company began harnessing steam power to create their

299
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,320
Speaker 1: treats steam power candy hearts. Oh but it wasn't hearts yet.

300
00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:55,200
Speaker 1: We wouldn't get conversation candies in heart shapes for another

301
00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:59,280
Speaker 1: forty years. They didn't debut until nineteen o two, and

302
00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,800
Speaker 1: we're among us theories of shapes, watches, horseshoes, baseball's stuff

303
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,640
Speaker 1: like that. The heart is the shape that's stuck. Though.

304
00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:11,840
Speaker 1: The whole line was called Echo's Sweet Talk, and these

305
00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,920
Speaker 1: shapes with the Neco name came out the year after.

306
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,040
Speaker 1: Chasing Company teamed up with two other candy companies, one

307
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:20,640
Speaker 1: known for its chocolates and another that's specialized in gum

308
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,200
Speaker 1: drops and gibs to compete with some of the heavy

309
00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,440
Speaker 1: hitters like Hershey and Wrigley together they voltrond into the

310
00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:34,800
Speaker 1: New England Confectionery Company, or Neco in and this might

311
00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,360
Speaker 1: never have happened if not free a couple of disasters

312
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,920
Speaker 1: for the Chase brothers. Two of their buildings burned down

313
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:43,199
Speaker 1: completely separate incidents in the eighteen seventies, one in the

314
00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,560
Speaker 1: Great Chicago Fire and one in Boston. Without this, they

315
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,080
Speaker 1: might never have have teamed up and thus become big

316
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:53,000
Speaker 1: enough to attract the attention of a really important contract.

317
00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:58,879
Speaker 1: What contract. Well. Meanwhile, the American military had started putting

318
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,119
Speaker 1: candy and its soldiers rations in eighteen ninety nine, with

319
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:06,399
Speaker 1: the idea that treats would improve morale and increased caloric uptake,

320
00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:08,959
Speaker 1: which can be a problem when people are faced with

321
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:13,840
Speaker 1: too many unappetizing foods. Yeah, with an eye on Neco

322
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,720
Speaker 1: wafers two year shelf life and imperviousness to both melting

323
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,439
Speaker 1: and freezing, they became a common inclusion. The wafers were

324
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:24,200
Speaker 1: sent into battle during the Spanish American War and World

325
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,000
Speaker 1: War One. The government actually bought out Echoes entire year's

326
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:32,479
Speaker 1: worth of wafer production in nineteen seventeen, wow and jumping

327
00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,920
Speaker 1: ahead the Neco factory. At most of the U s

328
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,200
Speaker 1: military sweet tooth needs during World War Two. Also, Hey

329
00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,080
Speaker 1: Echo is not the only company that makes these things.

330
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:45,160
Speaker 1: One UK competitor or parallel rather because they don't sell

331
00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:48,720
Speaker 1: in the United States called Swizzles, started making their love

332
00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:53,119
Speaker 1: Hearts in nineteen fifty four. They are not as strongly

333
00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 1: associated with Valentine's Day though, as as I said earlier,

334
00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,959
Speaker 1: Sweethearts are sold basically entirely in the six weeks later

335
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,120
Speaker 1: up to Valentine's Day every year. But love Heart's debuted

336
00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,000
Speaker 1: in Christmas crackers, you know, the treats that you pull

337
00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,879
Speaker 1: apart on Christmas, and they are now sold year round

338
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,679
Speaker 1: with different messages for different events like Mother's Day, various

339
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,879
Speaker 1: royal family stuff, etcetera. I wonder if I'm sure Nicol

340
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:19,840
Speaker 1: has thought about getting into Valentine's Day, because it really is.

341
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,240
Speaker 1: You don't see them outside of that, I mean, and

342
00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 1: peeps made themselves year round, that's true. They've they've figured

343
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:32,080
Speaker 1: that out that market, so I don't know. In the

344
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:35,760
Speaker 1: Neco Company acquired a rival, one of these rivals, Stark

345
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,160
Speaker 1: Candy Company, which had been marketing their candy conversation hearts

346
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,439
Speaker 1: under the Sweethearts brand. I'm sure Iron man is not

347
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,040
Speaker 1: associated with that at all. Oh, not that I'm personally

348
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:51,560
Speaker 1: aware of Mure conspiracies. In the late two thousands, they

349
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,879
Speaker 1: did start a new kind of marketing push with a

350
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:59,480
Speaker 1: whole bunch of different, really entertaining ideas. Um. They released

351
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:07,359
Speaker 1: a special edition Twilight branded sweethearts into that Yeah yeah,

352
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 1: in two thousand nine. Um. They they glittered like vampires

353
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:16,679
Speaker 1: and Twilight do. And they included themed phrases like bite me,

354
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,080
Speaker 1: I trust you, bad guy, you are my life, and

355
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,240
Speaker 1: I heart ec EC standing for Edward Cullen, which is

356
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:27,879
Speaker 1: the main dude character's name. Kind of a heart is

357
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:31,640
Speaker 1: that to give to someone else? I'm not sure it's

358
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 1: I think it's for you, Okay, Okay, that's that's cool.

359
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,400
Speaker 1: Oh my favorite part about it. The flavors were called

360
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 1: Forbidden Fruits. Around this time, they also released smoothie themed

361
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:51,120
Speaker 1: sweethearts with flavors like strawberry cream, peach, blueberry, banana, caramel,

362
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:57,239
Speaker 1: and tropical tropical huh. Also in two thousand nine, they

363
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,240
Speaker 1: asked fans to submit new messages, and they got over

364
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 1: ten thousand responses. According to then marketing manager Amy Scott

365
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,879
Speaker 1: in an interview with Time magazine, The top ten. We

366
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,880
Speaker 1: ended up using they were you rock and puppy love

367
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:13,760
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, But we also got a lot

368
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:18,440
Speaker 1: of weird ones, like love bacon justin Bieber, someone suggested

369
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 1: the situation beef burrito, I do love beef. Do you

370
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 1: think love bacon is Kevin bacon? Are like bacon bacon?

371
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Kevin bacon? Yeah yeah, I haven't thought about that.

372
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: But best of all worlds. It's an annual contest now,

373
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,000
Speaker 1: Kids ages five to twelve can color in one of

374
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,879
Speaker 1: the company's special black and white printed Sweethearts boxes and

375
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,639
Speaker 1: submit it for a chance to win the opportunity to

376
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,679
Speaker 1: create a new phrase. A few phrases derived from this

377
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,560
Speaker 1: contest in recent years include love to Dance, girl power,

378
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 1: and pugs and kittens. Oh I think that's cute. That

379
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,960
Speaker 1: is cute. Yeah. Ino switched from artificial to natural flavorings

380
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 1: and colorings, which apparently caused something of a public backlash

381
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,400
Speaker 1: and a drop in sales. Um I think they're They're

382
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 1: on a mix of natural and artificial flavors now, but

383
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 1: working on tweaking their recipes and moving towards totally natural stuff. Also, hey,

384
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 1: if if you want to make your own Okay, you

385
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 1: can there. There are a few recipes out there on

386
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 1: the web, and they all sound no more difficult than

387
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 1: making like cutout cookies that I might do that. Actually,

388
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,680
Speaker 1: I was kind of thinking of making a joke one

389
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,200
Speaker 1: this year, and then I when I researched the price,

390
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:38,800
Speaker 1: I said, no way. But if I can make my

391
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,480
Speaker 1: own yeah, oh yeah yeah, with a with a food

392
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,600
Speaker 1: coloring pen, in which if you can't find one at

393
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,640
Speaker 1: a grocery store, then a craft store should definitely have them.

394
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,600
Speaker 1: You can write your own messages on your own homemade candies.

395
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,200
Speaker 1: You can even bring back any of their retired sayings

396
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,680
Speaker 1: that you like. May I suggest if you please do Lawrence? Okay,

397
00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:02,199
Speaker 1: all right, all right, hatcha saw see boy? Why not

398
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 1: facts me? Hep cat? Tell me how you are late

399
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:17,680
Speaker 1: it www dot Cupid? Yeah all right, oh boy, and

400
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 1: let's read. Let's read. Yeah, yeah, I like maris kind

401
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,240
Speaker 1: of a healthy mix of go away right and also

402
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,160
Speaker 1: come to me. Yeah. I appreciate that if you really

403
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 1: you can really personalize it. Um are there are two

404
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,439
Speaker 1: thousand nine line of messages was themed menu of Love,

405
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 1: which is which is topical for this podcast, you know,

406
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,920
Speaker 1: and some of my Favorites from from that line included

407
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 1: stir My Heart, Oh My Treat, sugar Pie, Spice it Up,

408
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 1: or recipe for Love. Recipe for Love. I seem to

409
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:01,879
Speaker 1: call it was a joke. It was a bit in

410
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,520
Speaker 1: arrested development with the candy hearts causing some kind of

411
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 1: stirs some oh, probably something with maybe and uh, I

412
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 1: believe so, like George Michael planted a candy heart for

413
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 1: her and then Tobias picked it up. And yeah, this

414
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,480
Speaker 1: is meaning nothing to a lot of you. Food. I

415
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,200
Speaker 1: totally recommend. I mean, arrested development is pretty if you're

416
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:28,000
Speaker 1: if you're looking to soothe the pain of another Valentine's Day,

417
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 1: arrested development is not a bad way to do it.

418
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 1: They're they're not done. Yeah, uh. And that is the

419
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 1: candy heart. We hope that. Uh, it has been enjoyable.

420
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,280
Speaker 1: And if you're celebrating Valentine's Day, I hope it's a

421
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 1: good one. Yes. If you're not, I hope it's a

422
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: good one too. Yeah, it's a good February fourte and

423
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,199
Speaker 1: our listeners around the world. If you don't really celebrate this,

424
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,119
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear what you do celebrate on this

425
00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 1: time of here, or if there's an alternate romance holiday

426
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,159
Speaker 1: another singles stay in China, but that's yeah, kind of

427
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:11,000
Speaker 1: an alternate thing. Anyway, This brings us to listener mail.

428
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:16,280
Speaker 1: Mail Claire wrote in about the McDonald's episode. When I

429
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,440
Speaker 1: was getting my undergrad a few years ago, I went

430
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,560
Speaker 1: to McDonald's one night, probably stress eating, must be honest,

431
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:23,919
Speaker 1: and to my dismay, my car broke down. As I

432
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,440
Speaker 1: pulled back onto campus. Stressed and frantic about my car,

433
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,119
Speaker 1: I forgot all about the half eaten Big Mac in

434
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,720
Speaker 1: my passenger seat. Turns out my car had serious issues

435
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: and it took me six months to scrape up the

436
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: cash to fix it, and in the meantime I forgot

437
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,199
Speaker 1: about the burger. I noticed it about one month in

438
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 1: when a classmate of mine posted a picture of the

439
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:50,400
Speaker 1: burger from outside my car onto his Snapchat. Disgusted with myself,

440
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,880
Speaker 1: I went outside to throw the burger away, but upon

441
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 1: realizing it's pristine condition, my curiosity was engaged and I

442
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 1: decided to leave the burger there indefinitely. It became the

443
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 1: cool thing to do for people to who pass my car,

444
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,679
Speaker 1: and they walked to class to post burger updates on

445
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: their snapchats and instagrams with captains like day eighty two

446
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 1: in the Burger shows no sign of rot, and my

447
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:15,120
Speaker 1: car became known as the Burger car all around campus,

448
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 1: mostly by people whom I had never even met. It

449
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,639
Speaker 1: was like an on campus attraction. On the day I

450
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 1: finally got my car fixed, I took one last photo

451
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,399
Speaker 1: of the burger, still in great condition, and posted a

452
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 1: farewell snapchat to it, congratulating it for its six months

453
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,520
Speaker 1: of press reverance. So anyway, that's how my misfortune, my

454
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 1: absent mindedness, and the properties of a McDonald's hamburger led

455
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 1: to some hilarious campus hijinks during my undergrad Oh that

456
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 1: is that's high quality. Um Alex wrote in about the

457
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 1: Fad Diets episode. I just wanted to clarify the Japanese

458
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 1: banana fad diet that was briefly mentioned on the second

459
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,640
Speaker 1: Fad Diet episode, as I was living in Japan at

460
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 1: the time and able to witness it. The diet pretty

461
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,160
Speaker 1: much instructs just one banana should be eaten for breakfast,

462
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: not as many as you wish. I had a friend

463
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,720
Speaker 1: who was on the diet who shyly admitted to eating

464
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 1: two bananas instead of just the one. As it was

465
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,719
Speaker 1: explained to me, The idea is to limit how much

466
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 1: you are eating while still giving you enough energy to

467
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: last year the morning. Obviously, as a fad diet, the

468
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:21,120
Speaker 1: intention and science behind it doesn't entirely reflect reality. M

469
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 1: m m m. Well, I mean a banana for breakfast

470
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,240
Speaker 1: it seems okay. I mean it's a light I mean

471
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,800
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want something that sugary sure for me personally,

472
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,480
Speaker 1: because I would be terrible by lunchtime. I would be

473
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:44,920
Speaker 1: the worst to human. Good. Well, that is it for

474
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,000
Speaker 1: the listener of my a portion. Thank you to both

475
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,760
Speaker 1: of them for writing in, and you can do the same. Yes,

476
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 1: we have an email address. It is food Stuff at

477
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,520
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. We're also on various social

478
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,920
Speaker 1: media platforms. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter

479
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 1: at food stuff h s W. We're also on Instagram

480
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,360
Speaker 1: at food stuff. Thank you so much for writing in.

481
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: We hope it's so much to hear from you. Thank

482
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 1: you to our amazing producer Dylan Fagin or the ghost

483
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,560
Speaker 1: of him, who is visiting us right now. Yeah, he's

484
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: he's helping with another podcast, The Traitor. So we should

485
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 1: say something very nice about him, and you better not

486
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,640
Speaker 1: cut this out, Dylan. Mm hmmm, Dylan, will you be

487
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 1: our audio engineer? Question Mark, Hey, I'm gonna workshop it anyway.

488
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 1: We'll work on that, but he's great. Yes. Thanks to

489
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: you all for listening, um, and we hope a lots

490
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: more good things are coming your way