A Broad Abroad continues her reviews of "weird British snacks" and she's not impressed with this neck of the woods,
Twiglets. A close runner up for the NASTIEST THING I've ever eaten. They taste like marmite. And they really do look like twigs.
Bloody foreigners.
From review site Ciao.co.uk,
Try experimenting with Twiglets. There are many fun food combinations
out there, so try your own but one word of warning, be sure to have a
glass of water to hand. You many require it!*Twiglets servings suggestion*
(Try them at your own peril!)
a) Twiglets and Ice cream (Yummy, I really loved it but there again I love to dip French Fries in Whippy ice cream too!)
b) I was told this idea from a friend at college: Try A liberal amount
of Twiglets wrapped in a Kraft cheese slice. (Yuck, I hate cheese!)*Alternative uses for Twiglets*
1) Alternative birthday candles.
2) A book mark. (Ideal if you get a taste for the munches whilst in the middle of a chapter!)
3) Chopsticks
4) Pick-up sticks (Ideal at parties).
5) Swizzle sticks.
6) Toothpicks (NB: may not be effective!).
7) To peg up tired eyes instead of matchsticks!Other flavours now include Worcester Sauce, Spicy and now Curry
flavours, but for me, the original flavour remains the best ever! I
wonder what flavour will be next?
Technorati Tags: twiglets, unitedbiscuits, jacob's, ice cream
A review by an American DJ who runs snackattackblog and who borrows photos from this here manor,
The taste? Well, if you like Marmite, you're gonna love these. If you don't, you might like them ok too, but that's basically the flavor, like marmite, vegemite or nutrition yeast. They also, apparently, have other spices and flavorings including dried cheese, white pepper and celery.
Technorati Tags: Twiglets, marmite, British crisps, snackfood
Hmmm?? Icon. That's some mighty status to bestow upon a brand of crisps. But, what the hell, if you're gonna bestow iconic status upon any of the snack/snackfood/crisp/chip family, it may as well be the best one.
According to the ICONS website,
"ICONS is the first project by ICONS Online, a not-for-profit organisation whose aim is to develop projects that provide stimulating interactive ways of exploring different cultural landscapes."
As can be seen from the snapshot above. Twiglets, at the time of going to blog, currently have 70% of voters in favour of naming Twiglets an English icon. It is also the 675th of 1089 nominations. Nice.
Nominate and get your YES vote in here.
The Twiglets didn't go down too well at Beware the Cheese,
"They tasted like a bitter, burnt cracker with some kind of sour cheese-like flavour. I won't say that they were the worst things I've ever eaten but found it difficult to make it through the whole pack."
Up until now I've been pretty much collating reviews, but the one at Taquitos requires some nifty editing, so here goes,
Jacob's Original Twiglets
Taste: These are very
unusualgood snacks. They're shaped, textured and colored kind of like small twigs (Observantm, if not poetic). And they taste kind of like burnt wood (no they don't), or burnt popcorn (No. They do not) or burnt cheese (Oh dear... you have nasal hair perming issues). Burnt something, anyway (well... OK... that's better, but errr... hardly informative, wouldn't you say?) I wouldn't say they're awful (that would not be possible, because they're are not awful), because they're oddly addictive (well spotted), but they definitely don't taste good (This is wrong on a number of physical and existential levels). They're quite crunchy (very insighful, thanks).Aroma: Smells sort of like wood (please, can you just check something for me? Is there a nose attached to your head?), or coffee (Coffee? A tongue of leather, and no nose. Great. You're perfectly equipped to review fine British food.)
It would seem a lot of folk agree with the last line in this Ciao review as the Worcester Sauce flavoured Twiglets have yet to be resurrected, despite the pleas,
You either really like them, or abhor them, which is handy if you want a snack just for yourself.... Very few of my friends like them. They can become an addiction, and can cause people to avoid you, especially if they dislike marmite. They are available in other flavours, including Curry and Worcester Sauce flavours, but these are horrible. Only the marmite "Original" twiglets are worth eating.
Read the review in full and here are the comments.
An in depth review on Ciao which ends with something of a rallying cry,
Next time your wondering down the snack isles at your local super market, put down the Pringles and the nic nacs pick up the twiglets, give them out to friends who pop round, take a bag to work and leave them open in he canteen, let the children have a few in their packed lunches. Remind the world how wonderful twiglets are and get more people buying them, lets get twiglets pulled from the back shelve and sitting proud alng side the walkers crisps.
Read the review in full and here are the comments. The reviewer tinac37 also makes a very good point about the lack of information avaliable about Twiglets,
Before writing this I looked on the internet to get some information, like when they first appeared, who thought of them, who eats them? And do you know what I found? Nothing. These things just came from nowhere, maybe they fell from out of space and landed on the shelves at Asda, There is no other explanation any where. I'm not kidding ive looked and found nothing at all, ive read all the info on the packet and there is no indication of where the first twiglets came from.
Which is one of the reasons I started this blog. It's also a theme I'll be returning to again.
A fairly balance review from Ciao,
To someone who had never been exposed to the wonder that is Marmite, its appeal may appear somewhat limited. A brown gooey mess made from yeast extract. Those oh-so astute marketing strategists clearly hit the nail on the head when they exclaimed "you either love it or you hate it". The concept of Twiglets would probably induce the same confused wondering amongst outsiders as to its appeal. But if anyone has ever tasted one, and falls into the "love" category, they will know exactly what their appeal is. Just as America gave us Pringles (once you pop you can't stop!) the UK has given us Twiglets (one nibble and you're nobbled!). Once you've opened a bag, or in my prefered container, a 200 gram tube, you simply cannot stop until they're all gone!
Read more and don't forget the comments.
That's the word on Twiglets from no less than Ilovecrisps.com who also add not wholly correctly,
"The best bit about Twiglets are the bits at the end that congregate at the bottom of the packet. Really good stuff. In some ways better than the actual thing."
Alors, where is Ilovecrisps promised 
where? Tell me where? The investigation is about to commence. 
