junk food Archives - Page 2 of 2

Are you facing a long car ride — punctuated by innumerable rest stops — this Labor Day weekend? Many of the roads I travel have “Welcome to Massachusetts or New Hampshire or Maine,” in front of a New England style structure with bathrooms and a line-up of vending machines.

What Number And Letter Button Do You Push?

Whether out of boredom or hunger when you’re confronted with a similar line-up, index finger ready to punch the letter and number of your chosen indulgence, what do you ultimately choose?

I have to be honest, I love vending machines – I have since I was a kid and spent a nickel to get cardboard packages of two chiclets of gum on New York City subway platforms.

Here’s a bit of interesting trivia. Around 215 BC, the mathematician Hero invented a vending type device that accepted bronze coins to dispense holy water.

In 1888 vending became economically viable in the US when the Adams Gum Company put gum machines on New York City’s elevated train platforms that dispensed a piece of Tutti-Frutti gum for a penny.

Today’s automated vending business is a $30 billion-a-year industry with around100 million people using 7 million vending machines each day. Around 30% of the machines are in manufacturing facilities and slightly over 16% are on school and college campuses.

Best Selling Vending Machine Candy

According to an unscientific survey of 20 vending machine owners, when asked what their best selling vending machine product is:

1 said Reese’s

1 said Cashews

1 said Mike n’ Ike

1 said Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn

1 said Stickers (“ cause kids can’t resist them)

2 said Gumballs

3 said Skittles

10 said Peanut M & Ms

Peanuts In Our Candy

We Americans love peanuts in our candy. Out of the ten most popular candy bars sold in the US, five of them — Snickers, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and Oh Henry! — contain peanuts or peanut butter. In most vending machines, about 25% of the dispensed food contains peanuts or peanut butter – a cautionary note for anyone with a peanut allergy.

Some Stomach Churning Info

Some stomach churning info and advice, in his own words, from a bulk candy (machines that you often find in diners where you get handfuls of loose candy for a quarter) vendor’s blog:

The best selling bulk candy is peanut m&m’s, but you have to be careful because the m&ms can be very messy. “Imagine a hot summer day and your bulk vending machine is placed near a window . . . if that sun is beaming down on your vending machine those m&ms will melt and you will lose that location quick when the lady in the office gets chocolate on her hands and accidentally gets it on her blouse.”

On Mike n’ Ikes, his favorite bulk candy: “Man I have had a lot of success with these colorful tasty little bad boys. Mike n Ikes do well in the winter and in the summer but just like the m&ms please be careful in the summer.

In the summer if your bulk vending machine is in a hot location the Mike N Ikes can stick together and become one big ball. To stop this from happening you can lightly spray the Mike N Ikes with Pam or your favorite cooking spray, and you shouldn’t have a problem in the summer time.”

On Gumballs: Gumballs are your best friend and are by far the most profitable and are indestructible. “The only tips I can suggest on these gumballs are after a couple of months in your machine please check them by biting into a gumball every now and then. Sometimes these gumballs get real hard and after that you are going to want to get rid of them.”

SocialDieter Tip:

If a vending machine calls your name, choose wisely. There are good, better, and best choices to be made. You can almost always find packages of nuts, or popcorn, or pretzels, or dried fruit. Be careful of things with too much sugar, especially if you’re driving. A big time sugar hit may give you energy from an initial blood sugar spike but more than likely it will be followed by a drop in your blood sugar levels possibly making you sleepy, grouchy, and hungry.

Junk Food Has Been Around For A While . . .

Quite a while, as a matter of fact. It’s been around for centuries in all cultures and all over the world, but America has done one heck of a job coming up with a whole slew of varieties of junk food; then branding, mass producing, and eating it. According to the New York Times, the history of junk food as we know it is an American back story interlaced with genius, serendipity, and plain old cleverness.

Junk Food: A Phenomenon That Changed America

Andrew F. Smith, author of the Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food includes soft drinks, ready made burgers, salty snacks, candy, and ice cream – foods with little or no nutritional value and/or high fat and calories — in his definitions of junk and fast food. He sees junk food “as an incredible phenomenon that’s changed America, for better and worse.”

A Look Back At Some Favorites

From the New York Times

1896: Cracker Jack – America’s First Junk Food?

Yes indeed, according to Mr. Smith. The molasses, popcorn, and peanut combo was first sold by street vendor brothers at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair. They perfected it by 1896 and called their treat Cracker Jack. They ultimately created a product that was, and is, salable and commercially viable and salable.

1905: Tootsie Rolls — The First Individually Wrapped Penny Candy

Originally manufactured in New York City, their production changed junk food because they were the first individually wrapped penny candy. The chewy chocolate taste was — and still is — a bonus.

1923: Popsicle Patent

By accident, on a cold night in San Francisco in 1905, an 11 year old left a powdered soda drink on the porch with a stirring stick still in it. The next morning: frozen sweet stuff on a stick. Years later, Frank W. Epperson applied for a patent for his discovery. He initially called the treats Epsicles but his children called them Pop’s ’sicles. Unilever now sells two billion of them each year in the US.

1928: Dubble Bubble, Stretchier Gum

Walter E. Diemer, an accountant for Philly’s Fleer Chewing Gum Company, fooled around trying to produce a gum base that could be blown into bubbles. When he finally had a batch that was stretchier and less sticky than most other gums, he sent 100 pieces to a candy shop and they sold out in one afternoon.

Fleer started selling the gum, calling it Dubble Bubble. Even though it became a global sensation, Mr. Diemer never received any royalties and retired from Fleer in 1970. He felt that he’d done something with his life by making kids happy around the world.

1930: Twinkies, Two For A Nickel

James A. Dewar, manager of a Chicago baking plant during the Depression, saw that shortcake pans used during strawberry season just sat around the rest of the year. He put them to use by baking little cakes injected with banana cream filling, and called them Twinkies (inspired by a billboard that advertised Twinkle Toe shoes). Price: two for a nickel. Bananas were rationed during World War II so he replaced the banana cream with vanilla cream. Hostess now bakes 500 million Twinkies a year.

junk food

What Button Do You Push On The Vending Machine?