Mars Bars aren’t actually that different from a Milky Way (Wikipedia tells me they’re slightly sweeter but I’ve never been able to tell the difference). So why do I get excited when I find a small stack of them hidden away in the corner of a random shop? Because they’re British and basically anything British makes me happy. It’s like that feeling you get when you’re abroad and homesick and stumble across Jif peanut butter or Pop-Tarts. For me, things are just a little backwards.
There’s an ongoing debate about whether American or British chocolate is better. It has both emotional and scientific underpinnings that pit people against each other. Brits often think a Hershey’s bar tastes sour but Americans will avidly defend the icon of their childhood. It is true that American chocolate is different from British chocolate in the way it’s made and the ingredients in it. I don’t have a strong opinion in the debate except when it comes down to Cadbury Chocolate Bars because the ones you can buy so easily here in the U.S. (see the CVS on Sherman Ave.) are actually manufactured by Hershey and not made with the original British recipe. They don’t taste as good and I don’t like being led to think that this is a British product when it’s actually not.
Clearly I’ve been thinking a lot about chocolate this week with Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching and Twitter proclaiming today to be Chocolate Day. After daydreaming about Mars Bars through classes yesterday, I stopped at World Market to get my fix. You can imagine my disappointment when I didn’t find them on the shelves dedicated to imported British chocolate. Also missing were the (British) Cadbury bars, Maltesers and Crunchies. These were all on the shelves last year, I swear. I hope the store is just sold out of my favorites and that they will be back. I hate to think I’d never see them again!
Not being able to just grab my favorites and leave the store did make me take a step back and realize how many other British chocolate bars there were: Yorkie, Lion, Rolo, Aero, Bounty, Milky Way (the non-US version). I realized it might be a great idea for the significant other of any Anglophile to make a trip to World Market for a collection of chocolate bars as an unusual, but very thoughtful alternative Valentine’s Day present. Even some fancy biscuits and tea would do the trick.
In the end, I picked out a Yorkie (even though it’s “Not for Girls”), a Milky Way (the UK version doesn’t have the caramel so it’s more like our Three Musketeers) and Tunnock’s Milk Chocolate Coated Caramel Wafer Biscuits. Alas, I don’t have a Valentine to think of this year, but I am perfectly happy as long as I have these small reminders of Britain. Although I would be happier if I had a Mars Bar.