Latest news with #snack
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Selena Gomez Celebrates Her 33rd Birthday with a Cake Topped with Pickle Candles
Selena Gomez never misses a moment to let her fans know her favorite snack item, even when she's doing heartwarming work. On Tuesday, July 22, the Only Murders in the Building star took to Instagram to announce the launch of Rare Impact Fund's Giving Circle, in partnership with Dollar Donation Club. According to the announcement, as reported by PEOPLE, the fund was 'built to democratize giving and foster purpose-driven community,' by allowing people to pool their resources and support organizations 'doing life-changing work.' The launch announcement also comes in celebration of the star's 33rd birthday. The commemorate the milestone, Gomez shared an image of herself holding a green heart-shaped cake adorned with pickle-shaped candles, surely an homage to her favorite snack. It's no secret that the singer has a deep appreciation for tangy treat – she even has a preferred brand. Back in February 2024, Gomez's fiancé, Benny Blanco, 37, got the label of her favorite pickle brand, Best Maid Pickles, designed on his toenails. That same month, in celebration of Valentine's Day, the famed music producer ordered a shipment of Best Maid Pickles from Texas to California so he could 'Fry pickles and get laid.' He documented the sweet gesture on TikTok, and even revealed his secret ingredient to the traditional Southern dish: Sprite in the fry batter. Safe to say that Blanco is firmly into his future wife's love for pickles and has incorporated them into his unique food videos. For instance, while scrolling through food videos, Blanco came across a breadless sandwich in which cheese, a pickle slice, balsamic vinegar and basil were smushed together between slices of watermelon. It didn't take long for the food connoisseur to create the sandwich himself and get Gomez to taste test along with him. "I don't want to. I'm not going to like this,' said a hesitant Gomez as she looked at the monstrous pink-hued sandwich. 'But,' she went on, 'I love pickles.' Read the original article on People
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Muruku Bonda: The vegetarian snack that grew from a pregnancy project to a booming brand winning hearts across Malaysia, Taiwan
BUKIT MERTAJAM, July 20 — Armed with a cherished family recipe, a husband-and-wife duo turned their humble beginnings into a thriving muruku business, attracting customers from both Malaysia and abroad. Idris Alias, 67, and his wife, Fatimah Ishak, 63, from Guar Perahu, here, started their small home-based business in 1984 after she inherited a muruku recipe from her mother-in-law. 'I was seven months pregnant at the time, so we only made small batches of the crunchy snack. We had very little capital to start with. But I gave it a go, taking orders from friends. 'From those early days making muruku at home, we managed to grow the business under the brand name 'Muruku Bonda'. Nine years ago, we opened a shop in Kubang Semang, funded by profits we steadily reinvested,' Fatimah told Bernama. She said that Muruku Bonda uses natural ingredients, with no artificial colouring, and entirely free from eggs, anchovies, or any animal-based products, making it ideal for those following a vegetarian diet. Interestingly, over 85 per cent of their customers are from the Chinese community, making Chinese New Year their peak sales period. 'We even received orders from Taiwan at one point, but had to turn them down because the shipping costs were too high. Still, the customer flew over themselves and bought in bulk to take home,' she added. Muruku Bonda's recipe dates back over 40 years ago to Idris Alias' mother. — Bernama pic Currently, the couple operates with just two frying machines – usually only one runs on regular days, producing around 150 kilogrammes (kg) of muruku daily, increasing to 200kg during festive periods. Idris shared that their son and daughter-in-law now help run the family business. One of their main challenges, he explained, is limited operating space, which makes it difficult to meet growing demand. They even had to decline an offer to stock Muruku Bonda in a major convenience store chain. On most days, just one frying machine is used to produce 150kg of Muruku Bonda daily at the shop in Kubang Semang, Penang, but the second fryer picks up the load for festive days when demand soars. — Bernama pic Nonetheless, the couple remain determined to expand into a larger facility in the future, with hopes of passing the business down to their only child. 'My advice to young entrepreneurs is to understand your product and your customers, and to have patience. That is vital in the business world. 'Most importantly, as Muslims, we must remember to give charity and pay zakat. That's the key to lasting blessings. Not just in wealth, but also in health,' Idris said. — Bernama
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fans Say This ‘Perfectly Crispy' Nostalgic Snack Tastes ‘Way Better Than the Little Debbie Version'
Fans Say This 'Perfectly Crispy' Nostalgic Snack Tastes 'Way Better Than the Little Debbie Version' originally appeared on Parade. If you grew up with a sweet treat tucked into your lunchbox, prepare for a serious blast from the past with a major upgrade. Snack fans everywhere are buzzing about a crispy, chocolate-coated treat that's reminding them of their childhood favorites... only better. Enter: Wonder Peanut Butter Wafers. Yes, the same iconic brand behind Wonder Bread. While the brand may be best known for white sandwich bread and colorful packaging, it's quietly stepped into the snack game and people are freaking out in the best way. Fans are loving these bars featuring layers of crunchy wafers stuffed with smooth peanut butter and finished with a rich chocolatey coating. They look familiar, sure, but the taste? That's where things get interesting. According to fans, they're lighter, crispier, and more peanut buttery than the classic Little Debbie version. 🍳 SIGN UP to get delicious recipes, handy kitchen hacks & fun food news in our daily Pop Kitchen newsletter 🍳 Instagram user @your_snack_dealer found the sweet treat at Meijer. One reviewer compared the experience to 'crunching into a memory, but with better texture.' Others are calling them 'dangerously good' and claiming they're the upgraded version of the peanut butter wafer snacks we all know and love. Shoppers say they're easy to find at major retailers, like Walmart and Safeway, and usually ring in at around $5 per box, making them an easy, low-risk treat to toss into your cart. Each bar comes individually wrapped, making them perfect for lunchboxes, glove compartments or just snack drawer emergencies. But what really has people talking is the texture. Where some wafer snacks can turn soft or overly sweet, these keep their crunch and balance, according to fans. The peanut butter is "smooth without being overwhelming," and the coating is just enough to give it that classic 'candy bar meets snack bar' feel. If you're looking for a new sweet snack to fall in love with, these throwback bars are having a serious moment. The nostalgia is real. But according to fans, the flavor might be even better than you remember. So if you see a bright red box with the Wonder logo peeking out from the snack aisle, don't hesitate. Grab it. Taste it. And see for yourself what all the crispy, peanut-buttery fuss is Say This 'Perfectly Crispy' Nostalgic Snack Tastes 'Way Better Than the Little Debbie Version' first appeared on Parade on Jul 14, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 14, 2025, where it first appeared. Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
The greasy airbag of gratification that became Britain's national dish
Fried breakfast. Sunday lunch. Fish and chip supper. Any member of this holy triumvirate might qualify for the title of Britain's National Dish. Except that Britain's real signature plate isn't served on a plate at all, but from a metalized plastic bag. It doesn't sizzle or boil, but rustles and crunches — a greasy airbag of impetuous gratification, snacky saline satisfaction, and ultimately, empty calories. This is the story of the crisp — the wafer-thin sliced, deep-fried slivers of seasoned potato that continue to hook millions, and stole the hearts of a nation in more ways than one. Tune into BBC Radio 6 Music on a Sunday morning, and between tunes from CMAT and Radiohead, you may well hear the sound of someone nibbling on crisps. The presenters Marc Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie have not been caught off guard snacking between tracks however; 'Crisps on the Radio' is a long-running segment on their morning show, in which listeners mail in packets of crisps they've discovered from around the world, and Radcliffe and Maconie attempt to work out what flavor they're supposed to be. This whimsical use of airtime underscores Brits' unparalleled affinity with the crisp, a snack that is infinitely more than just a snack. Britons consume some 10 billion bags of crisps each year. On weekday lunchtimes, walls of crisps are raided from British supermarkets, as workers grab a bag as part of a 'meal deal.' Picnics in the park are considered piteous without the addition of a family-sized bag of crisps. Online commentators endlessly shuffle crisps into tiers of deliciousness, while stand-up comedians count the ways in which people finish off the crumbly remnants of their crisp packet. In 2022, Nigella Lawson, one of the country's most adored TV cooks, teamed up with Walkers — the nation's best-selling crisps brand — to create a recipe for the perfect crisp sandwich (ingredients: bread, butter, crisps). The next year, Kicks Bar and Grill in Hull, in the northeast of England inveigled customers through its doors with an all-you-can-eat crisp buffet. In her 2024 book 'Crunch: An Ode to Crisps,' Natalie Whittle writes: 'It is hard to escape the strange connective force of crisps in British life.' You might say the Brits have an unhealthy obsession with the crisp. But how did it get here in the first place? The answer is: it came from America. Sort of. It's an origin story worthy of Hollywood. The setting: Moon's Lake House restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York, 1853. The main players: chef George Crum, and diner/railway tycoon/fussy eater Cornelius Vanderbilt. The tale goes that Vanderbilt demanded Crum cut his potatoes thinner… and thinner… and thinner. Crum eventually blew his top, shaved the potatoes passive-aggressively thin with a mandolin, and sent them back out to the customer in spite. Except that Vanderbilt loved these crackly scraps of salted spud, and thus 'Saratoga Chips' were born. It's likely this anecdote was bent into more pleasing shape over time — for one thing, Crum's sister Catherine Adkins Wicks always maintained she'd been the one manning the frying pan, not Crum — but it's true that someone at Moon's Lake House sliced those potatoes wafer thin, and it's also true that, before the century was out, industrious business folk like William Tappenden had pounced on the snack's potential as a store-sold item, not just a restaurant specialty. Any Brits in need of a lie down after hearing this distinctly un-British backstory, however, can breathe easy. Technically, the crisp had already been invented over in England; here, in 1817, the first known crisp recipe was published in William Kitchiner's 'The Cook's Oracle' as 'Potatoes fried in Slices or Shavings': 'Peel large potatoes; slice them about a quarter of an inch thick, or cut them in shavings round and round, as you would peel a lemon; dry them well in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping….' Kitchiner, who was born and died in London, is also known for whipping up the first-ever batch of Wow-Wow Sauce. The fact he was also a doctor may raise eyebrows now, given the crisp's dubious health implications. It may be that only a handful of Brits ever tried Kitchiner's crisp recipe anyway — but he does appear to have got there before anyone else, American or otherwise. And while commercially shrewd America had a headstart when it came to marketing the potato chip in the late 19th/early 20th century, Britain took up the baton full-heartedly in 1920, thanks to the entrepreneur Frank Smith, who converted two garages in the north London suburb of Cricklewood into the country's first crisp factory. Smith's real breakthrough though was a delightfully simple one. As pub landlords quickly grew annoyed that their customers were stealing salt shakers in order to season their slivers of fried potato, Smith introduced a twist of blue paper, each containing a pinch of salt, and added to every greaseproof bag. Now the British crisp was really cooking, and by the time the country was through with World War II, the market had grown hungrier than ever. Edinburgh's Golden Wonder and Sunderland's Tudor crisp companies arrived on the scene in 1947. The following year, Henry Walker, a butcher in the central English city of Leicester, pivoted his business to make hand-sliced crisps. That same company now produces over 11 million bags of crisps a day. But there was an elephant in the room. The crisp was relentlessly monotone. You could have any flavor, as long as it was salted/unsalted. Neither the Americans nor the Brits solved this particular issue. That was a job for Dublin-born Joe 'Spud' Murphy, who shunned a life in the priesthood ('To hell with this, we need one sinner in the family') and instead formed the Tayto crisp company, in 1954. Sick to the back teeth of plain crisps, Murphy made his first point of order to add a seasoning powder to his Taytos, namely Cheese and Onion. The people went for it, boosted by early marketing campaigns which advised these crisps were the ideal accompaniment to salads… and fried breakfasts. The Smith's salt sachet suddenly seemed altogether quaint. Golden Wonder copied Tayto with its own Cheese and Onion offering. Then, in 1967, Tudor (by now a subsidiary of Smith's) released the first Salt and Vinegar crisps, a tongue-tingling seasoning that remains a stalwart today. More riotous flavors followed, albeit still geared towards British/Irish palates: Pickled Onion, Lamb & Mint Sauce, Curry, Gammon & Pineapple. A 1981 episode of the BBC consumer TV show 'That's Life!' thrust unmarked bowls of crisps in front of unsuspecting members of the public, inviting them to guess the flavor (perhaps that's where 'Crisps on the Radio' got its idea from). 'It's not snake is it?' ventured one gentleman, chewing timidly on a prawn cocktail crisp. Crisp lovers were now tasting in Technicolor, and in the same year the 'That's Life!' episode aired, flavors really jumped the shark — in fact another animal altogether — thanks to Hedgehog-flavoured crisps, the barmy brainchild of pub landlord Phillip Lewis. Lewis was soon after forced to tweak the name to Hedgehog Flavour Crisps, because they did not in fact contain hedgehog, but he'd made his point: anything in the world of crisps was possible. In the 1980s the crisp became a staple of British life. The punk band Splodgenessabounds released 'Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please', a distorted paean to a common order down the local pub. Come the middle of the decade, Brits were splashing an extraordinary £805m (over a billion dollars) on crisps and snacks alone. Companies upped the ante with TV commercials. Walkers — by now pulling away from the competition — called in the big guns. The veteran English comedian Ronnie Barker asked viewers 'Don't you insist on Walkers crisps?'. What turned out to be the ultimate coup for Walkers, though, was a call-up for the England soccer striker Gary Lineker. Like Walkers, Lineker hailed from Leicester, and — putting a spin on his real-life clean-cut image — the sports star gamely moonlighted as a crisp-thieving bad lad. So began a beautiful friendship. During the 1990s Lineker played the hammy villain opposite A-listers like the Spice Girls, Bugs Bunny and his former England teammate Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne. For a while, the brand's Salt and Vinegar crisps were even renamed 'Salt and Lineker.' Increasingly, kids became the target of these campaigns; not just thanks to an ever-swelling medley of flavors, but the promise of free Mega Fiddler toys and Star Wars Tazos slipped inside packets. Crisps now inhabited the same universe as football, pop music, movies and cartoons. They even became a fashion accessory; Natalie Whittle writes in 'Crunch: An Ode to Crisps' about how she'd shrink old crisp packets in the oven. These could then be used as things like earrings and key fobs. 'My memory is lots of children revelling in crisps just as much as I did,' writes Whittle. But a second kind of crisp had also taken wing, as the snack started to grow up. 'I haven't met anyone yet who has said they don't like crisps. I'm not sure I could ever truly trust someone who said they didn't!' says the drinks writer Neil Ridley. His 2024 book, 'The Crisp Sommelier,' pairs 185 different styles and flavors of crisp with various wines, beers, hard ciders and cocktails (a fine white Burgundy 'sits wonderfully,' Ridley recommends, with the light meatiness of a smoked ham crisp). 'As adults, we're supposed to abandon the flavors of our childhoods as we grow up and explore more sophisticated tastes and flavors,' says Ridley, 'So for me, 'The Crisp Sommelier' really taps into that fondness for nostalgic flavours and aligns it with the obviously more adult themes of alcohol pairing.' Ridley's book also taps into a concept of crisp elevation which was already underway 40-odd years ago. In 1988, Kettle Brand Chips — first established in Salem, Oregon — established an outpost in Norfolk, England, bringing a thicker-cut crisp made from organic potatoes and oil to the British market. The bag was bigger, too, encouraging a sense of the deluxe and communal — something to pour into bowls at social gatherings and have people pick at while sipping their aperitifs. 'I'm in heaven,' gushed a columnist for the Shields Daily Gazette local newspaper in 2001. 'Kettle Chips has launched its latest seasonal edition… Sour Cream, Lemon and Black Pepper is the flavoursome snack to die for. Our friends popped round for Sunday tea and the Kettle Chips proved a huge hit.' Crisps could now be aspirational for adults as well as kids, something to show off to friends and neighbors, like a new dress or television. Other 'posh' brands followed suit. Tyrells — flaunting a rustic farmyard provenance, and potatoes with names like Lady Rosetta and Lady Claire — came onto the scene in 2002. Walkers ran with the herd, launching its Sensations range in 2002. Literally branded as 'Posh crisps from Walkers,' these were initially promoted with the help of Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, in a commercial which saw her famous soccer-playing husband being switched out for, you guessed it, Gary Lineker. In 2025, the quest for the perfect crisp continues. While this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe performance arts event includes a show about exactly that, current crisp trends include Slabs, comically chunky discs of potato that rail against the innate thinness of the crisp, come in flavors including Pan-Fried Egg, and can be sourced at trendy pubs like the Shirker's Rest in New Cross, South London — where they encourage you to dunk it in another British culinary obsession: brown sauce. Meanwhile, harking back to crisps' restaurant origins, Liverpool's critically-acclaimed eatery Manifest has been praised for its 'still warm' salt and vinegar crisps starter — perhaps not a million miles from the ones Cornelius Vanderbilt fell in love with back in 1853. Long derided as a (literally) pale imitation of the British crisp, some European offerings have now caught the attention of Brits too. Torres crisps, made near Barcelona in Spain, come in flavors including Iberian Ham, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and have almost become a form of British tapas for the languorous middle classes. Well-founded concerns around the health implications of a nation hooked on crisps (in 2006 the British Heart Foundation ran an infamous campaign showing a young girl chugging a bottle of cooking oil) mean that many healthier options are now on the table too, including crisps that are baked or roasted, rather than fried. Ingredients like root vegetables, lentils and chickpeas are increasingly used in place of the potato, though most crisp eaters would suggest that's an entirely different taxonomy of snack altogether. No one's thrown in the towel on unearthing the next big flavor, no matter how abnormal that might turn out to be; a glance at Museum of Crisps' preposterous list reveals a litany of Wonka-esque freaks: Candy Cane, Gin & Tonic, Rose Petal, Pumpkin Pie. Walkers alone has 125 flavors on British shelves at any one time, while its boffins toil away in 'crisp test kitchens,' dreaming up more. Walkers fans pitch new flavor ideas to the company every single day. And yet, the truth is, the best crisp flavors were discovered a long time ago. Cheese and Onion remains the most popular flavor of both Walkers and Tayto, despite being the first one ever trialed, almost 70 years ago. 'These humble flavours have really stood the test of time,' says Stephanie Herbert, head of marketing at Walkers. When it comes to upmarket crisps, the classic flavors win out too. 'Lye Cross Cheddar & Onion, Anglesey Sea Salt, and Burrow Hill Cider Vinegar are the top picks,' says Herbert, of the Pipers range, which Walkers owners PepsiCo bought out in 2019. That most pedestrian of flavors, Ready Salted, isn't far behind in the popularity polls, while Smith's Salt 'n' Shake crisps, also now part of the PepsiCo stable, are still enjoyed by millions of Brits, who find the quirk of seasoning their own crisps an enjoyable ritual. Neil Ridley, 'The Crisp Sommelier' author, explains: 'The bottom line is brands can premiumize crisps to their heart's content, but they're still a simple, affordable, fun-in-a-bag food that can operate at the highest echelons of society as well as the lowest. In short, they're truly ours, as a nation. 'The potato crisp intertwines our social and cultural backgrounds, our childhoods and how we approach our working lives too. It's a quick and easy way to travel around the world from flavor to flavor, it's shareable, it evokes feelings of nostalgia and it also satisfies us in so many more ways than simply filling us up.' Stephanie Herbert from Walkers agrees. 'Few nations have embraced the crisp quite like Britain,' she says. 'Crisps are woven into the fabric of everyday British life. 'In their own modest, distinctly British way, they're as iconic as any national dish.' Writer's note: This article doesn't touch on the wider definition of bagged British snacks, e.g. Skips, Scampi Fries, Frazzles, Chipsticks, Monster Munch. Although some readers might disagree, they're not strictly crisps.
Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Getting ready for the rodeo — and other news in pictures
PHOTOGRAPHY Times picture editors select the best images from around the world, including ways to cool off in a heatwave and grabbing a snack. Which is your favourite? The Times Tourists and locals dance around a bonfire in Yue Opera Town in Shaoxing City in the Zhejiang province of China PAN WEIFENG/VCG/GETTY IMAGES Fred the dachshund showed that short legs are no obstacle by running an agility course at the K9 World Dog Show at Chalkwell Park, Southend BEN JONES FOR THE TIMES Meabh, two, and Tadhg, four, get tips on their swashbuckling technique from Bob the pirate at the Golden Age of Piracy weekend held at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich BEN JONES FOR THE TIMES Cyclists raced from Chinon to Chateauroux during stage nine of the Tour de France, passing fields of sunflowers BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS A pod of 12 dolphins entertained onlookers enjoying the sunny weather with acrobatics off the coast of Amble, Northumberland LINDA JOHNSON/SWNS BAV MEDIA ARTUR WIDAK/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES Visitors to the Dapu Tsunami World water park enjoy the waves under the domed roof of the indoor pool in Wuhu, China XIAO BENXIANG/VCG/GETTY IMAGES Jovan Filipovski receives a close shave from his best man before his Galicnik wedding ceremony, a tradition that symbolises the transition into married life in North Macedonia IOANNIS ALEXOPOULOS/LNP Boxers spar during a morning training session at the Virunga Club in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo JOSPIN MWISHA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Scorching temperatures failed to deter thousands of bargain hunters from the car boot sale at Lea Marston in Warwickshire BRITISH NEWS AND MEDIA/ALAMY Reenactors dressed in Roman Empire era costumes recreated an ancient attack on a fortress in the village of Poiana in northern Romania VADIM GHIRDA/AP A pair of swans with their cygnets found themselves the centre of attention from a herd of curious cows in Romney Marsh, Kent TOM IWASYSZYN/PICTURE EXCLUSIVE The Red Arrows put on a colourful display on their return to Bournemouth airport, in their last show of a packed weekend schedule STEVE HOGAN/SOLENT NEWS The Pope arrived in style in his popemobile to preside over a Sunday mass in the Papal Parish of St Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo
