The good ol' days

Often, when I eat something I haven’t eaten in a while (but LOVED during childhood), I am disappointed. It seems that ‘when we were young’ isn’t a cliché for nothing. Certain things just tasted better when we were kids. 
Now, I know some people will say that its just because we’ve now developed a more mature palette so we no longer find the same pleasure in foods we adored as children but I say bollocks to that. Here's why:

When I was young I remember the distinct crunch of a Kit Kat. 4 fingers of chocolate were never enough, I always wanted more. It seems to me that these days the wafer is more air than actual wafer and the chocolate forms the thinnest of veneers over said airy wafer. Unsatisfying, to say the least.

The next on my list of disappointments in the BarOne. Again guilty of thinning the chocolate layer to such an extent that, I feel, it has lost the very essence that made it a BarOne. In the old days there was a decent chocolate coating around the entire thing but the real win was the top of the bar, which was a thick hard chocolate layer, with ridges all along its back. The memorable CRACK which was heard and felt when biting through that top layer has now vanished, and in its place is a thin, silent imposter.

One of my favourite memories of Easter during childhood is finding a whole 6 pack carton of white eggs. Back in the day you would suck on one those things for hours until your entire mouth was covered in the white candy coating. Eventually your patience would be rewarded as after wearing the shell down enough you would be able to crack the egg open with your teeth and enjoy the delicious chocolate layer on the inside of the egg. 

Pure heaven. Back then it was literally impossible to bite through the shell straight out of the packet, similar to the impossibility of biting through granite. These days, to my utter dismay, the shell of the egg may as well be made of glass. It is so fragile that one small nip means that the egg is in pieces. Fair enough, it might be better for the teeth of today’s children but I feel like the old white eggs were a lesson in patience. Nowadays, its all over in a matter of 2 minutes and the child is already stuffing the next white egg in his mouth.

In these days of declining quality it is great to know that some things are just as you remember them as a kid. I ate a bag of NikNaks this morning and they were deeelicious, the same crunch of my childhood, the same distinct cheese flavour, the same orange fingers after consuming the bag. It makes me happy that the quality of some things is so carefully maintained. Not only does it satisfy the craving. It also provides that warm and fuzzy nostalgic feeling in your tummy.

NikNaks, you rock my world.

Interestingly, the NikNaks packet design has changed again. Trying to evolve with the times.. badly, in my opinion.. but I do not want to sound ungrateful as I am thankful to them for maintaining the awesomness of what is inside the packet.

Evolution of the NikNaks packet:

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