Extra flavor From the eternally flowing river of slight innovation at the Nabisco part of Kraft comes a flavor of Wheat Thins that Mr. Tidbit doesn't believe he's ever seen before in a cracker: cream cheese and chives -- artificially flavored, as indicated by small type on the front of the package.
In fact, although the ingredients list includes both natural and artificial flavors, it also includes actual cream cheese powder and chives (as well as Cheddar cheese powder). So what are the natural and artificial flavors (which aren't in original Wheat Thins) doing there?
Based on his experience observing the grocery industry over multiple centuries, it is Mr. Tidbit's firm surmise that the added flavorings are there to make the cracker taste as overwhelmingly cream-cheese-and-chivey as it does. Way back in 1992, a similar question actually got an answer. Maxwell House's then-new cappuccino product came in cinnamon, mocha and coffee flavors. Why, Mr. Tidbit wondered, did the coffee flavor of this coffee drink contain (besides instant coffee) artificial flavor?
His favorite General Foods answer person returned this insight: "Sometimes, because of our consumers' taste, we use artificial flavors to enhance the natural flavors. ... Artificial flavor is the very last ingredient, so there isn't much of it, but whatever there is of it, it was used to enhance the natural flavor of the instant coffee." In other words, because their consumers like instant coffee to taste like coffee, they had to add artificial flavor.
Extra pepperoni According to big type on the box, DiGiorno's new Ultimate Toppings frozen pepperoni pizza offers 50 percent more pepperoni than the leading national frozen pizza -- which tiny type reveals to be DiGiorno Rising Crust pizza. Mr. Tidbit couldn't let that odd "we're better than us" statement go without checking, so he bought one of each. Indeed, whereas the Rising Crust pizza had 19 slices of pepperoni, the Ultimate Toppings pizza had 28. It also contained "flavorings," "flavoring" and "flavor."
AL SICHERMAN
