British article about Hershey trying to buy Cadbury...

[coney with everything]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyl...

Do you get the impression they don't much like our chocolate? Completely justified, IMO.

[pitterpatter]

You may want to read this from the opinion page of today's NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/opi...

[jlafler]

Heh. I was particularly amused by the dissing of Reese's Peanut Butter cups, which my British cousin adores and asks us to bring with us when we visit (other brands of peanut butter cups are not acceptable).

The basic issue with American vs. British milk chocolate is simple: butyric acid. On the other hand, people who eat Marmite shouldn't throw stones.

[Roland Parker]

Marmite with butter on a thick slice of freshly toasted bread....now there's my idea of heaven!

I am not a fan of Cadburys, but it does have a near-cult following on both sides of the Atlantic.

[Orchid64]

It's interesting because butyric acid in chocolate creates a riot, but few people would say that fermented kamboucha is anything less than an exotic, acquired taste for open-minded palates.

[jlafler]

Many people (including many Americans) enjoy feeling snobby and superior when it comes to American food, especially food produced by big American companies like Hershey. There are a lot of things about American food culture that I don't like, but I think it's kind of a silly attitude.

I've preferred dark chocolate all my life, but when I do eat milk chocolate I prefer the American style (with butyric acid); European milk chocolate just tastes bland to me.

[rockycat]

I worked for Cadbury Beverages (the American branch) about a million years ago. We didn't make the chocolate - that was licensed to Hershey. We did have it available, though, at very reduced prices in the company store. The stuff was so positively awful that I wouldn't eat it even at giveaway prices. However, neither would I eat the gen-u-wine Cadbury choccies when I was in England. There's so much fine chocolate out there, why would anyone bother with either of these?

[Harters]

It would be difficult for even an American company to make Cadbury's worse than it is.

Although Mrs H loves the stuff - you can take the girl out of Salford..............

[joninaz]

Really? I've always thought the main Hershey bar to be wax-like, whereas the Cadbury choco bars are more silky/soft and linger on the tongue. Those with fruit and nut, etc are also popping with flavor... you know you've hit the fruit, nut, caramel, etc.

Not bashing Hershey overall... love many things they make. But the Cadbury bars have more differenciation for me.

[Scrapironchef]

If Hershey follows the normal game plan it looks like Mexico is getting a new chocolate factory.

[60s Girl]

What a hilarious article! And the reader comments are even better...
I have to say, I found English chocolate to be better than ours, but very, very sweet, which I didn't like so much.