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Buzz Feed
3 days ago
- General
- Buzz Feed
27 Interesting Snacks And Treats From Amazon
Hey, just a quick warning about buying food online in the summer! If the listing doesn't say it's shipped with ice packs, your snacks might melt before they reach you. A bag of Nutella-filled biscuits that taste like adult Dunkaroos. These have been banned in my home because we go through a bag in one sitting (an expensive habit!) but I may have to order some more now, seeing as they're half the price of what my local corner store charges. Pickle cashews because real brineheads know that literally anything tastes better with a little dill and garlic flavoring. Only open this bag if you're prepared to eat all 5 ounces because reviewers say these are capital T tasty. Or Vlasic Pickle Balls for anyone who gets hungry whenever the sport of the same name gets mentioned. Grab some dill-flavored puffs after a long day at the court. A variety pack of A Dozen Cousins ready-to-eat seasoned beans that are a HUGE step up from the basic canned version. You can throw a bag into the microwave and have a body-meltingly delicious side ready to go in one minute. Sweet Goldfish in head-turning flavors like strawberry shortcake, vanilla cupcake, and cinnamon roll. Yeeeah, these guys aren't even gonna have time to smile back before you snack. Spicy margarita instant cocktails that use teabag technology to make delicious bevvies with zero effort, equipment, or bartending experience. Just fill a glass with cold water and liquor (optional), dunk your mixer pouch, and get ready to par-tea! (Sorry.) A bag of Konpeito, aka Japanese star candy. These are great for anyone who loves Spirited Away or just sugar in general. They're basically like tiny hunks of rock candy — delicious, with a great *cronch*. Best-selling Rip Van chocolate hazelnut wafer cookies that are big in the keto, vegan, and diabetic communities thanks to their bakery-level tastiness. Each cookie comes with three wafers and flavored spreads (think chocolate hazelnut, strawberry, and pumpkin spice) to create a sort of inverted Kit-Kat situation. A variety pack of Kindling whole-grain pretzels in fun flavors like dill pickle, garlic parmesan, and honey mustard. Reviewers like the bold flavors and lil' protein boost. A variety pack of hard candies spiced with traditional Mexican flavors that will delight the senses. Spicy, sweet, and tangy all come together to create flavor magic. A bag of popcorn that's the direct result of an illicit affair between Smartfood and Doritos. If you've never had nacho cheese-flavored popcorn, you haven't lived, IMO. Or a bag of Reese's Popcorn ideally eaten while enjoying an ET viewing. Salty popcorn is drizzled with chocolaty and peanut butter, making it even better than mixing Raisinets into theater popcorn. Walker's mini shortbread Scottie dogs so you can recreate tea time across the pond. One reviewer said they're the best butter cookies they've ever had! Quaker Rice Crisps — mini, chip versions of the rice cakes of your youth. They come in four outstanding (not exaggerating) flavors, but the best, IMO, is cheddar. Canned Oden: Japanese pot-au-feu made with daikon, tofu, noodles, and more, simmered in a dashi-rich broth. Heat it up for an easy soup dish or eat it right out of the can as a quick snack. Vegan mini snack sticks that do a good impression of beef jerky thanks to their 11 grams of protein, smoky flavors, and satisfying texture. Their small size makes them great as a midday pick-me-up snack or lunchbox treat. A box of Cheetos mac 'n' cheese that are unsurprisingly 1000% delicious and absolutely worth trying. The cheesiness to any other brand and the spiral pasta has the perfect level of chewiness. Marinated veggie snack packs that offer a similar experience to eating olives straight out of the jar, but likely without the regret that comes when you have to chug a gallon of water to stave off the salt-induced thirst. Plus, the lightweight bags are easier to travel with than glass bottles! If you're not eating these cooked veggies straight up, you can use them to top salads or jazz up hors d'oeuvres. A bubble tea kit with everything you need to make five cups of taro or Thai tea. As long as you know how to heat water, you can make this tasty treat in just 45 seconds! A dozen bags of GLOWING Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish that prove that this is the decade of candy innovation so groundbreaking, it would bring a tear to Willy Wonka's eye. The strawberry-watermelon gummies come with edible glitter that glows under black light. Time to bring candy to the rave! If you're wondering if these candies are radioactive, NOPE! They're made with tasteless turmeric extract. Promising review (for the Sour Patch Kids): "Unfortunately, I don't have a picture right now, because they are gone! They are so delicious, so soft, and everyone I know loves them." —DenisePrice: $15 for the Swedish Fish and $14.92 for the Sour Patch Kids A Fishwife smoked fish trio you can enjoy with crackers, mix into a delicious dip, or eat straight out of the can — they're that good! Reviewers appreciate that they're not overly oily or fishy tasting. A bag of sugar-free hard candies for anyone who wishes they could eat the glass pebbles often seen in decorative vases. Reviewers love the reasonable price, variety of flavors, and lack of gross aftertaste. Kuzumochi that looks sooo satisfying to eat. Slice up this crystal treat and eat it on ice cream, with an acai bowl, in a fruit salad, or alone, topped with the included kinako (roasted soybean flour). Normally, you have to go to a Japanese gift shop to find this tea-flavored dessert! Plant-based Reese's cups made with oat flour, because everyone (vegan and lactose-intolerant people included) should be able to enjoy one of the greatest candies on Earth. It even ships with cold packs, so people in hot climates can get in on the peanutbuttery goodness as well. Roasted seaweed snacks that come in a variety of fun flavors (teriyaki, chili lime, Korean BBQ, etc) and are the perfect snack for when you're not exactly hungry but still in the mood to eat something. They're light, crispy, and a source of vitamin B12 and iodine. Nick's Keto Candy Bars packing tons of flavor AND fiber, with 28%–34% of the recommended daily amount. The gluten-free treats come in gooey peanut butter and creamy coconut — reviewers say both really hit the spot when you want something sweet. Brazi Bites Pizza Snacks, which are essentially like pizza rolls but with a twist — pao de queijo instead of pizza dough! That's right, it's cheese, sauce, and pepperoni wrapped in a delightful cheesy bread.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr.'s Worst Nightmare
Photographs by Evan Jenkins A Wednesday morning in May is a strange time to be trick-or-treating—especially if you're an adult wearing business casual. The Indiana Convention Center had just opened to visitors for the second day of Sweets & Snacks, the largest gathering of the candy and snack industry in North America. Along with nearly 15,000 other attendees, I went from booth to booth trying samples. By 10:40, I was sipping a complimentary blue-raspberry-watermelon Icee while a woman to my right took a selfie with Mr. Jelly Belly. At the Slim Jim booth a few feet away, a bunch of people in blazers gathered around a smorgasbord of meat sticks. The only thing that could get between attendees and their snacks was the occasional free beer or run-in with a mascot. At one point, the Jack Link's sasquatch attempted to steal my Entenmann's mini muffins. I had come to Sweets & Snacks to taste the future of junk food. The annual conference is the industry's most prominent venue to show off its new products. Judging by my three days in Indianapolis, the hot new trends are freeze-dried candy and anything that tastes vaguely East Asian: think 'matcha latte' popcorn. But right now, that future looks shaky, particularly for confections. Candy embodies everything that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes is wrong with the American diet. It's mainly sugar (which Kennedy has called 'poison'), counts as an ultra-processed food (which Kennedy has called 'poison'), and is often colored with synthetic food dyes (which Kennedy has called 'poison'). Last month, RFK Jr. announced a goal of eliminating synthetic food dyes by the end of 2026, a major threat to an industry predicated on making bright, eye-catching treats. In an email, an HHS spokesperson said that 'Secretary Kennedy has been clear: we must build a healthier future by making smarter choices about what goes into our food.' The spokesperson added that 'the secretary is committed to working with industry to prioritize public health.' At Sweets & Snacks, I did not encounter an industry that was gearing up for change. Instead, it was RFK Jr.'s worst nightmare: an unabashed celebration of all things sugary, artificial, and indulgent. On the convention floor, it was hard to find a single product—beyond the litany of meat sticks and the occasional mixed nut—that would get RFK Jr.'s stamp of approval. Even a finalist for the convention's annual salty-snack award, Vlasic Pickle Balls, contained tartrazine, a synthetic yellow dye that Kennedy has specifically bashed. As I stuffed my face with sugary treats, I began to wonder: Was the industry delusional about Kennedy, or the other way around? RFK Jr.'s presence was conspicuously absent from the moment I arrived in Candy Land. 'Anywhere over here is fine,' I told my Lyft driver as we pulled up to a hulking red M&M. Candy companies have already been investing in healthier options: Mars bought snack-bar maker Kind in 2020 and proudly displayed the bars in a booth alongside their more traditional M&Ms, Skittles, and Starburst. But the only vague mention of the looming RFK Jr. threat on the convention floor was a billboard posted by the conference's organizers, the National Confectioners Association (NCA). It reiterated the candy lobby's longstanding message: Candy shouldn't be lumped together with other ultra-processed foods, because it is an occasional indulgence. It's hardly surprising that candy companies aren't abruptly changing their products in response to pressure, even when it's coming from the country's top health regulator. Americans bought $54 billion worth of these treats last year. In April, the health secretary boasted that the U.S. food industry had 'voluntarily agreed' to remove synthetic dyes from their products, but judging from the items on display at Sweets & Snacks, the candy industry has little interest in fulfilling that promise anytime soon. When I asked Christopher Gindlesperger, NCA's senior vice president of public affairs and communication, if the candy industry had an understanding with RFK Jr. to eliminate synthetic dyes voluntarily, his response was simple: 'No.' Some of the discussions around dyes are understandably frustrating for the industry. Federal regulators haven't done the sort of thorough academic evaluation of these dyes that's typically expected before trying to push them out of the food supply. (The state of California released its own evaluation in 2021 and found that 'synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in some children.') At the same time, the candy industry isn't doing much to signal that it recognizes the growing concern over these ingredients. It's hard to be sympathetic toward companies that purposefully market unhealthy products to children through the use of mascots and funky colors. I was taken aback when I stumbled upon a Despicable Me–branded coloring set that let kids color in a cookie with a marker filled with tartrazine. The industry's efforts to uphold the status quo is risky. If Kennedy is intent on enforcing an actual ban on synthetic food coloring, it could have a monumental impact. Making the switch to natural colors is not as simple as FDA Commissioner Marty Makary let on when he told food makers during a press conference last month to just start coloring their products with fruit and vegetable juices. Natural colors are typically more expensive, and they're far more finicky than their synthetic alternatives. Moisture, pH, and even light can cause the dyes to degrade. A naturally colored M&M might be red when it leaves the factory, but if it sits in your pantry too long, it could take on a not-so-appetizing color. There's a question, too, of whether there are even enough fruits and vegetables in the world to supply the food industry with enough natural dye to serve the massive U.S. market. 'The amount of crops that go into some of these dyes is just so high that we don't necessarily have these crops planted,' Renee Leber, a food scientist at the Institute of Food Technologists, told me. Here's yet another concern: Natural dyes may alter the taste of certain treats. The company behind Dum-Dums lollipops has suggested that replacing artificial red dye with beet juice could make its red lollipops taste like beets. (That doesn't mean it can't be done. Many companies already sell products in Europe without synthetic dyes. And Katjes, a German company sandwiched between Jack Link's and Harvest Snaps, was giving away its rainbow unicorn gummies, which looked plenty eye-catching to me, despite being colored solely with fruit and vegetable juices.) Food dyes are only one part of the RFK Jr. threat that the candy industry faces right now. Yesterday, the Trump administration's 'MAHA Commission' released a much-touted report on childhood health, calling out sugar and ultra-processed foods as a major contributor to the youth chronic-disease problem. When I spoke with Gindlesperger, he was quick to point out that candy is far from the biggest cause of America's sugar problem. (Sweetened drinks are.) 'People understand that chocolate and candy are treats, and consumers have carved out a special place for them in their lives,' he said. He cited an analysis of CDC survey data that received funding from the NCA, which showed that people in the United States eat roughly 40 calories a day of candy. But that analysis doesn't distinguish between kids and adults. Data are scant on children's consumption of candy, though if you've walked with a kid down a candy aisle, you can probably tell that most haven't fully grasped that gummy worms are meant to be an occasional indulgence. 'It's really difficult for a child who has access to candy to stop eating it,' Natalie Muth, a pediatrician and dietitian, told me. Candy consumption among kids, she added, is a 'big problem.' In a country where nearly 20 percent of children are obese, more needs to be done to protect people from the candy industry's worst tendencies. But mandating any such changes will be incredibly difficult for RFK Jr. To ban tartrazine alone, the FDA would need to compile a docket of information demonstrating its harm, issue a draft regulation, take public comments, and then finalize the regulation. Gindlesperger said the candy industry is waiting for the FDA to formally review the safety of the dyes it takes issue with: 'We support and would welcome that review.' Even after all those steps, the food industry can—and likely would—sue. There's even less precedent for cracking down on sugar. Kennedy has acknowledged that a sugar ban is unlikely, and instead has argued for more education about the risks of having a sweet tooth. If Kennedy succeeds in ushering in actual reform, the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement won't truly revolutionize the American diet until it figures out how to redefine our relationship with certain foods. Whether Kennedy likes it or not, candy is part of our national psyche. He can't simply wave a wand and ban trick-or-treating or candy canes. Over the course of three days, I saw grown adults fill multiple shopping bags with free treats. Candy companies displayed bags of their products to show retailers what they'd look like in a store, and the bags literally had to be taped down to avoid getting swiped. (Some still were.) I learned that attendees commonly bring a second suitcase just to haul their loot home. Nothing quite epitomized the affection for treats like the impromptu dance party that broke out near the close of the conference. Chester Cheetah, Ernie the Keebler Elf, the purple Nerd, the Lemonhead, Bazooka Joe, Clark Cheese Head, and Chewbie, the Hi-Chew mascot, all began to sway in unison to a marching band that was hired to entertain guests. Conference attendees clamored to get a video of the spectacle and snap a selfie with their favorite mascot. The moment was absurd, and funny, and more than a little embarrassing. Still, I couldn't help but pull out my own phone and crack a smile. Perhaps it was nostalgia for bygone Halloween nights, or maybe all the sugar was just getting to my head. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
23-05-2025
- Health
- Atlantic
RFK Jr.'s Worst Nightmare
A Wednesday morning in May is a strange time to be trick-or-treating—especially if you're an adult wearing business casual. The Indiana Convention Center had just opened to visitors for the second day of Sweets & Snacks, the largest gathering of the candy and snack industry in North America. Along with nearly 15,000 other attendees, I went from booth to booth trying samples. By 10:40, I was sipping a complimentary blue-raspberry-watermelon Icee while a woman to my right took a selfie with Mr. Jelly Belly. At the Slim Jim booth a few feet away, a bunch of people in blazers gathered around a smorgasbord of meat sticks. The only thing that could get between attendees and their snacks was the occasional free beer or run-in with a mascot. At one point, the Jack Link's sasquatch attempted to steal my Entenmann's mini muffins. I had come to Sweets & Snacks to taste the future of junk food. The annual conference is the industry's most prominent venue to show off its new products. Judging by my three days in Indianapolis, the hot new trends are freeze-dried candy and anything that tastes vaguely East Asian: think 'matcha latte' popcorn. But right now, that future looks shaky, particularly for confections. Candy embodies everything that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes is wrong with the American diet. It's mainly sugar (which Kennedy has called 'poison'), counts as an ultra-processed food (which Kennedy has called 'poison'), and is often colored with synthetic food dyes (which Kennedy has called 'poison'). Last month, RFK Jr. announced a goal of eliminating synthetic food dyes by the end of 2026, a major threat to an industry predicated on making bright, eye-catching treats. In an email, an HHS spokesperson said that 'Secretary Kennedy has been clear: we must build a healthier future by making smarter choices about what goes into our food.' The spokesperson added that 'the secretary is committed to working with industry to prioritize public health.' At Sweets & Snacks, I did not encounter an industry that was gearing up for change. Instead, it was RFK Jr.'s worst nightmare: an unabashed celebration of all things sugary, artificial, and indulgent. On the convention floor, it was hard to find a single product—beyond the litany of meat sticks and the occasional mixed nut—that would get RFK Jr.'s stamp of approval. Even a finalist for the convention's annual salty-snack award, Vlasic Pickle Balls, contained tartrazine, a synthetic yellow dye that Kennedy has specifically bashed. As I stuffed my face with sugary treats, I began to wonder: Was the industry delusional about Kennedy, or the other way around? RFK Jr.'s presence was conspicuously absent from the moment I arrived in Candy Land. 'Anywhere over here is fine,' I told my Lyft driver as we pulled up to a hulking red M&M. Candy companies have already been investing in healthier options: Mars bought snack-bar maker Kind in 2020 and proudly displayed the bars in a booth alongside their more traditional M&Ms, Skittles, and Starburst. But the only vague mention of the looming RFK Jr. threat on the convention floor was a billboard posted by the conference's organizers, the National Confectioners Association (NCA). It reiterated the candy lobby's longstanding message: Candy shouldn't be lumped together with other ultra-processed foods, because it is an occasional indulgence. It's hardly surprising that candy companies aren't abruptly changing their products in response to pressure, even when it's coming from the country's top health regulator. Americans bought $54 billion worth of these treats last year. In April, the health secretary boasted that the U.S. food industry had 'voluntarily agreed' to remove synthetic dyes from their products, but judging from the items on display at Sweets & Snacks, the candy industry has little interest in fulfilling that promise anytime soon. When I asked Christopher Gindlesperger, NCA's senior vice president of public affairs and communication, if the candy industry had an understanding with RFK Jr. to eliminate synthetic dyes voluntarily, his response was simple: 'No.' Some of the discussions around dyes are understandably frustrating for the industry. Federal regulators haven't done the sort of thorough academic evaluation of these dyes that's typically expected before trying to push them out of the food supply. (The state of California released its own evaluation in 2021 and found that 'synthetic food dyes are associated with adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in some children.') At the same time, the candy industry isn't doing much to signal that it recognizes the growing concern over these ingredients. It's hard to be sympathetic toward companies that purposefully market unhealthy products to children through the use of mascots and funky colors. I was taken aback when I stumbled upon a Despicable Me– branded coloring set that let kids color in a cookie with a marker filled with tartrazine. The industry's efforts to uphold the status quo is risky. If Kennedy is intent on enforcing an actual ban on synthetic food coloring, it could have a monumental impact. Making the switch to natural colors is not as simple as FDA Commissioner Marty Makary let on when he told food makers during a press conference last month to just start coloring their products with fruit and vegetable juices. Natural colors are typically more expensive, and they're far more finicky than their synthetic alternatives. Moisture, pH, and even light can cause the dyes to degrade. A naturally colored M&M might be red when it leaves the factory, but if it sits in your pantry too long, it could take on a not-so-appetizing color. There's a question, too, of whether there are even enough fruits and vegetables in the world to supply the food industry with enough natural dye to serve the massive U.S. market. 'The amount of crops that go into some of these dyes is just so high that we don't necessarily have these crops planted,' Renee Leber, a food scientist at the Institute of Food Technologists, told me. Here's yet another concern: Natural dyes may alter the taste of certain treats. The company behind Dum-Dums lollipops has suggested that replacing artificial red dye with beet juice could make its red lollipops taste like beets. (That doesn't mean it can't be done. Many companies already sell products in Europe without synthetic dyes. And Katjes, a German company sandwiched between Jack Link's and Harvest Snaps, was giving away its rainbow unicorn gummies, which looked plenty eye-catching to me, despite being colored solely with fruit and vegetable juices.) Food dyes are only one part of the RFK Jr. threat that the candy industry faces right now. Yesterday, the Trump administration's 'MAHA Commission' released a much-touted report on childhood health, calling out sugar and ultra-processed foods as a major contributor to the youth chronic-disease problem. When I spoke with Gindlesperger, he was quick to point out that candy is far from the biggest cause of America's sugar problem. (Sweetened drinks are.) 'People understand that chocolate and candy are treats, and consumers have carved out a special place for them in their lives,' he said. He cited an analysis of CDC survey data that received funding from the NCA, which showed that people in the United States eat roughly 40 calories a day of candy. But that analysis doesn't distinguish between kids and adults. Data are scant on children's consumption of candy, though if you've walked with a kid down a candy aisle, you can probably tell that most haven't fully grasped that gummy worms are meant to be an occasional indulgence. 'It's really difficult for a child who has access to candy to stop eating it,' Natalie Muth, a pediatrician and dietitian, told me. Candy consumption among kids, she added, is a 'big problem.' In a country where nearly 20 percent of children are obese, more needs to be done to protect people from the candy industry's worst tendencies. But mandating any such changes will be incredibly difficult for RFK Jr. To ban tartrazine alone, the FDA would need to compile a docket of information demonstrating its harm, issue a draft regulation, take public comments, and then finalize the regulation. Gindlesperger said the candy industry is waiting for the FDA to formally review the safety of the dyes it takes issue with: 'We support and would welcome that review.' Even after all those steps, the food industry can—and likely would—sue. There's even less precedent for cracking down on sugar. Kennedy has acknowledged that a sugar ban is unlikely, and instead has argued for more education about the risks of having a sweet tooth. If Kennedy succeeds in ushering in actual reform, the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement won't truly revolutionize the American diet until it figures out how to redefine our relationship with certain foods. Whether Kennedy likes it or not, candy is part of our national psyche. He can't simply wave a wand and ban trick-or-treating or candy canes. Over the course of three days, I saw grown adults fill multiple shopping bags with free treats. Candy companies displayed bags of their products to show retailers what they'd look like in a store, and the bags literally had to be taped down to avoid getting swiped. (Some still were.) I learned that attendees commonly bring a second suitcase just to haul their loot home. Nothing quite epitomized the affection for treats like the impromptu dance party that broke out near the close of the conference. Chester Cheetah, Ernie the Keebler Elf, the purple Nerd, the Lemonhead, Bazooka Joe, Clark Cheese Head, and Chewbie, the Hi-Chew mascot, all began to sway in unison to a marching band that was hired to entertain guests. Conference attendees clamored to get a video of the spectacle and snap a selfie with their favorite mascot. The moment was absurd, and funny, and more than a little embarrassing. Still, I couldn't help but pull out my own phone and crack a smile. Perhaps it was nostalgia for bygone Halloween nights, or maybe all the sugar was just getting to my head.
