For this week's food fight, we asked a group of UNT students to buy bags of Halloween candy--"promising" to reimburse them, of course--pour them out on one of those dorm study tables and start munching. They picked up Fun Size Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Nestle Crunch bars, Skittles, Starburst chews and Tootsie Rolls...though oddly enough, no Candy Corn. The results:
Halloween is the perfect time of year for Americans to temporarily ditch their diets and rot their teeth out in one long candy binge.
But which candy do we prefer?
In an epic holiday sugar high battle, with young adults huddled around a table shoveling up sweet confections until they could stand it no longer, one would think clear winners would emerge after an hour or so. Instead the group wavered back and forth between chocolate and chewy.
Some dove right in to one particular bag. Others declared their love
for chocolate or for Skittles, but jumped to another brand after
emptying just a few fun size wrappers. Only one bag remained relatively
unscathed through the frenzy--an unloved outcast.
There were a
few trends. As the candy marathon wore on, more people settled on
chocolate bars, with Butterfinger and Nestle Crunch bags emptying
faster than Baby Ruth--though it was neck and neck between the first
two.
But the competition also revealed that most candy fanatics
are fickle. Throughout the hour plus of face-stuffing, many simply
couldn't make up their mind as to which type of treat they liked
better. They just wanted sweet stuff, no matter what kind or which
brand.
Well, except for the universally despised Tootsie Rolls, which were left pretty much unattended the whole time.
Sorry Toots.
So the verdict is in: no clear winners, but one
big loser. Other than Tootsie Rolls, It really just depends on the day
and the mood and how quickly you tire of one flavor or texture. For
most people, chocolate or chewy--it's still candy.
