More Thins

March 25, 2009 at 5:51PM

More Thins There's a new line of Nabisco's Wheat Thins: Artisan Cheese Crackers, in two flavors -- Wisconsin Colby and Vermont White Cheddar (both are identified as "natural flavor with other natural flavors").

Mr. Tidbit thought he knew what an artisan is: a skilled craftsperson -- especially, in the context of food, someone who produces the bread or cheese or whatever in limited quantities, with traditional methods. If that's the case, the Nabisco folks must hope they don't sell lots of these new crackers, as high demand could make life very difficult for those limited-quantity traditional-methods Wisconsin and Vermont cheesemakers. Or maybe Nabisco's parent, Kraft, has a few ordinary high-volume cheesemakers standing by, prepared to become artisans on short notice.

Mr. Tidbit must admit that he was surprised, searching the Wheat Thins shelves for the Artisan crackers, to find how many other varieties of Wheat Thins there are. Guess -- just guess -- how many kinds of Wheat Thins crackers Nabisco was already setting forth for us.

There are: Original, Reduced Fat, Fiber Selects Garden Vegetable, Fiber Selects 5-Grain, Big, Multigrain, Sundried Tomato & Basil, Cream Cheese & Chives, Parmesan Basil, Ranch, Hint of Salt, 100% Whole Grain, Reduced Fat Roasted Garlic & Herb, and Reduced Fat Country French Onion. That's 14. What a country!

Mr. Tidbit should note that, unlike all the other Wheat Thins, the new Artisan crackers contain no high-fructose corn syrup.

Granola cookies The latest entry from Pepperidge Farm is four varieties of granola cookies. There are two chewy kinds -- Fruit & Nut and Trail Mix -- and two crunchy kinds -- Triple Nut and Dark Chocolate Almond. All carry a printed-on price of $3.59, 20 cents more than Pepperidge Farm's other large, eight-to-the bag cookies.

Spidey senses stupid Mr. Tidbit's nomination for silliest new food product of 2009 was Kellogg's Hannah Montana Multi-Grain Secret Identity Cereal. That was before he discovered Kellogg's High School Musical 3 Fruit-Flavored Snacks.

AL SICHERMAN

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Al Sicherman

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