Inspired by the "Skim vs. Whole Milk" thread, I decided to post this interesting story about the attempt to market America's beloved Oreo cookie in the U.K. It would appear that many British people are unimpressed, and they are especially unimpressed by the thought of dunking an Oreo in milk. It seems that Oreos are the wrong color, the filling isn't appetizing, the cookies just don't fit into the "biscuits with tea" culture, and all in all, they are an example of "inferior confectionery."

Egad!

So, what I'd like to know is whether any of you nice British people have ever eaten an Oreo, and if so, what did you think? As for you Americans (and Canadians and Aussies and others who might have sampled this classic U.S. treat), let's open for the British a window into the intricacies of Oreo consumption. How do you prefer to eat yours? Do you take them apart, do you scrape the filling off with your teeth before going on to the chocolate parts? Do you dunk your Oreos in milk?

Or do you hate Oreos altogether?


http://abcnews.go.com/Business/FunMoney/story?id=4872110&page=1

I have had some, years ago but they must have left me unimpressed as I certainly don't buy them despite them being available in my local supermarket.

Nothing wrong with a nice plain chocolate homewheat.

I've tasted them. They were OK but left me unimpressed. They were far too bland to invoke a word like hate. (Ducks and runs for cover.)

We have bourbon biscuits, custard creams, chocolate digestives and chocolate hobnobs. Not to mention butter crinkles and crinkle crunches. All vastly superior to Oreos in my opinion.

Never have understood the reason for the popularity of the Oreo. Substandard is certainly a good description.

I was raised with home made cookies, and I bake my own and always have. The only "bought" cookie I find remotely worth eating would be a chocolate coated digestive - Peek Freens, say.

OMG! I never even gave it a thought that somebody wouldn't like (love!) Oreos! I didn't think that was possible. If I didn't gain two pounds just thinking about an Oreo cookie, I eat them everyday.

When I eat them, I have to dunk them in my milk until the chocolate cookie is just about to slide/melt off, then hurriedly put it it my mouth before it drips on the floor. Then I eat the filling until I'm left with just a small part of cookie that I'm holding before I pop it into my mouth which I down with a swig of milk. I'm not normally a person who eats sweets, but I do have a craving for an Oreo if they're in the house (which I make sure they aren't). If there's a bag around, they are my Achilles heel.


edited typo *oops*

Oreos are an American treat for sure. A few years back we were in Ypres, Belgium for the Cat Parade and had taken some along with us in our son's bag. We met another American couple also attending and they got so excited to see Oreos as they were unable to purchase them on the Belgian economy. Our Greek neighbors, who had lived in the US some years before, also loved them and would ask us to buy Oreos for them (peanut butter too) whenever we made trips to the commissary. It's nice to hear that they are now available overseas, Americans living there will be happy to see them on the shelves.

My favorites are the newer Oreos with chocolate filling, are they also for sale in England?

That's a little strange. We had a thread on the Chatboards that ran forever, actually still gets posted in occasionally, and many of the 'Oreo junkies' were from the UK. It may make a huge difference though that most of them were younger.

Although I like Oreos and will eat one if they are in the house, it is not one of my favorites. Nothing beats homemade, but my Achilles heel is plain old boring Lorna Doones shortbread cookies. I am not a big sweet eater and don't like anything that's overpoweringly 'sugary/sweet' tasting. If I do have a craving, get out of my way and Katy bar the door - I will satisfy it!

Well, I must admit that I don't have much of a sweet tooth myself and don't eat Oreos often. However, when I do, I prefer to crunch right into them, so I taste both filling and cookie in a bite. I think you get a better "mouth feel" that way. I don't dunk Oreos in milk, since as I've explained elsewhere, I strenuously avoid milk.

Oreo ice cream has something to recommend it. Perhaps the people of the U.K. might enjoy Oreos in that form?

On the other hand, my husband is convinced that Oreos aren't what they used to be (is anything?) and that the recipe may have changed over time. Do Oreo fans have any thoughts on this?

Ah, you are like me (that's scary for you! ),Ianfranco, as far as the "crunch right into them". There is a definite methodology for some and I remember being quite amazed at watching my sons and friends down a package with a gallon of milk for a 'snack'. They each had their own way and didn't deviate from it. I wonder of there's ever been a huge amount of grant $$ given out to study just this? Hmmm....

I vaguely remember having a couple of Oreos a long time ago: a colleague had brought some back from a holiday in the States. Like supersal, I remember them as Ok but nothing special. Mind you, I think I'd say the same about a lot of British confections too.

When it comes to eating sandwich biscuits like this, if I'm in company I bite through them and eat a bite at a time. If I'm on my own, I eat one of the biscuits first, then scrape the filling off with my teeth and eat that, and then eat the remaining biscuit.

I am sorry, but I too find them unimpressive. They are extremely freely available here, and local people seem to like them.(I would add here, though, that locally made biscuits are just dreadful) To me there certainly is not enough filling in Oreos and the biscuit part is reminiscent of cardboard. I buy Mc Vities Ginger snaps, Hob Nobs and the odd digestive.

I do not, and have never loved Oreos. I don't like the feeling that the cookie part makes in my mouth when I chew it. (Does that sound odd?) The cream is nasty. Milk makes them tollerable, but not good. They are actually okay in ice cream. They sort of change in there, somehow.

[quoteI once read somewhere, and I believe it was in the book Watchers by Dean Koontz, that the taste of an oreo is (or seems to be) different as we grow older.

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It was definitely "Watchers", I think that was the first time I'd heard of Oreos. Was it a carton of Kool Aid he was drinking as well? Scary book.

And this sort of useless information is precisely why a Trivia site attracted me.

Nah, I eat 'em like that in company too!(and I dunk)

I've seen Oreos around the last month or so, butthey haven't appealed - not even tried them yet! I have cut down drastically on biscuits over the last few years - if they aren't in the house, they can't be eaten - but when they are "sandwich" biscuits, I usually try and eat the top half of the biscuit and then enjoy the filling with the bottom half. And I've never done any "dunking" either My favourite type has to be McVities chocolate digestive - milk chocolate, but for a treat the dark chocolate type. When we go on a holiday, we usually buy a packet to eat, on the way down

I seen oreos and gave them a go as I always see them in films and tv..sorry but I didn't like them and have tasted better and dunking them in milk didn't help either..

I bought a packet once (black with white insides, right?) and didn't know what the fuss was about. I'd never heard of dipping them in milk till just now, which sounds like more of an accident which became a custom, but our Gypsy Creams aren't that different besides the brown cream inside.

I miss our proper club biscuits with finger cream biscuits with chocolate outside which were our best, they now have solid biscuit inside like dog biscuits. Jam rings (the ones with cream) are my personal favourites, maybe they aren't across the water yet?

My kids loved Oreos when we lived in the USA but when we returned to SA they were not available here. A few years later they began making them under licence, but the cookie part is thinner than the ones in the US and there is less cream in the middle. My daughter still loves them but I can give them a miss.
Unfortunately they don't make the giant ones here or the little snack ones either.

Edited to add...

You can't twist them apart and eat the filling first as they don't come apart like the American ones.

ClaraSue, you may have hit upon the reason why Oreos are going over like lead balloons in the U.K. -- at least among adults. It's possible that you must acquire a taste for them in childhood, and even then you may outgrow them.

I note that according the article I posted, British children seem to be fairly enthusiastic about Oreos.

Quote:

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I note that according the article I posted, British children seem to be fairly enthusiastic about Oreos.

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Yes I think that's right, as Chinese children seem to like them too.

Any American who says he/she doesn't like Oreos - well, they would lie about other things too! Oreos are almost as American as apple pie and baseball. If folks from other countries say they tried them once and didn't like them, they just need to try again and give them a chance. Crushed Oreos are used (at least in my part of the country) in many dessert recipes with wonderful results. Come on people, we're talking about Oreos here!

But they are so dry, and so hard. And the chocolate part has a funny sorta taste - like those "chocolate flavoured baking chips" you buy when you can't afford real chocolate chips.

You can't even pretend, when eating an Oreo, that you are eating something baked from flour, and butter, and eggs, and chocolate... Sugar, yes, you can believe the sugar. I try to imagine what an Oreo would taste like if it were fresh, and warm, and straight from the oven, but honestly, I can't believe they ever came from an oven. It's more like they were stamped out from some sheets of food-like substance.

Can you tell I really don't like them very much?